iFunnny
Community Member
QUARANTINE!
I've really dove into the rabbithole of QT. It's not really something that people in my reefing community do on this side of the world and gratefully having the space I thought i'd attempt to do so as best I can. I would appreciate any and all help to improve or remind me of what I missed or the potential pitfalls of what I have setup and intend to do.
I set up two 15gallons in one of the spare rooms away from the DT. A really basic setup of a hob (hang on top here, i guess) filled with Seachem Matrix and some plastic biomedia (to not absorb any copper, sand might but ill remove half the amount of sand and Ive read that it wouldnt affect things too much) that has been in my DT for 7 weeks. Separation might be required in some cases as not all the fish will play nicely, and I want to always have a spare QT to prepare for fish on my wish-list that might appear.
[Right now there are 3 Jeweled Leopard Wrasses in the QT feeding on PE Pellets, LRS Reef Frenzy and TDO. My tank is barebottom for now but I am going to be placing large tubs of sand behind the rockscape or have them blend in with some loose rubble and epoxy.]
After much research, I've decided to go with the following for my QT regimen for all my fish moving forward.
1. Observation 1-2 weeks: This is where I make sure the fish are eating what I am feeding my display with gusto. There is no room for tentative feeders in my tank with all the tangs zooming around. Secondly, once they are feeding well, I will know if/when the Copper treatment is stressing them out, if they suddenly stop feeding.
This also allows me to introduce more nutrition via selcon and lipovit on their food. I usually only buy fish that are already feeding, but in the event I find something a little more special, Im willing to spend more time weaning them to taking prepared food.
2. Ramp up Copper 3-7 days: Depending on the species, the ramp time will vary. I will be using Copper Power, as recommended by almost everyone respected in this area. Pluses are, its easier on the fish, therapeutic range goes from 2.0-2.5ppm, can be used with Prime for ammonia emergencies as well as other medications. Will ramp down if fish look too stressed and not feeding.
Will also be treating with Prazipro and Nitrofurazone.
3. 14/30 Days in Copper: This largely depends if I will need the QT space for more fish on my list or if the fish are less tolerant of copper. 14 days is supposedly safe because the fish are medicated and now shielded and if pulled from water that is still at therapeutic copper levels will supposedly not have any trophonts on them but the new tank needs to not have anything reused from the old one. A rinse, and the fish can go into the final "checkout/waiting room" tank.
I will go through the whole 30 days if
a) i don't anticipate getting any other fish soon
b) i am dealing with species that are more tolerant to copper
i know TTM/HTTM are the way people choose to do their QT more often than not. But, part of me feels like I will forget to disinfect something, or not rinse the bleach off well enough etc, and it gives me a lot of anxiety. But I'll try that eventually!
4. The Waiting Room: The Waiting Room tank will be a 20Gish setup in the extreme end of the house away from any other tank to simply observe the fish for another 1-2 weeks. My work desk is there and I will be able to monitor them closely since i'm working from home. After their stay there, the wait is over and it's time to introduce them to the tank via acclimation box for a couple of days, depending on the likely hood of the species being a tang bully target.
For my Corals and Inverts I am about 50 days away from putting in my first batch of corals, snails and 1 cleaner shrimp. They are in their own invert QT which is just a simple IOS hooked up to a chiller. Fallow for 76 days before adding to the display.
Hopefully I can see my fish through this process and come out having successfully QT-ed my own fish! I've relied on LFSes but that cost is starting to sting and, it's another part of the hobby that fascinates me anyway! My main tank is going through a bacterial bloom since adding my first batch of fish, so I'm waiting that out at the moment, but so far I'm ich free it seems like! Hope to keep it that way
I've really dove into the rabbithole of QT. It's not really something that people in my reefing community do on this side of the world and gratefully having the space I thought i'd attempt to do so as best I can. I would appreciate any and all help to improve or remind me of what I missed or the potential pitfalls of what I have setup and intend to do.
I set up two 15gallons in one of the spare rooms away from the DT. A really basic setup of a hob (hang on top here, i guess) filled with Seachem Matrix and some plastic biomedia (to not absorb any copper, sand might but ill remove half the amount of sand and Ive read that it wouldnt affect things too much) that has been in my DT for 7 weeks. Separation might be required in some cases as not all the fish will play nicely, and I want to always have a spare QT to prepare for fish on my wish-list that might appear.
[Right now there are 3 Jeweled Leopard Wrasses in the QT feeding on PE Pellets, LRS Reef Frenzy and TDO. My tank is barebottom for now but I am going to be placing large tubs of sand behind the rockscape or have them blend in with some loose rubble and epoxy.]
After much research, I've decided to go with the following for my QT regimen for all my fish moving forward.
1. Observation 1-2 weeks: This is where I make sure the fish are eating what I am feeding my display with gusto. There is no room for tentative feeders in my tank with all the tangs zooming around. Secondly, once they are feeding well, I will know if/when the Copper treatment is stressing them out, if they suddenly stop feeding.
This also allows me to introduce more nutrition via selcon and lipovit on their food. I usually only buy fish that are already feeding, but in the event I find something a little more special, Im willing to spend more time weaning them to taking prepared food.
2. Ramp up Copper 3-7 days: Depending on the species, the ramp time will vary. I will be using Copper Power, as recommended by almost everyone respected in this area. Pluses are, its easier on the fish, therapeutic range goes from 2.0-2.5ppm, can be used with Prime for ammonia emergencies as well as other medications. Will ramp down if fish look too stressed and not feeding.
Will also be treating with Prazipro and Nitrofurazone.
3. 14/30 Days in Copper: This largely depends if I will need the QT space for more fish on my list or if the fish are less tolerant of copper. 14 days is supposedly safe because the fish are medicated and now shielded and if pulled from water that is still at therapeutic copper levels will supposedly not have any trophonts on them but the new tank needs to not have anything reused from the old one. A rinse, and the fish can go into the final "checkout/waiting room" tank.
I will go through the whole 30 days if
a) i don't anticipate getting any other fish soon
b) i am dealing with species that are more tolerant to copper
i know TTM/HTTM are the way people choose to do their QT more often than not. But, part of me feels like I will forget to disinfect something, or not rinse the bleach off well enough etc, and it gives me a lot of anxiety. But I'll try that eventually!
4. The Waiting Room: The Waiting Room tank will be a 20Gish setup in the extreme end of the house away from any other tank to simply observe the fish for another 1-2 weeks. My work desk is there and I will be able to monitor them closely since i'm working from home. After their stay there, the wait is over and it's time to introduce them to the tank via acclimation box for a couple of days, depending on the likely hood of the species being a tang bully target.
For my Corals and Inverts I am about 50 days away from putting in my first batch of corals, snails and 1 cleaner shrimp. They are in their own invert QT which is just a simple IOS hooked up to a chiller. Fallow for 76 days before adding to the display.
[An earlier picture before the final specimen was added and the tank locked.]
Hopefully I can see my fish through this process and come out having successfully QT-ed my own fish! I've relied on LFSes but that cost is starting to sting and, it's another part of the hobby that fascinates me anyway! My main tank is going through a bacterial bloom since adding my first batch of fish, so I'm waiting that out at the moment, but so far I'm ich free it seems like! Hope to keep it that way
[Achilles, Black, Purple, Desjardini Sailfin Tang, Yellow Foxface, Copperband]
I would like to thank anyone who has ever opened a thread on QT and all the experts and experienced reefers who have responded to them. Please let me know if I made any mistakes on any of my processes, or how to improve on them. I'm here to learn! Thank you for getting to the end of this.
