How many quarantine tanks?

[MaxM]

How many quarantine tanks does one need if, at various times they buy fish, coral, inverts, live rocks and anemones?

For fish, do you treat while quarantining? If so, that's a fish only + copper tank.

Nems might, maybe hold brook and ich cysts in their water?

Can you quarantine corals and inverts together and for how long?

How long do you quarantine rocks? Do they need lights and heaters?

What all can be dipped in fresh water and for how long? Does that kill brook and ich cysts stages? Can you skip quarantine after a dip?

 

[Sharkbait19]

A dip really won’t do much for eradication. If corals and inverts are going to be quarantined, it should be for 76 days with no new additions in that time frame. They can be kept together.
Fish should be treated with copper and prazi, as this covers most of the common illnesses.
The number of qt systems beyond that really depends on how much you are putting through qt at once.

 

[MaxM]

A dip really won’t do much for eradication. If corals and inverts are going to be quarantined, it should be for 76 days with no new additions in that time frame. They can be kept together.
Fish should be treated with copper and prazi, as this covers most of the common illnesses.
The number of qt systems beyond that really depends on how much you are putting through qt at once.

So far two, one with, one without copper.

Rocks in buckets? Heated to say 80 to speed the cycle a tad bit?

Nems seem to be a special case and I assume quarantine duration goes from the last critter to be added.

How long are fish quarantined if they are treated with copper+?

 

[Sharkbait19]

If you are first starting up your tank, you can put rocks straight in and just wait out 76 days before anything else. All of this risk is gone if you buy rocks from a fishless system though.
Copper is for 30 days + 18 days of prazi (two 9 day treatments), so a total of 48 days bare minimum. Extra time for observation is also recommended.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I’ve maintained I don’t know how many reef tanks professionally for decades.

I do have a quarantine system…but I can’t remember the last time I used it. If I get a fish in a shipment that is just in terrible condition, I will put them in quarantine to see if I can get them to pull through. But that rarely happens.

Everything else goes straight into the tank it is destined for.

 

[maroun.c]

When I was stocking my 400 G tank I ran 4 fish qts and 2 corals qts.
Large 80 g qt was used for tangs and larger fish. Smaller 10-20-45 g qts were used for different fish. Having multiple qts made it easy to add fish when I scored a fish I wanted and not worrying about not having a clean qt. It also allowed me to just move fish from qt to another in case I had a spike. I was also able to run qts fallow for 90 days if I didn't want to restart the qt between treatments. As my tank got stocked I only run 2 qts and they're empty most of the time. Corals I keep them for 3 weeks as I'm only worried about pests and their eggs then I.movw them to second qts that acts as observation tank and gives me time to make sure no cysts go with the corals. I have introduced corals after 3 weeks qt many times though. I typically dip on arrival and weekly as well as while moving to qt.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah, with the live rocks (and inverts - including nems - unless treatment is needed) you just wait the 76 days SharkBait mentioned (minimum is 45 days at 81F, but longer is generally recommended out of an abundance of caution), and that removes most of the disease risk. If you’re concerned about “bad” hitchhikers (crabs, worms, invasive macros, etc.) coming in on the rocks, then you can keep the rocks in a QT (bucket or tank) for the duration of the 76 day fallow period and just observe them to remove hitchhikers as desired before adding to the DT.

Yes, to be safe, the QT should run for the full 76 day duration based on when the last inhabitant is added (so if you run a QT for 2 weeks, then decide to add a new hermit or shrimp or something to the QT, the countdown should reset from day 14 to day 1 of the full 76 days again).

 

[MaxM]

If you are first starting up your tank, you can put rocks straight in and just wait out 76 days before anything else. All of this risk is gone if you buy rocks from a fishless system though.
Copper is for 30 days + 18 days of prazi (two 9 day treatments), so a total of 48 days bare minimum. Extra time for observation is also recommended.

What is prazi? I see fura recommended and I believe that's simultaneously with copper.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Praziquantel- any med containing it works.
It is generally not advised to mix meds with copper due to toxicity issues.