QT Observation w/ tangs

[fourseasonoutdoorsman]

For 1 week so far, I have been running a 29g QT with three tangs - YE Kole, Lavender, and Powder Brown. They are all ~2.5-3", eating, and swimming outside of their pvc hidey-holes.

I've been soaking up as much information as I can about various diseases/parasites that impact tangs (esp. Acanthurus) with the primaries being ich and velvet. I certainly don't know everything.

I did not want to start off with copper and have been doing API GC for a week (both directly in the water and bound with food using FOCUS). I'm not witnessing any flashing or visible signs of infection - I know this doesn't mean everything since it can hide in gills or is in a different part of its lifecycle.

FYSA, I got CP/Hanna Checker on stand-by.

So my question is, is it possible to ever feel confident enough with observation that ich/velvet aren't present? How long? 2 weeks? 3? I imagine the Powder Brown would show it sooner than the other ones b/c of general stressors associated with QT.

 

[lapin]

Because this is such a problem with tangs I have always done the 36 hour TTM. Its a pain but will rid the fish of these 2 issues.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Definitely do not rely on observational quarantine for tangs - it often fails. 30 days of chelated copper is my minimum. I always start with copper first, and then use prazi, as the flukes are much slower to kill a fish that the protozoans are. I do use a minimum of 14 days observation after the copper and prazi though...just because I've been burned one too many times, moving fish into DTs too soon.

Jay