How to Quarantine

melypr1985 · Jul 17, 2017

Brew12 said:
If you do 14 days you need to transfer them into a clean system. If you don't do this transfer you should keep them in copper for the full 30 days.

Right, and if you do the 14 days that leaves absolutely NO room for error. It has to be absolutely therapeutic levels of copper constantly the entire 14 days. No mistakes.

Humblefish · Jul 17, 2017

melypr1985 said:
Right, and if you do the 14 days that leaves absolutely NO room for error. It has to be absolutely therapeutic levels of copper constantly the entire 14 days. No mistakes.

^^ Can't stress the importance of this enough. Know yourself. If you aren't one who pays close attention to detail, just leave the fish in QT for the entire 30 days.

Robink · Jul 17, 2017

I can do that... Thank you! And
I'm a little ocd when it comes to the fish in qt.

Crashjack · Jul 18, 2017

Brew12 said:
I don't have a mandy because I haven't been able to get CP yet.

One thing I have experimented with is adding amphipods into a copper treated QT. I was shocked that some of the pods survived a full 30 day treatment. I want to do more testing with copepods but hoping to have similar results.

For mandarins or any fish that consume pods, I've thought about adding a little chaeto from my refugium every two or three days to add pods to my QT. Anybody done this with any success?

Thomashtom · Jul 18, 2017

Hi, great thread!!! Question i just setup a 2nd quarantine tank using DT water, a sponge from my existing tank that was in there for 6 months. But i put a piece of live rock from my display tank so i worry that if there any flukes or ich capsules how long before they die off? My intent was to transfer fish that i have been treating in my main QT for ich by the weekend for observation. I also have another sponge and some of that bacteria in a bottle. Should i remove that rock and change the water? its a 30gallon 2nd QT. Thanks

Brew12 · Jul 18, 2017

Crashjack said:
For mandarins or any fish that consume pods, I've thought about adding a little chaeto from my refugium every two or three days to add pods to my QT. Anybody done this with any success?

I haven't tried Chaeto, but I have played with Gracilaria in a copper treated QT. The copper didn't seem to bother it much but it provides a great source of food for fish as well as some ammonia control. The down side is that it didn't seem to bring as much life over as Chaeto does.

Humblefish · Jul 18, 2017

Thomashtom said:
Hi, great thread!!! Question i just setup a 2nd quarantine tank using DT water, a sponge from my existing tank that was in there for 6 months. But i put a piece of live rock from my display tank so i worry that if there any flukes or ich capsules how long before they die off? My intent was to transfer fish that i have been treating in my main QT for ich by the weekend for observation. I also have another sponge and some of that bacteria in a bottle. Should i remove that rock and change the water? its a 30gallon 2nd QT. Thanks

Just to clarify something... Are you currently going fallow in your DT (for ich) and treating the fish in QT#1? If so, how long has your DT been fallow so far?

Robink · Jul 18, 2017

I wouldn't keep live rock in a qt. If it is from the main display and you had ich you have to wait 76 days (I believe) for the parasites to die off.
Also, if you medicate the water you can't put that rock back in the DT. The rock will absorb medication and copper.

Thomashtom · Jul 18, 2017

Humblefish said:
Just to clarify something... Are you currently going fallow in your DT (for ich) and treating the fish in QT#1? If so, how long has your DT been fallow so far?

Hi humblefish, i have 2 DT tanks, a 180 and a 440. The fish i am treating now were from the 180 which is now fallow for 4 days. These fish will be going in the 440 after this process is complete. i am keeping the 180 fallow.

Humblefish · Jul 18, 2017

Thomashtom said:
Hi humblefish, i have 2 DT tanks, a 180 and a 440. The fish i am treating now were from the 180 which is now fallow for 4 days. These fish will be going in the 440 after this process is complete. i am keeping the 180 fallow.

So, I'm assuming the sponge/rock is from the (disease-free) 440? Not the 180.

Are the 440 & 180 at least 10 feet apart? Aerosol Transmission

However, as @Robink pointed out the rock will make it difficult to maintain a therapeutic copper level, if needed.

Crashjack · Jul 19, 2017

Brew12 said:
I haven't tried Chaeto, but I have played with Gracilaria in a copper treated QT. The copper didn't seem to bother it much but it provides a great source of food for fish as well as some ammonia control. The down side is that it didn't seem to bring as much life over as Chaeto does.

Yeah, the problem is you don't really know how many pods you are bringing over but if the fish was eating some frozen food, it should at least supplement.

Thomashtom · Jul 19, 2017

Humblefish said:
So, I'm assuming the sponge/rock is from the (disease-free) 440? Not the 180.

Are the 440 & 180 at least 10 feet apart? Aerosol Transmission

However, as @Robink pointed out the rock will make it difficult to maintain a therapeutic copper level, if needed.

No they are not . UGH But would it help that they both have glass canopies which are kept snug for non escape or jumping out?

Brew12 · Jul 19, 2017

Thomashtom said:
No they are not . UGH But would it help that they both have glass canopies which are kept snug for non escape or jumping out?

Glass canopies likely wont help. I can't keep a 10' distance with my QT's so I use a very small fan to blow any aerosol from the QT away from my DT.

Crashjack · Jul 21, 2017

Question, I know a lot of folks now just float the bag and match salinity and then plop fish into the QT, especially when receiving fish from online stores as ammonia toxicity can occur pretty quickly once a bag is open. Assuming one has manipulated temperature between QT and display to within maybe 1 deg F and s.g. to within maybe .0005 (I can't distinguish any less than that with my refractometer), is there any reason not to do the same when transferring from quarantine to the display? PH is the only other thing I can think of that might be an issue, but I would think it would have to be pretty far off... maybe .3+. Also, I would have to drip some kalk in my QT to increase pH, which is kind of hit-or-miss. Thoughts?

Brew12 · Jul 21, 2017

Crashjack said:
Question, I know a lot of folks now just float the bag and match salinity and then plop fish into the QT, especially when receiving fish from online stores as ammonia toxicity can occur pretty quickly once a bag is open. Assuming one has manipulated temperature between QT and display to within maybe 1 deg F and s.g. to within maybe .0005 (I can't distinguish any less than that with my refractometer), is there any reason not to do the same when transferring from quarantine to the display? PH is the only other thing I can think of that might be an issue, but I would think it would have to be pretty far off... maybe .3+. Also, I would have to drip some kalk in my QT to increase pH, which is kind of hit-or-miss. Thoughts?

That is exactly what I do and it works great. Match the QT to the supplier. Raise the QT to match my DT. Adjust the temperature between the 2 tanks to within 0.5F. Catch the fish in a strainer, dump them in the DT. If I have copper the QT water I get a little paranoid and take them from the QT into a small container (like they use in LFS's) that hangs on the tank filled with DT water. Then I dump that out through the strainer and add them to my DT.

Jim C · Jul 21, 2017

I had an orange back wrasse that just died, and I did a freshwater dip on the body and I saw flukes. It was quarantined and treated with two rounds of prazi (along with copper safe). My question is how could this have happened if it was medicated? And since it was quarantined and then put in the display tank, how do I treat the display tank? I am currently feeding my display tank metro and focus because I saw white stringy poop.

melypr1985 · Jul 21, 2017

Jim C said:
I had an orange back wrasse that just died, and I did a freshwater dip on the body and I saw flukes. It was quarantined and treated with two rounds of prazi (along with copper safe). My question is how could this have happened if it was medicated? And since it was quarantined and then put in the display tank, how do I treat the display tank? I am currently feeding my display tank metro and focus because I saw white stringy poop.

could have come in on a fish, maybe a coral or a stray drop of water. Could have been just one egg left on a fish after the second dose of prazi and it took this long for them to breed up to lethal levels. so many possibilities really. All you need to do is dose the prazi in the display. It's reef safe - there have been reports of some sps fading a bit but they should bounce back and some about it effecting bristle worms and feather dusters negatively - though I've never seen anybody actually say it has happened when they used it.

Jim C · Jul 21, 2017

melypr1985 said:
could have come in on a fish, maybe a coral or a stray drop of water. Could have been just one egg left on a fish after the second dose of prazi and it took this long for them to breed up to lethal levels. so many possibilities really. All you need to do is dose the prazi in the display. It's reef safe - there have been reports of some sps fading a bit but they should bounce back and some about it effecting bristle worms and feather dusters negatively - though I've never seen anybody actually say it has happened when they used it.

Ok so two more questions...
1) I'm running carbon just in case the focus doesn't bind to all the metroplex. Should I take it out when I start prazipro? Do I turn off my skimmer too?
2) I used that same water to fill my quarantine tank, and I have new fish coming Monday. Can I treat that quarantine tank with prazipro now without fish in it yet?

melypr1985 · Jul 21, 2017

Jim C said:
1) I'm running carbon just in case the focus doesn't bind to all the metroplex. Should I take it out when I start prazipro? Do I turn off my skimmer too?

Yes to both.

Jim C said:
2) I used that same water to fill my quarantine tank, and I have new fish coming Monday. Can I treat that quarantine tank with prazipro now without fish in it yet?

If you plan to treat the fish with prazi anyway, then I would just wait for the fish to be in the tank before doing it.

Jim C · Jul 21, 2017

melypr1985 said:
Yes to both.

If you plan to treat the fish with prazi anyway, then I would just wait for the fish to be in the tank before doing it.

Perfect. You're always so helpful!