How to Quarantine

[M4rtin]

How do I transition from frag tank, to qt tank for fish ?
I have this 10gal IM Nuvo Fusion, back chamber has Siporax instead of rock, and floss>chemipure blue>purigen for filtration.

 

[VJV]

Well, there is no real science to it sort from the fact that you won’t be able to use it again for corals (even that is debatable since I have never seen evidence that chelated or ionic copper will adhere to silicon much less glass). But to be i. The safe side I would likely keep it as fish QT o my if you intend to use medicine.

Other than that your biological filtration likely needs to be increased if you had no fish in that tank previously. If you have a bit of siporax in your main tank I would swap it out assuming your grays do not have any pests you would not want in your reef.

Add an ammonia alert sticker from Seachem, as ammonia tends to be the single largest killer in QT tanks. Precisely measure your actual water volume as I suspect you are closer to 8 gallons than 10. Very important when you get to add medicine in order to avoid overdosage.

On such a small tank you won’t be quarantining large fish such as tangs or angels. Don’t get it too crowded anyway and keep an eye in amonia. The good thing about such a small volume is that it will be easy to do 80% water changes if you need to quickly bring down ammonia.

If you do not have a skimmer (not required by any means) you should get an air stone to raise oxygen levels as a lot of the commonly used medicines will deplete oxygen fast. I would add it to a back chamber and cover that with a piece of plexiglass, so that you do not end up with salt creep everywhere.

These would be my thoughts

Good luck [emoji4]

 

[Humblefish]

@M4rtin I suggest setting up a simpler QT for fish (Petco is running their $ per gal sale right now). The problem with using your frag tank for a fish QT is if you needed to use meds, all corals/inverts would have to be removed prior. And if it were a parasite, such as ich or velvet, that you were treating for then one must assume any corals/inverts that shared water with the infected fish now carries the encysted stage and you must isolate them to a fishless environment for 76 days to be rid of the cysts.

It also can be difficult to make any tank "reef safe" again after using copper in it. That black sand will absorb (and then leach back out) copper ions, and it takes a while to pull it all out of the water using a polyfilter.

 

[VJV]

Ditch the sand. Had not seen that. I personally use a Innovative Marine Nuvo 24 (which is actually a measured 20 gallons) and the thing I love about these AIO tanks for QT is that all equipment goes in the back, so when you have to catch fish you do not have to remove heaters, filters or pumps that they can hide behind.

 

[Ruckus16]

I'm currently cycling my new tank. I will be quarantining and had a few questions.
While the display cycles I was planning to begin quarantining in a 50 gallon frag tank I have laying around. If I plan to use the frag tank as a frag tank later what medicines do I need to avoid?

 

[Big G]

I'm currently cycling my new tank. I will be quarantining and had a few questions.
While the display cycles I was planning to begin quarantining in a 50 gallon frag tank I have laying around. If I plan to use the frag tank as a frag tank later what medicines do I need to avoid?

Clean the 50 with bleach, rinse and dry. Clean the 50 again with vinegar, rinse and dry. It's good to go. The bleach removes any meds & bio film; the vinegar removes any copper by precipitating it to a form that is harmless to corals. Hope this helps. Cheers!

 

[Ruckus16]

Really!??! I was under the impression copper was absorbed by the silicone. Thanks for the info!!!

 

[Big G]

Really!??! I was under the impression copper was absorbed by the silicone. Thanks for the info!!!

Yeah, the only things that can't be reused after copper are rocks, sand, and other things that are porous.

 

[Humblefish]

I was under the impression copper was absorbed by the silicone.

Copper ions sometimes stick to silicone, but are easily removed by using a vinegar or bleach soaked paper towel.

 

[Victoria M]

I have a starry blenny that has been in QT for 6 weeks, but I never see him eat. He ate a few mysis at the store. The blennie never showed ant s/s if illness. But how do you see spots on a spotted fish ? His fins were clear however. I placed him in a QT with SG of 1.010 to match the lfs water with an established healthy yellow tail damsel. One week into QT the damsel was hiding and breathing fast. I assume the blenny brought something with him. I added Seachem Copper treatment. I raised the level over several days. One day after redosing after a water change I found the blenny pale, panting hard, and twitching on his side. I did a 50% water change and immediately he improved. That was several weeks ago. I have not added any medications to the tank since. Because the dang blenny is not eating. Both fish look good. the YTD eats well and even recovered from an injury from the blenny. I am considering placing the fish in the 40B because it has some mature rock and algae the blenny might eat. What do you think? The blenny does not seemed to have lose much weight so maybe eats when I am not there. I do have an automatic feeder to help feed.

 

[Brew12]

I have a starry blenny that has been in QT for 6 weeks, but I never see him eat. He ate a few mysis at the store. The blennie never showed ant s/s if illness. But how do you see spots on a spotted fish ? His fins were clear however. I placed him in a QT with SG of 1.010 to match the lfs water with an established healthy yellow tail damsel. One week into QT the damsel was hiding and breathing fast. I assume the blenny brought something with him. I added Seachem Copper treatment. I raised the level over several days. One day after redosing after a water change I found the blenny pale, panting hard, and twitching on his side. I did a 50% water change and immediately he improved. That was several weeks ago. I have not added any medications to the tank since. Because the dang blenny is not eating. Both fish look good. the YTD eats well and even recovered from an injury from the blenny. I am considering placing the fish in the 40B because it has some mature rock and algae the blenny might eat. What do you think? The blenny does not seemed to have lose much weight so maybe eats when I am not there. I do have an automatic feeder to help feed.

Have you been raising salinity over time? That SG is awful low to be treating with copper. I don't like starting copper until I can get SG over 1.016 and preferably a little higher.

I wouldn't risk moving the fish into the 40B yet. Not eating could be the sign of a disease you are trying to avoid by having him in a QT.

 

[Big G]

I have a starry blenny that has been in QT for 6 weeks, but I never see him eat. He ate a few mysis at the store. The blennie never showed ant s/s if illness. But how do you see spots on a spotted fish ? His fins were clear however. I placed him in a QT with SG of 1.010 to match the lfs water with an established healthy yellow tail damsel. One week into QT the damsel was hiding and breathing fast. I assume the blenny brought something with him. I added Seachem Copper treatment. I raised the level over several days. One day after redosing after a water change I found the blenny pale, panting hard, and twitching on his side. I did a 50% water change and immediately he improved. That was several weeks ago. I have not added any medications to the tank since. Because the dang blenny is not eating. Both fish look good. the YTD eats well and even recovered from an injury from the blenny. I am considering placing the fish in the 40B because it has some mature rock and algae the blenny might eat. What do you think? The blenny does not seemed to have lose much weight so maybe eats when I am not there. I do have an automatic feeder to help feed.

Yes, I have a SB too. When in the QT, I feed him some nori. Wrap a small piece of nori around a small rock. Secure with a rubber band. If you tie a piece of fishing line to the rubber band you can use it to gently lower the rock into the water and retrieve the rock when done without getting your hands wet. He also liked the frozen Formula 2 from Petco. Hope this helps.

 

[Victoria M]

Have you been raising salinity over time? That SG is awful low to be treating with copper. I don't like starting copper until I can get SG over 1.016 and preferably a little higher.

I wouldn't risk moving the fish into the 40B yet. Not eating could be the sign of a disease you are trying to avoid by having him in a QT.

I forgot that part. Yes, I raised the SG to 1.018 prior to copper and I have been raising it slowly to maybe move to the 40B. It is 1.022 now. The 40B is not the DT. Just a temporary tank. What else should I try?

 

[Victoria M]

Yes, I have a SB too. When in the QT, I feed him some nori. Wrap a small piece of nori around a small rock. Secure with a rubber band. If you tie a piece of fishing line to the rubber band you can use it to gently lower the rock into the water and retrieve the rock when done without getting your hands wet. He also liked the frozen Formula 2 from Petco. Hope this helps.

Thank you for rhe recommendatio. I have tried this several times. Plus every food i can think of.

 

[Big G]

Live foods? Black or white worms? Mine went crazy when I put him into the DT. It was full of gammarid amphipods. They are all gone now

 

[Victoria M]

He ignored the black worms. BUT it appears he ate the nori sheet I put in a plastic plant on Sunday night. It was gone when I checked on them this morning. So I placed another small strip tonight, and ww will see what heppens next.

 

[Bthomas]

Couple questions..
I plan on keeping seachem matrix in my sump and pulling some out to put in a bag in the hob filters on my quarantine tanks when needed. Does this need to be tossed out after each quarantine or could it go back in my dt after?
And prime cannot be used with copper correct?

 

[EddieJ]

I would not put the Matrix back into your DT. I would definitely throw it out.

 

[Bthomas]

I would not put the Matrix back into your DT. I would definitely throw it out.

That's what I figured too just double checking

 

[Brew12]

Couple questions..
I plan on keeping seachem matrix in my sump and pulling some out to put in a bag in the hob filters on my quarantine tanks when needed. Does this need to be tossed out after each quarantine or could it go back in my dt after?
And prime cannot be used with copper correct?

Yup, throwing it out would be best.

And you are correct, Prime must NOT be used with copper.