Do you quarantine your corals/inverts seperately from fish? if so, why?

Tbg299

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I have read that many people setup separate QT tanks for fish to avoid coral from being infected with Ich. Is this really necessary though if everything is already being treated by copper sulfate?
 

Jay Hemdal

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I have read that many people setup separate QT tanks for fish to avoid coral from being infected with Ich. Is this really necessary though if everything is already being treated by copper sulfate?
Corals can't be exposed to copper of course, but they can carry ich from tank to tank on the water in and around their tissues.

Typically, fish are quarantined by themselves. Corals, if they came from a system that housed unquarantined fish, should be isolated from your fish for a period of time - typically 45 days, but some people opt for shorter time.

The first post on this link is a description of my current quarantine protocol:



Jay
 
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Tbg299

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OMG I feel like a moron I was about to dose my LPS frags with copper.
Corals can't be exposed to copper of course, but they can carry ich from tank to tank on the water in and around their tissues.

Typically, fish are quarantined by themselves. Corals, if they came from a system that housed unquarantined fish, should be isolated from your fish for a period of time - typically 45 days, but some people opt for shorter time.

The first post on this link is a description of my current quarantine protocol:



Jay
OMG I feel like a moron. I was about to dose my LPS frags with copper ( facepalm x 10000). Thank you for saving them from my idiot noob mistake.
 
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Miami Reef

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OMG I feel like a moron I was about to dose my LPS frags with copper.

OMG I feel like a moron. I was about to dose my LPS frags with copper ( facepalm x 10000). Thank you for saving them from my idiot noob mistake.
Come on. Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s guaranteed to make mistakes in this hobby. It’s how we learn! Accepting our “idiot noob mistakes” instead of shaming ourselves helps us be resilient when we face problems in our reef tank (and life).

Happy reefing! :)
 
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Jay Hemdal

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OMG I feel like a moron I was about to dose my LPS frags with copper.

OMG I feel like a moron. I was about to dose my LPS frags with copper ( facepalm x 10000). Thank you for saving them from my idiot noob mistake.

No worries! I still make noob mistakes, after 50+ years of marine aquariums :)

Jay
 
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Jedi1199

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Corals can't be exposed to copper of course, but they can carry ich from tank to tank on the water in and around their tissues.

Typically, fish are quarantined by themselves. Corals, if they came from a system that housed unquarantined fish, should be isolated from your fish for a period of time - typically 45 days, but some people opt for shorter time.

The first post on this link is a description of my current quarantine protocol:



Jay


Thank you Jay.

My first instinct when reading the title on this thread was "Copper kills inverts" I am glad you chimed in to this one to verify my thought.

Tbg299,​

This applies to ALL inverts. Never use copper on any shrimp, crabs, anemones, ect ect... The elimination of copper is one of the reasons we use RODI water for our tanks. Even the small traces that reach the tap from our home plumbing is enough to take out most inverts. I did keep a coral banded shrimp alive in a tank that I ran on tap water back in the early 90's.. This same tank killed a BTA in a couple days.
 
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Tbg299

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What should I do now that I have my fish and frags together? Should I setup a separate QT for the frags and redip them?
 
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Jay Hemdal

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What should I do now that I have my fish and frags together? Should I setup a separate QT for the frags and redip them?
Typically, what is done is to separate the fish and invertebrates into two different tanks. Treat the fish with coppersafe for 30 days. The corals don’t get fish diseases, but they can harbor the cysts for a time: 45 to 76 days typically. To be ultra safe, you would opt for the longer separation.
The actual logistics of a copper treatment is a bit complicated…you don’t want to treat a tank with coral rock or sand present, as this can absorb copper. You also need to have an effective biological filter to keep the ammonia low.
Jay
 
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Typically, what is done is to separate the fish and invertebrates into two different tanks. Treat the fish with coppersafe for 30 days. The corals don’t get fish diseases, but they can harbor the cysts for a time: 45 to 76 days typically. To be ultra safe, you would opt for the longer separation.
The actual logistics of a copper treatment is a bit complicated…you don’t want to treat a tank with coral rock or sand present, as this can absorb copper. You also need to have an effective biological filter to keep the ammonia low.
Jay
Thank you so much for your advice. I have a 20g long that I'm going to transfer the fish too and will add some biospheres from my sump. In the 10g Frag QT tank I'm going to keep a piece of cultured rock or 2 from my DT.
 
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