Have some questions about quarantine

Solasis

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Hello! I'm a new reefer here. The tank I have is a 300 gallon reef tank, but right now has nothing in it. I am planning to visit my LFS in the coming days and pick up my first fish. I have done a lot of research on QT, tons of back and forth on this topic and so many different opinions. But, I have decided that I should go with the QT route. My end goal with this tank is lots of tangs and I have read they are ich magnets, especially the acantharus tangs and an achilles tang is my dream fish. Not to mention the horror stories of velvet wiping out a tank over night.

Plans for my QT tank and the questions that arise:
1. For my first fish purchase, there are a few different species I am very interested in. A group of anthias is something I REALLY want. I would most likely be getting a group of four to five lyretails as those are the most common near me. Other than that, a diamond goby, pair of ocellaris clowns, and a species of flasher wrasse come to mind as something else that I want. Would I be safe to quarantine these fish in a 29g (the anthias, flasher wrasse, and diamond goby), or would upgrading to a 40b suite me better? Or should I stick to just maybe the pair of clowns, or just the group of anthias, etc? I already have the 29, but petco is having the half off sale on tanks so upgrading isn't the end of the world. But that also includes more work with water changes.

2. Any tips for the actual process? I have read so many different methods, like TTM, observation, and the standard copper treatment. I would much prefer to just keep the fish in my QT tank for 14-21 days, making sure they are eating and healthy, and only treat as needed with medication. But am I safe to assume that basically ANY fish I purchase probably has ich, just that its immune system is keeping it at bay? If my goal is an ich free tank, then is treating with copper basically a necessity?

3. Of course, online is an option especially pre-QT'd fish. But saltwater fish seem to ship a lot worse compared to freshwater fish, mostly thinking it's because they are wild caught. Yeah, I know they are shipped from the catch site, to wholesale, to LFS, etc. But there are obviously losses in that whole period. At my LFS, atleast I know the fish only has a 20 minute ride home. But, I am still wondering. With the species listed above, does ordering online make any sense? I would get to skip QT (if I go with a reputable source that QTs), but who knows what condition the fish arrive in. Yeah, I know they all have DOA guarantees. But opening a box and seeing dead fish is never fun.

Thanks for any input.
 

Aluco

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Yep, you will get a lot of opinions on this. Check out the following link, it has a qt schedule maker. The schedule is 2 weeks in meds then transferring for 2-3 weeks in seperate observation tank. So you would need two setups but it enables you to get the fish out of meds sooner. You already have 1 tank and were considering another so sounds like you could pull that off. Just make sure the tanks are set up 10ft from each other and you don't reuse anything between the tanks if you went that route.


What I do is match water salinity with the fishes shipping water, temp acclimate for 20 mins and drop the fish in with copper power at 1.50. Then I raise it to 2.30 over the next couple days. Also, I do metroplex dosed into the water every other day 5 times. And I do prazipro about a week into the qt and a day before fish transfers to observation.

Heavy aeration is needed during this time, lots of observing fish and nearly all meds can/will surpress a fishes appetite. But copper power is pretty gentle on most fish, i have put 2 lyretail anthias, a melanarus wrasse, tomini tang, powder blue tang, 2 clowns, and a few butterflies and angels etc through this with no issues. Edna test just this month showed no fish diseases in my tank.

Treating with meds imo is necessary with anthias as they are prone to uronema. Treating with copper is necessary for tangs imo as they are susceptible to ich. If you would prefer to do observation only qt i would suggest 5 weeks minimum.

There's a lot of variables for what fish, how many fish to add at a time however as long as your tank completes its cycle I believe it's big enough to withstand 5 anthias, a wrasse and two clowns at once. Some may disagree however I'm not sure. If you wanted to play it safe maybe start with the clowns and wrasse first.

As for the diamond goby, I would very much wait several months for your substrate to mature as they rely on it for food sources and are prone to starving in newer tanks

If need be most of your starter list should ship ok, with the exception being the wrasse imo.

Screenshot_20230601_013843_Brave.jpg
 
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Solasis

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Yep, you will get a lot of opinions on this. Check out the following link, it has a qt schedule maker. The schedule is 2 weeks in meds then transferring for 2-3 weeks in seperate observation tank. So you would need two setups but it enables you to get the fish out of meds sooner. You already have 1 tank and were considering another so sounds like you could pull that off. Just make sure the tanks are set up 10ft from each other and you don't reuse anything between the tanks if you went that route.


What I do is match water salinity with the fishes shipping water, temp acclimate for 20 mins and drop the fish in with copper power at 1.50. Then I raise it to 2.30 over the next couple days. Also, I do metroplex dosed into the water every other day 5 times. And I do prazipro about a week into the qt and a day before fish transfers to observation.

Heavy aeration is needed during this time, lots of observing fish and nearly all meds can/will surpress a fishes appetite. But copper power is pretty gentle on most fish, i have put 2 lyretail anthias, a melanarus wrasse, tomini tang, powder blue tang, 2 clowns, and a few butterflies and angels etc through this with no issues. Edna test just this month showed no fish diseases in my tank.

Treating with meds imo is necessary with anthias as they are prone to uronema. Treating with copper is necessary for tangs imo as they are susceptible to ich. If you would prefer to do observation only qt i would suggest 5 weeks minimum.

There's a lot of variables for what fish, how many fish to add at a time however as long as your tank completes its cycle I believe it's big enough to withstand 5 anthias, a wrasse and two clowns at once. Some may disagree however I'm not sure. If you wanted to play it safe maybe start with the clowns and wrasse first.

As for the diamond goby, I would very much wait several months for your substrate to mature as they rely on it for food sources and are prone to starving in newer tanks

If need be most of your starter list should ship ok, with the exception being the wrasse imo.

Screenshot_20230601_013843_Brave.jpg
Appreciate it. Ok so diamond goby will be put on hold for a bit. The more I research I see that uronema is one of the worst things to get in your tank and tough to treat even in QT.. maybe I just skip the anthias? I love them but don't want to deal with that. Have any suggestions for my first fish besides wrasses and clowns?
 

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I mean for me the only fish I'd really avoid due to uronema are chromis.. wouldn't be a bad idea to at least wait on anthias until you research and feel comfortable with it though.

What other fish do you like? Generally speaking blennies, non sand sifting gobies, dottybacks or royal gramma/basslets are nice fish to get started with.

BTW this thread will prolly blow up once Nighttime is over heh. With all the information you get, you just have to decide what amount of risk your willing to live with, what your comfortable doing, and what makes sense for your specific situation. Just as important to iradicating disease would be to make sure your fish are getting all the healthy nutrition they need. A good varied diet.

And I would get your qt up and running as soon as you can and add nitrifying bacteria to it so you don't have to deal with high ammonia. And make sure you have meds on hand with the proper test kits. That will get your qt off on the right foot
 
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Solasis

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I mean for me the only fish I'd really avoid due to uronema are chromis.. wouldn't be a bad idea to at least wait on anthias until you research and feel comfortable with it though.

What other fish do you like? Generally speaking blennies, non sand sifting gobies, dottybacks or royal gramma/basslets are nice fish to get started with.

BTW this thread will prolly blow up once Nighttime is over heh. With all the information you get, you just have to decide what amount of risk your willing to live with, what your comfortable doing, and what makes sense for your specific situation. Just as important to iradicating disease would be to make sure your fish are getting all the healthy nutrition they need. A good varied diet.

And I would get your qt up and running as soon as you can and add nitrifying bacteria to it so you don't have to deal with high ammonia. And make sure you have meds on hand with the proper test kits. That will get your qt off on the right foot
Makes sense, I appreciate the help. I'll keep all of those fish in mind when I go to a few LFS on Friday. Honestly, the main reason I'm doing a reef tank (besides corals) is because of tangs. I love everything about them, just waiting for my tank to get a bit more mature with algae before I start getting them. Besides the tangs, some of my favorite fish are Watanabei Angelfish pair, quoyi parrotfish, and a moorish idol. Yeah, probably not great starter fish either lol!

On the topic of the QT tank, here is what I have (besides filter, heater, lid, etc):
Bottle of refrigerated turbo start
Copper power
Hanna Copper test
Prazipro
Metroplex and pure metronidazole
Seachem focus
 

Aluco

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Makes sense, I appreciate the help. I'll keep all of those fish in mind when I go to a few LFS on Friday. Honestly, the main reason I'm doing a reef tank (besides corals) is because of tangs. I love everything about them, just waiting for my tank to get a bit more mature with algae before I start getting them. Besides the tangs, some of my favorite fish are Watanabei Angelfish pair, quoyi parrotfish, and a moorish idol. Yeah, probably not great starter fish either lol!

On the topic of the QT tank, here is what I have (besides filter, heater, lid, etc):
Bottle of refrigerated turbo start
Copper power
Hanna Copper test
Prazipro
Metroplex and pure metronidazole
Seachem focus

Hey maybe if my powder blue ever outgrows my tank you could house him:)

Looks like you have everything to get it started. I use 2 airstones and a submersible filter which adds lots of oxygen. Pvc works as hiding spots..
 

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1. I got a 20-gallon QT tank and max I can put are 4 fish. Anything over can cause death from ammonia and the copper treatment I do. I recommend getting bigger if u can. Be able to add more fish.

2. The process I do is from Jay Hemdal recommended quarantine. Works great but is a bit long and can be hard to QT delicate fish. For delicate fish, I do 2 weeks of copper and 2 weeks of prazipro.
Also, quarantine for 14 -21 days won't be good enough when it is that short.
Nothing good happens fast, go longer and u will succeed.

3. Recommend purchasing from dr.reef quarantined fish. Will need to pay extra but will have healthy fish that is already QT. I tried it once and all fish arrived alive and healthy.


P.S. If u want success with anthias go for lyretail anthias with quantity of 10. trust me they will not kill each other when there are 10.
 

Aluco

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1. I got a 20-gallon QT tank and max I can put are 4 fish. Anything over can cause death from ammonia and the copper treatment I do. I recommend getting bigger if u can. Be able to add more fish.

2. The process I do is from Jay Hemdal recommended quarantine. Works great but is a bit long and can be hard to QT delicate fish. For delicate fish, I do 2 weeks of copper and 2 weeks of prazipro.
Also, quarantine for 14 -21 days won't be good enough when it is that short.
Nothing good happens fast, go longer and u will succeed.

3. Recommend purchasing from dr.reef quarantined fish. Will need to pay extra but will have healthy fish that is already QT. I tried it once and all fish arrived alive and healthy.


P.S. If u want success with anthias go for lyretail anthias with quantity of 10. trust me they will not kill each other when there are 10.


How many days does Dr reef qt in meds? If 14 days isn't enough?

Per Dr reef website

  • Fish stay in these levels for 2 weeks.
  • After 14 days we move them to observation tanks.
Your contradicting yourself
 

Shibaken3

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How many days does Dr reef qt in meds? If 14 days isn't enough?

Per Dr reef website

  • Fish stay in these levels for 2 weeks.
  • After 14 days we move them to observation tanks.
Your contradicting yourself
He mentioned he only wanted to put fish in the qt for 14 -21 days. Dr.reef put in 2 weeks of copper + 2 weeks of medicated food total of 1 month. That's one month of QT.
 
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Solasis

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Thanks everyone. Seems like I will probably pass on the anthias for now. A good start I think will just be a pair of ocellaris clowns and a wrasse.
 
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