What Is a Quarantine Tank?
A quarantine tank (QT) is a separate, usually bare-bottom tank used to hold new fish for a few weeks before adding them to a main display — giving time to watch for disease and, where needed, treat it in an isolated system rather than the main tank.
Why Quarantining Matters
Many common fish diseases (ich, velvet, internal parasites) don’t show symptoms immediately, so a fish that looks healthy at the store can still be carrying something that breaks out days or weeks later. Treating disease in a display tank is far harder than in a QT — many medications harm invertebrates and corals, biological filtration can be disrupted, and treating the whole display costs far more in livestock and time than a dedicated QT would have. A typical quarantine period runs 2–4 weeks, sometimes longer for marine fish given how much harder marine parasites are to fully clear.
Shop Quarantine & Treatment
See Marine Aquarium Medicine or Freshwater Medicines depending on your setup.
