My Current QT Process

[Maritimer]

It may, though some folks have reported using with no harm to ornamental or CUC worms.

~Bruce

 

[LDH]

No, I have never had any issues with biofilter/ammonia using Furan-2.

However NFG can have an impact on biofilter.

Sorry what’s NFG?

 

[4FordFamily]

Gotcha - will PraziPro kill bristle worms?

Not that I’ve experienced.

Sorry what’s NFG?

Nitrofuracin Green.

 

[Cesar Romero]

Thank you for sharing. I’m new to quarantining so this is very helpful. I’m aiming to get a maldive/Red Sea Regal Angelfish by the end of November, and would appreciate any advice or tips you could provide to be successful. Would you change anything to your write up on how you quarantine the Regal? What foods were you successful in getting them to eat? How often would you try to feed per day? Would you leave the food there for some time or take it out to avoid amonia? Would CP be better or copper powder for a regal?

Any advice from you or anyone else with success in quarantining a Regal, would be greatly appreciate and well received!

 

[HotRocks]

Thank you for sharing. I’m new to quarantining so this is very helpful. I’m aiming to get a maldive/Red Sea Regal Angelfish by the end of November, and would appreciate any advice or tips you could provide to be successful. Would you change anything to your write up on how you quarantine the Regal? What foods were you successful in getting them to eat? How often would you try to feed per day? Would you leave the food there for some time or take it out to avoid amonia? Would CP be better or copper powder for a regal?

Any advice from you or anyone else with success in quarantining a Regal, would be greatly appreciate and well received!

Regals are definitely difficult to QT. With them you will want the following foods on hand:
Prepared frozen mix
Live blackworms
Live mussel
Frozen clams on a half shell.

They are finicky eaters. I always start with mussel and frozen clams on a half. Only leave them in for +/- 1 hour.

You can try twice a day. I also always feed my frozen blend prior to adding the clams or mussel to entice them. They do better with other fish in QT as well so they can see the activity of eating IMO. My goal is to have them transitioned to eating only frozen after a couple/few days. So you just use the live foods to get them started. I do this with all finicky eaters, sometimes it's easier than others.

This particular angel is very susceptible to infection in QT. I don't know why but you constantly see people losing them to infection during copper. Many of times the signs won't show until it's too late. So if you have one that's eating well during copper and you see a change in eating habits or behavior start antibiotics ASAP.

 

[wom001]

Preciate the outline @HotRocks , mind sharing your potters wrasse technique lol.

 

[Cesar Romero]

Think you for the advise! I was thinking of getting a clown/ 2 firefish. Do you think one or the other would do better with the regal? Or could I have all 4 in the same QT? My QT is 29 gallon for the beginning phase, then a 20 gallon long for the second phase.

 

[4FordFamily]

Regals are definitely difficult to QT. With them you will want the following foods on hand:
Prepared frozen mix
Live blackworms
Live mussel
Frozen clams on a half shell.

They are finicky eaters. I always start with mussel and frozen clams on a half. Only leave them in for +/- 1 hour.

You can try twice a day. I also always feed my frozen blend prior to adding the clams or mussel to entice them. They do better with other fish in QT as well so they can see the activity of eating IMO. My goal is to have them transitioned to eating only frozen after a couple/few days. So you just use the live foods to get them started. I do this with all finicky eaters, sometimes it's easier than others.

This particular angel is very susceptible to infection in QT. I don't know why but you constantly see people losing them to infection during copper. Many of times the signs won't show until it's too late. So if you have one that's eating well during copper and you see a change in eating habits or behavior start antibiotics ASAP.

Absolutely agree. The only other thing I’d add is avoid aggressive or rambunctious tankmates but you’ll want something that eats ravenously. Aggressive tangs aren’t a good idea. Theoretically similarly shaped fish would be better as the regal is more likely to mimic these animals IME.

 

[HotRocks]

Absolutely agree. The only other thing I’d add is avoid aggressive or rambunctious tankmates but you’ll want something that eats ravenously. Aggressive tangs aren’t a good idea. Theoretically similarly shaped fish would be better as the regal is more likely to mimic these animals IME.

The reason he is saying this is because his gem tang killed his regal angel in QT. Literally the day they were being moved to DT. Just hours before. It stunk big-time. Nothing worse than getting a regal through aggressive treatment successfully only to be beaten to death by a gem tang. The aggressive behavior started one day prior.

 

[HotRocks]

Preciate the outline @HotRocks , mind sharing your potters wrasse technique lol.

The two potters went through this exact protocol. They had spectrogram during copper. I started with 3, but lost one to some sort of mouth injury/infection. They did not need NFG.

 

[Billldg]

@HotRocks , just ordered a couple of wrasses, I'm going to QT as we talked about, 17 days coppersafe and 2 weeks prazi, I have 2 questions.

Can you dip fish in methyl blue before putting in QT as the copper level will be at 1 ppm already.

Will I need any special food for the wrasses or will they eat mysis shrimp?

 

[Cesar Romero]

The reason he is saying this is because his gem tang killed his regal angel in QT. Literally the day they were being moved to DT. Just hours before. It stunk big-time. Nothing worse than getting a regal through aggressive treatment successfully only to be beaten to death by a gem tang. The aggressive behavior started one day prior.

Wow! That’s crazy, oh man that stinks. Sorry to hear that. I was thinking of a yellow tang and/or powder blue as my very last fish to add, but by that time the regal would hopefully be bigger and established well in the tank. But now that you bring that up.. second thoughts. Tank is a 150g.

Well I doubt a small clown or 2 firefish would cause any harm if they share a QT just starting out, just don’t know if ammonia would be any trouble. I got some time still before ordering so I’ll be sure to get your list of food and medicine recommendations. Really want this to work.

 

[HotRocks]

@HotRocks , just ordered a couple of wrasses, I'm going to QT as we talked about, 17 days coppersafe and 2 weeks prazi, I have 2 questions.

Can you dip fish in methyl blue before putting in QT as the copper level will be at 1 ppm already.

Will I need any special food for the wrasses or will they eat mysis shrimp?

What kind of wrasses?

They shouldn't need MB unless you suspect ammonia exposure. But you can give them a MB bath and transfer to QT if necessary.

I always keep live blackworms and live brine on hand with newly arriving fish JIC.

 

[HotRocks]

Wow! That’s crazy, oh man that stinks. Sorry to hear that. I was thinking of a yellow tang and/or powder blue as my very last fish to add, but by that time the regal would hopefully be bigger and established well in the tank. But now that you bring that up.. second thoughts. Tank is a 150g.

Well I doubt a small clown or 2 firefish would cause any harm if they share a QT just starting out, just don’t know if ammonia would be any trouble. I got some time still before ordering so I’ll be sure to get your list of food and medicine recommendations. Really want this to work.

Neither of them should be an issue in a 150g.

The 29 is probably fine for QTing those 4. The 20l is a stretch for them but may work if the biofilter is well established. I wouldn't forsee any aggression issues with that group.

 

[Cesar Romero]

Neither of them should be an issue in a 150g.

The 29 is probably fine for QTing those 4. The 20l is a stretch for them but may work if the biofilter is well established. I wouldn't forsee any aggression issues with that group.

That’s good to hear. Bookmarking this for sure. Hopefully I can come back here sometime soon and share my success. Thanks again.

 

[Billldg]

What kind of wrasses?

They shouldn't need MB unless you suspect ammonia exposure. But you can give them a MB bath and transfer to QT if necessary.

I always keep live blackworms and live brine on hand with newly arriving fish JIC.

Blue Flasher Wrasse and a Pink Streaked Wrasse

 

[HotRocks]

Blue Flasher Wrasse and a Pink Streaked Wrasse

They will both probably eat frozen right away. Again I always keep live JIC. 2 bucks at the LFS for a single portion.

I always ordered from Cali as well before he ran out. They last forever if you change their water and feed them phyto once in a while.

 

[ReeferBean]

@HotRocks First thanks for all of the info.

I currently have my QT tanks at 1ppm Copper Power @ 1.020 salinity. Should I lower the salinity a bit more?

So you only do 2 weeks approx. in copper? Someone posted above 17 days, is that counting the ramp up to 1.75ppm?

Then two rounds of General Cure. Would you still feed with food soaked in General Cure and Focus even if you plan to treat with General Cure after the copper anyway?

Last question for now, if I don't have sterile quarantine tanks to transfer the fish to after copper, do you recommend-

Coppersorb
Series of water changes
or
100% water change?

 

[HotRocks]

HotRocks First thanks for all of the info.

You're Welcome

I currently have my QT tanks at 1ppm Copper Power @ 1.020 salinity. Should I lower the salinity a bit more?

Match inbound fish salinity and then slowly raise over time by topping off evaporation with salt water opposed to fresh.

So you only do 2 weeks approx. in copper? Someone posted above 17 days, is that counting the ramp up to 1.75ppm?

Needs to be 14 days of therapeutic copper + whatever ramp up time.

Then two rounds of General Cure. Would you still feed with food soaked in General Cure and Focus even if you plan to treat with General Cure after the copper anyway?

They are both necessary IMO. Through food you treat internal pathogens. Through dosing in water you treat external pathogens.

Last question for now, if I don't have sterile quarantine tanks to transfer the fish to after copper, do you recommend-

Coppersorb
Series of water changes
or
100% water change?

If you don't have two QT's, you need to increase the duration in therapeutic copper to 30 days + Ramp up. I don't like keeping the fish in copper for any longer than necessary. This is why I like to transfer. Copper is poison and weighs heavily on the immune system. So it can bring issues to the surface (Usually bacterial infections IME) you may not have dealt with if using the reduced time in copper using 2 QTs with the 14 day transfer.

If using a single tank, after 30 days a 100% WC will remove all of the copper.

 

[ReeferBean]

You're Welcome

Match inbound fish salinity and then slowly raise over time by topping off evaporation with salt water opposed to fresh.

Needs to be 14 days of therapeutic copper + whatever ramp up time.

They are both necessary IMO. Through food you treat internal pathogens. Through dosing in water you treat external pathogens.

If you don't have two QT's, you need to increase the duration in therapeutic copper to 30 days + Ramp up. I don't like keeping the fish in copper for any longer than necessary. This is why I like to transfer. Copper is poison and weighs heavily on the immune system. So it can bring issues to the surface (Usually bacterial infections IME) you may not have dealt with if using the reduced time in copper using 2 QTs with the 14 day transfer.

If using a single tank, after 30 days a 100% WC will remove all of the copper.

What's the reason for increasing the duration of the copper? Are you breaking the lifecycle of ich by moving tanks?