Bio Security protocol

[Skunk_Works]

Mr. Hemdal, @Jay Hemdal

I’m in the early stages of establishing a 20-gallon mixed reef tank. I’ve read several of your articles on marine fish health and quarantine protocols, and I truly value your expertise in this area.

As I approach the end of my cycle, I’m looking for your professional guidance on how best to proceed with stocking the tank from day one. I plan to purchase a separate quarantine tank and supporting equipment, and my goal is to maintain the highest possible level of biosecurity throughout this process.

If you’re able to share your current recommended approach for introducing livestock safely and effectively, I would be very grateful. Your insight would mean a great deal as I begin this journey and work to establish best practices from the start.

If you had my exact setup, how exactly would you maintain bio security with only a single small QT setup. From CUC to first fish and corals. I plan to buy only QT fish and coral. Any further insight or suggestions would be great.

Thank you for your time and for the incredible resources you’ve shared with the reefing community.

Best,

S.W

 

[Fish Fan]

I'm not Jay or even one of the R2R fish Medic team, but I follow a lot of their threads and posts. I would suggest that if you want to follow Jay's advice for QT'ing fish that the process is quite lengthy (~70 days), so you may want to get your QT tank up and running now. You can be QT'ing fish while your main tank cycles.

You may want even a third tank to house inverts before they go into your QT tank too. Although low risk, it's possible for corals and other inverts to bring in fish parasites. They can also bring in coral pests. Here's a post from Jay just yesterday that I found very helpful:

Coral Quarentine. Do each new plug reset the 42 days quarentine?

Hi everyone, Quick question: I’m planning a coral quarantine to prevent ich/velvet in my display tank. I’ll be quarantining for 45 days at 81°F. Here’s my scenario: if I add one frag on day 1 and then add a second frag on day 30, does that reset the quarantine period for the first frag, or do...

www.reef2reef.com

And while I'm sure Jay will see that you tagged him in here, I believe he would be best reach by posting in the fish disease sub-forum that I know he monitors closely:

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

A forum for discussing treatment and diagnosing saltwater reef fish.

www.reef2reef.com

Following to see what Jay or the other #fishmedic guys suggest. Good luck!

 

[Skunk_Works]

I'm not Jay or even one of the R2R fish Medic team, but I follow a lot of their threads and posts. I would suggest that if you want to follow Jay's advice for QT'ing fish that the process is quite lengthy (~70 days), so you may want to get your QT tank up and running now. You can be QT'ing fish while your main tank cycles.

You may want even a third tank to house inverts before they go into your QT tank too. Although low risk, it's possible for corals and other inverts to bring in fish parasites. They can also bring in coral pests. Here's a post from Jay just yesterday that I found very helpful:

Coral Quarentine. Do each new plug reset the 42 days quarentine?

Hi everyone, Quick question: I’m planning a coral quarantine to prevent ich/velvet in my display tank. I’ll be quarantining for 45 days at 81°F. Here’s my scenario: if I add one frag on day 1 and then add a second frag on day 30, does that reset the quarantine period for the first frag, or do...

www.reef2reef.com

And while I'm sure Jay will see that you tagged him in here, I believe he would be best reach by posting in the fish disease sub-forum that I know he monitors closely:

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

A forum for discussing treatment and diagnosing saltwater reef fish.

www.reef2reef.com

Following to see what Jay or the other #fishmedic guys suggest. Good luck!

I messaged him privately and he suggested I posted this publicly for all to learn from!

I will spend some time going over what you’ve just shared here. I also am in no rush whatsoever. So the time aspect is of no concern.

I do plan to buy only QT’d CUC, Fish, and Corals. But want to still ensure everything is healthy and as pest free as can be before I introduce.

My only true restriction is space. I have just enough space for another max 10 gallon tank. As my cycle has just completed my next step is to introduce algae barns copepods “ecopods” and feed 10ml of their phytoplankton daily in an attempt to establish them.

In the meantime my plan was to setup the QT and order the CUC.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Mr. Hemdal, @Jay Hemdal

I’m in the early stages of establishing a 20-gallon mixed reef tank. I’ve read several of your articles on marine fish health and quarantine protocols, and I truly value your expertise in this area.

As I approach the end of my cycle, I’m looking for your professional guidance on how best to proceed with stocking the tank from day one. I plan to purchase a separate quarantine tank and supporting equipment, and my goal is to maintain the highest possible level of biosecurity throughout this process.

If you’re able to share your current recommended approach for introducing livestock safely and effectively, I would be very grateful. Your insight would mean a great deal as I begin this journey and work to establish best practices from the start.

If you had my exact setup, how exactly would you maintain bio security with only a single small QT setup. From CUC to first fish and corals. I plan to buy only QT fish and coral. Any further insight or suggestions would be great.

Thank you for your time and for the incredible resources you’ve shared with the reefing community.

Best,

S.W

First, have you seen these two articles?

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Buying QT animals is helpful, so is relying on captive raised stock.

I buy my CUC from dealers that hold them in fishless systems, so I don’t have to quarantine them. For corals, well established captive propagated is the best way to go - the risk of introducing a coral pest is less. However, the same fishless system benefit seen in CUC is seen with corals.

I wish dealers would do a better job of keeping their fish and inverts isolated from one another. I’ve seen a couple of dealers who routinely throw sick fish into the coral systems in the hope that the better conditions there will “cure” the fish (ugh).

I prefer fishless cycling with ammonium chloride. Then, as algae grows, I add CUC and maybe some soft corals.

 

[Skunk_Works]

Mr. Hemdal, @Jay Hemdal

I’m in the early stages of establishing a 20-gallon mixed reef tank. I’ve read several of your articles on marine fish health and quarantine protocols, and I truly value your expertise in this area.

As I approach the end of my cycle, I’m looking for your professional guidance on how best to proceed with stocking the tank from day one. I plan to purchase a separate quarantine tank and supporting equipment, and my goal is to maintain the highest possible level of biosecurity throughout this process.

If you’re able to share your current recommended approach for introducing livestock safely and effectively, I would be very grateful. Your insight would mean a great deal as I begin this journey and work to establish best practices from the start.

If you had my exact setup, how exactly would you maintain bio security with only a single small QT setup. From CUC to first fish and corals. I plan to buy only QT fish and coral. Any further insight or suggestions would be great.

Thank you for your time and for the incredible resources you’ve shared with the reefing community.

Best,

S.W

First, have you seen these two articles?

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Buying QT animals is helpful, so is relying on captive raised stock.

I buy my CUC from dealers that hold them in fishless systems, so I don’t have to quarantine them. For corals, well established captive propagated is the best way to go - the risk of introducing a coral pest is less. However, the same fishless system benefit seen in CUC is seen with corals.

I wish dealers would do a better job of keeping their fish and inverts isolated from one another. I’ve seen a couple of dealers who routinely throw sick fish into the coral systems in the hope that the better conditions there will “cure” the fish (ugh).

I prefer fishless cycling with ammonium chloride. Then, as algae grows, I add CUC and maybe some soft corals.

I will go over these articles now !

 

[Skunk_Works]

I’d love to hear your go to vendors for QT’d and separated livestock.

 

[Fish Fan]

I understand that some of the dealers of inverts keep their inverts in fish-free systems, but to be safe these inverts should be held for 45 days or so without fish, correct? What are the chances that these vendors are actually doing that? I think it's much more likely that they get new shipments of animals weekly, and they add the new stock to their holding tank, which could then bring in parasites. So to me, just because they say they keep their CUC in fish-less tanks, I don't think this is a guarantee that these animals are pest free, and for that reason I still think you should QT inverts yourself, but maybe I'm not understanding how these vendors work