HELP...fish keep dying in QT! Need advice

[lagatbezan]

Sorry for the losses :(
Regal angels are definitely hard as well as really shy at first. I had one that went through 6 weeks of qt (14 days of CP and 2 rounds of GC) without a problem and was eating great and two days before I was supposed to add him to the display it died for no apparent reason. It was devastating. No idea what happened or what caused it.
Recently I have altered my qt protocol slightly. When the fish comes in I drop the salinity to hypo within 2 days and keep it there for 7 days. This will deal with flukes while keeping velvet and ich at bay for the time being if present. I also treat with metro every 48 hours at double the dose(for uronema) as well as feed GC+focus to the food. After the 7 days I move them into a sterile qt and slowly ramp up the salinity within 5-7 days (by now the GC treatment is usually over) and then start copper. 14 days of therapeutic chelated copper at 1.8-2.0 and then into a sterile qt they go for observation.
Prazipro as well as a lot of other meds tend to rob the water of oxygen. I lost a 6 line wrasse a few years ago a day after I treated with prazipro. Plus peazipro resistant flukes seem to be a lot more common now a days.

 

[SDK]

Depends on what size your QT tanks are. I generally use the IV which is rated for a much larger tank than the QT.

I just grab air stones at Petco, etc... and don’t think it really matters. I stay away from limewood because that very fine mist they create gets salt creep all over the place.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Thanks!

I’m fully stocked on all sorts of foods. Even can get fresh clams and mussels.

For the wrasses, do you drop them into water with copper at 1.5? Or 1.0?

The dewormer your talking about food soaked in GC and focus right? Does that also treat flukes?

What do you cover the top of the tank with? I have multiple PVC pieces in there for them.

I usually do copper and metro together. Do you do this or not? So metro every other day for 10 days total or 5 doses of metro.

Thanks!

I don’t pre-dose the water at all with copper... just kind of let them settle and eat for a little and observe for obvious symptoms.

After about a week if nothing has popped up, I’ll start copper + metroplex (ich, velvet, brook, uronema) for 14 days (dosing metro every 48 hours)During this time I’ll also usually start food-soaking General Cure + focus (intestinal parasites/internal uronema), I do this for at least 10 days, unless I notice white stringy poop - then I’ll go until it resolves

Once the 14 days of copper/metro is up, they are transferred to QT 2. QT 2 might get a piece or two of sacrificial live rock from my sump, so I don’t have to worry about water quality as much and fish can graze. There, I’ll treat with two doses of prazipro (flukes) (General cure is an alternative here, without the live rock) 5-7 days apart. And then observe another couple of weeks... just to be sure nothing has snuck through.

I also do a rally bath in route to DT... for good measure.

That’s pretty much my normal “prophylactic” routine, though sometimes I have to change it up if something presents itself. I still make sure to hit all of those treatments to cover all of the major parasites.

Both QT tanks have mesh/screen tops.

 

[dwest]

Thanks!

I’m fully stocked on all sorts of foods. Even can get fresh clams and mussels.

For the wrasses, do you drop them into water with copper at 1.5? Or 1.0?

The dewormer your talking about food soaked in GC and focus right? Does that also treat flukes?

What do you cover the top of the tank with? I have multiple PVC pieces in there for them.

I usually do copper and metro together. Do you do this or not? So metro every other day for 10 days total or 5 doses of metro.

Thanks!

I’ve put wrasses in no copper for several days, then slowly ramped up over about 6 more days. I’ve also started them at 1.0 ppm and ramped up in 3 days. Both worked for me.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I’ve put wrasses in no copper for several days, then slowly ramped up over about 6 more days. I’ve also started them at 1.0 ppm and ramped up in 3 days. Both worked for me.

+1 If velvet or something else pops up, I’ve moved things along quicker and been just fine. I’ve only personally dealt with velvet in a wrasse once, and I brought the copper up to .2-.3 (cupramine) the first night after a fw dip and rally bath, and to .5 over the next 48 hours... and he survived.

But, I’ve seen others not so lucky so from a prophylactic-only standpoint I’m a bit more cautious. If you encounter disease, you do what you have to do...

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Thanks!

I’m fully stocked on all sorts of foods. Even can get fresh clams and mussels.

For the wrasses, do you drop them into water with copper at 1.5? Or 1.0?

The dewormer your talking about food soaked in GC and focus right? Does that also treat flukes?

What do you cover the top of the tank with? I have multiple PVC pieces in there for them.

I usually do copper and metro together. Do you do this or not? So metro every other day for 10 days total or 5 doses of metro.

Thanks!

I start wrasses off with 0.0 copper in the water and work up from there. I like to start slow to judge sensitivity unless they are actively sick and don’t have time.

 

[Manthanol]

What specific one do you use?

They all work pretty much the same way. I do like the ones with weighted base for added stability. I also like to go one size up from manufacturer's recommendation which gives a greater surface area for the bacteria to colonize.

 

[nbd13]

Thanks everyone. Glad I posted about this. Seems like the solution is an airstone for each QT setup. Makes me feel better I have found an identifiable problem and can fix it.

I hope to get my success rate up. Especially with this next batch!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[SeaJay]

What airstone does everyone use? Any recommendations?

Thanks

I like the heavy ones so I can place them where I want and not have to worry so much about them moving around.

 

[Ferrell]

Grab some inexpensive sponge filters while you're at it. I run them in my QT tanks. They make a convenient "holder" for the stone that adds both another hiding place and a ton of insurance with regards to extra biological filtration. If you're running the airstone anyway, the one time $7 per filter expense is well worth it. Especially if you are QTing sensitive or expensive fish.

I usually grab mine six at a time from Jehmco to get the discount. http://jehmco.com/html/hydro-sponge_filters.html

I now keep a permanently set up QT /hospital tank, but I used to keep a sponge filter running in my DT sump when I didn't. If I needed to set a tank up quickly, I could pull the mature sponge out of the sump for an instantly cycled QT "on demand".

This is an issue that too many ignore I think. Even with additives, the use of newly set up tanks to quarantine just adds to the difficulty of the process. Now that you have several QT tanks running, I would encourage you to keep one of them set up permanently somewhere...

+1 on the sponge filter. I keep a NEW one in my DT sump for use in QT (once used I put in the QT box and never back in DT). Less than $10plus you get some biological filtration. @4FordFamily and @HotRocks helped me through a rough quarantine spell too. Tweety and John are most appreciative as am I. Still waiting to pull the trigger on my next critters. Just can’t decide

 

[artieg1]

I have to say, QT protocol is as much art as science. You learn by doing, and you get better over time. Yes, some fish suffer for our learning curves, but probably no more than having successive wipeouts in your DT. I have learned to do frequent water changes (pain to recalibrate meds when you are using them, but oh well), and have a powerhead blowing at all times, the HOB is just for your sponge, it doesn't really move water. I dose Stability regularly. Ammonia and O2 depletion are what doomed my earlier efforts, so I focus on that. I don't treat for anything the first week, just feed them frozen food and let them chillax. Get them eating ravenously. They need the calories, because copper and CP decrease appetite.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

10 gallon tanks are pretty small and you are attempting to qt expert level fish that are very sensitive to ammonia and stress. How many fish are you placing in a 10 gallon qt at one time?

I recommend you use bigger qt tanks and gain some experience on less demanding species before attempting qt on expert only, difficult fish.