QT / Observation

[DarkReefer]

Picked up a new little purple tang a couple days ago and have put him alone in my old tank set up.

This system (Waterbox 70.2) has a skimmer, roller filter, return pump and also a UV along with the old substrate and sits right next to the new DT.
Initially I was thinking I'd use this as a 'QT tank' for a while as I've never done it previously, however reading into QT a bit more it seems there's more that goes into it than I initially thought, such as copper dosing / prazi dosing.

The plan was if I noticed any ich/damaged fins or other things that seemed off, I figured I could just treat then as required using 'reef safe' solutions such as polyp labs medic/melafix given there's substrate still in it.

With the existing tank am I wasting my time completely by just observing the little tang over the next 3-4 weeks without dosing anything and running the UV?
Should I extend that time given it's just observation ?

I know it's not a proper QT doing it this way and I'll have to set one up so I can dose copper etc in future and do it properly, but I wonder if it'd still be better than nothing ?

 

[Troylee]

Observation is fine.. Prazipro would be fine in that tank also if you feel you needed it! Ruby rally pro also… I’m personally not huge into forcing meds on my new fish if they show no signs of illness… Jay and others would disagree thou! To each their own!

 

[Uncle99]

Me, I fully support the non use of any treatments or meds unless I have reason to do so.

I QT observation only for 30 days. If from the start to the end of that time period the fish eats, looks and acts normal, in it goes on day 30.

Canadians have little choice as any good medications require a prescription.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Picked up a new little purple tang a couple days ago and have put him alone in my old tank set up.

This system (Waterbox 70.2) has a skimmer, roller filter, return pump and also a UV along with the old substrate and sits right next to the new DT.
Initially I was thinking I'd use this as a 'QT tank' for a while as I've never done it previously, however reading into QT a bit more it seems there's more that goes into it than I initially thought, such as copper dosing / prazi dosing.

The plan was if I noticed any ich/damaged fins or other things that seemed off, I figured I could just treat then as required using 'reef safe' solutions such as polyp labs medic/melafix given there's substrate still in it.

With the existing tank am I wasting my time completely by just observing the little tang over the next 3-4 weeks without dosing anything and running the UV?
Should I extend that time given it's just observation ?

I know it's not a proper QT doing it this way and I'll have to set one up so I can dose copper etc in future and do it properly, but I wonder if it'd still be better than nothing ?

Melafix really won’t buy you any protection, polyp lab medic might, but it fails in many cases to control ich. Neither of these offer any protection against flukes.

I always scratch my head when people try observational quarantine - 90% of the reason people don’t quarantine is lack of a QT. Since observational requires that, why not just do it properly?

Ich and flukes can exist subclinically right through the observation period and then into your display….



Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Picked up a new little purple tang a couple days ago and have put him alone in my old tank set up.

This system (Waterbox 70.2) has a skimmer, roller filter, return pump and also a UV along with the old substrate and sits right next to the new DT.
Initially I was thinking I'd use this as a 'QT tank' for a while as I've never done it previously, however reading into QT a bit more it seems there's more that goes into it than I initially thought, such as copper dosing / prazi dosing.

The plan was if I noticed any ich/damaged fins or other things that seemed off, I figured I could just treat then as required using 'reef safe' solutions such as polyp labs medic/melafix given there's substrate still in it.

With the existing tank am I wasting my time completely by just observing the little tang over the next 3-4 weeks without dosing anything and running the UV?
Should I extend that time given it's just observation ?

I know it's not a proper QT doing it this way and I'll have to set one up so I can dose copper etc in future and do it properly, but I wonder if it'd still be better than nothing ?

You proposed waiting until something arises. While we dont want to subject specimens to medications as an introduction waiting until you see as an example ich to be noticed has allowed a given disease to yake holf of a fish and now the others now or in the future also get something.
Assume any fish has something and safeguard even if you do a 14 day quarantine, you have assured nothing foreign has been brought in.
Ive seen Too many take the chance with Observation and while some get lucky, there suddenly is an SOS to our medic team with pics of various infestations.
Polyp Lab Medic is merely peroxide salts and is a gamble at $40 for a little bottle, while I had luck with mnedic, it was used in conjunction with Ruby Rally Pro, and raises question, which one was helpful.
Melafix originally made for ponds is a useless tonic made of Teak tree oil and doesnt even work in a freshwater settings. These both are often used for shortcuts which does not save any time when a parasite arises

 

[Uncle99]

You have little choice in some countries as anything worth using requires a prescription, so it’s either observation, or snake oil.

Low stress well fed QT can be very successful IME.
Use of some medication can suppress appetite which in my thinking is counterproductive to the goal.

Has been good for me, 40+ years now, but yes, that could be pure luck.

 

[DarkReefer]

Thanks all.
Appears I might be in a hard to medicate country also as Reef Rally Pro, Prazi Pro and even coppersafe don't seem to be available from local retailers. Seems I can get a parasite remover which doses copper if I needed from a local seller (Quantum Parasite Remover). Might be able to get the Reef Rally Pro from the US in a couple weeks.

Assume any fish has something and safeguard even if you do a 14 day quarantine, you have assured nothing foreign has been brought in.

I'm assuming by your post, with this comment you're suggesting at least copper quarantine for the 14 days? Sorry just wanting to confirm.

I too have had success with medic, despite what it may be. My whole tank broke out with ich or something similar about 18 months back and it seemed quite effective and I noticed a difference within a day or two. I may have had to do 2 rounds of it back to back (can't quite recall) but it definitely disappeared after this.

Observation is fine.. Prazipro would be fine in that tank also if you feel you needed it! Ruby rally pro also… I’m personally not huge into forcing meds on my new fish if they show no signs of illness… Jay and others would disagree thou! To each their own!

Me, I fully support the non use of any treatments or meds unless I have reason to do so.

I QT observation only for 30 days. If from the start to the end of that time period the fish eats, looks and acts normal, in it goes on day 30.

Canadians have little choice as any good medications require a prescription.

You have little choice in some countries as anything worth using requires a prescription, so it’s either observation, or snake oil.

Low stress well fed QT can be very successful IME.
Use of some medication can suppress appetite which in my thinking is counterproductive to the goal.

Has been good for me, 40+ years now, but yes, that could be pure luck.

This is kind of what I have been thinking along the lines of QT, keeping it simple and allowing a fish to get comfortable, add some weight to it by allowing it to eat plenty without being picked on. Given that some people jump up and down about adding chemicals etc to their tanks, it just seems odd that you'd throw a new/stressed fish pretty much into some meds hoping for the best.

Melafix really won’t buy you any protection, polyp lab medic might, but it fails in many cases to control ich. Neither of these offer any protection against flukes.

I always scratch my head when people try observational quarantine - 90% of the reason people don’t quarantine is lack of a QT. Since observational requires that, why not just do it properly?

Ich and flukes can exist subclinically right through the observation period and then into your display….



Jay

Then there's this argument which I understand and appreciate that things can obviously live within the fish and aren't able to be spotted by us immediately, so I get why people would want to do it in the first instance and also why I posted the topic to get some feedback.

I'm not saying one is better than the other as both methods have reasoning behind them and I appreciate everyone taking the time to give their point of view.

For the guys that just do observational QT. If you did see something such as ich etc, what would you then do if meds are harder to come by in your areas out of interest?

 

[Uncle99]

If ick you can just use hypo salinity at 1.009 in most cases.

Hypo messes with the parasites water intake and literally explodes the parasites and dead they are.

Ick is very common.

Anything outside of that, I do not add these fish at all. Cold as it maybe, the fish dies in QT.

I’m so lucky to only have this once in 40 years. A chromis did not make it.

But saved a clown with hypo.

Good luck

 

[DarkReefer]

If ick you can just use hypo salinity at 1.009 in most cases.

Hypo messes with the parasites water intake and literally explodes the parasites and dead they are.

Ick is very common.

Anything outside of that, I do not add these fish at all. Cold as it maybe, the fish dies in QT.

I’m so lucky to only have this once in 40 years. A chromis did not make it.

But saved a clown with hypo.

Good luck

Yeah wow okay.
Good to know about the hypo salinity route.

It certainly makes sense that if there's other issues going on, there's no use subjecting the existing healthy fish to the issues.
1 for the sake of many is worth it, so to speak.

 

[DarkReefer]

If ick you can just use hypo salinity at 1.009 in most cases.

Hypo messes with the parasites water intake and literally explodes the parasites and dead they are.

Ick is very common.

Anything outside of that, I do not add these fish at all. Cold as it maybe, the fish dies in QT.

I’m so lucky to only have this once in 40 years. A chromis did not make it.

But saved a clown with hypo.

Good luck

So today I finished the treatment period of the polyplabs medic after the tang came down with ich. It cleared things up after around the 10 day mark, maybe slightly before.

I was aiming to use hyposalinity as you suggested should it have reared its head again after using the medic.

I'm not suggesting the ich itself has been eliminated but the tang is no longer showing symptoms and hasn't for a whileand its all I used to treat my fish previously also.

How long would you suggest continuing to monitor before adding to the main tank?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So today I finished the treatment period of the polyplabs medic after the tang came down with ich. It cleared things up after around the 10 day mark, maybe slightly before.

I was aiming to use hyposalinity as you suggested should it have reared its head again after using the medic.

I'm not suggesting the ich itself has been eliminated but the tang is no longer showing symptoms and hasn't for a whileand its all I used to treat my fish previously also.

How long would you suggest continuing to monitor before adding to the main tank?

If you haven’t seen it, here is my post on hypo:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2021 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

I generally wait a minimum of 14 days after returning them to full salinity before moving them in with other fish.

Jay

 

[Uncle99]

So today I finished the treatment period of the polyplabs medic after the tang came down with ich. It cleared things up after around the 10 day mark, maybe slightly before.

I was aiming to use hyposalinity as you suggested should it have reared its head again after using the medic.

I'm not suggesting the ich itself has been eliminated but the tang is no longer showing symptoms and hasn't for a whileand its all I used to treat my fish previously also.

How long would you suggest continuing to monitor before adding to the main tank?

That’s great news!
Fingers crossed for you….

 

[DarkReefer]

If you haven’t seen it, here is my post on hypo:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2021 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

I generally wait a minimum of 14 days after returning them to full salinity before moving them in with other fish.

Jay

Thanks Jay,

I hadn't started the hypo in this particular instance as I wanted to see what the medic would do first (and appears to have cleared thankfully). Will continue to monitor the tang for perhaps another 10 days or so before I let it go into the main provided it stays ich free.

Good read for the hypo though and will certainly be a process I'll adopt should it be required.
If I was to do that in the DT, is there likely to be deaths of corals or just really tick them off for a while generally?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay,

I hadn't started the hypo in this particular instance as I wanted to see what the medic would do first (and appears to have cleared thankfully). Will continue to monitor the tang for perhaps another 10 days or so before I let it go into the main provided it stays ich free.

Good read for the hypo though and will certainly be a process I'll adopt should it be required.
If I was to do that in the DT, is there likely to be deaths of corals or just really tick them off for a while generally?

Oh - hypo cannot be done with ANY invertebrates in the same tank, it will kill them.

 

[DarkReefer]

Oh - hypo cannot be done with ANY invertebrates in the same tank, it will kill them.

Your post mentioned that and algae, but corals?

 

[Dom]

Picked up a new little purple tang a couple days ago and have put him alone in my old tank set up.

This system (Waterbox 70.2) has a skimmer, roller filter, return pump and also a UV along with the old substrate and sits right next to the new DT.
Initially I was thinking I'd use this as a 'QT tank' for a while as I've never done it previously, however reading into QT a bit more it seems there's more that goes into it than I initially thought, such as copper dosing / prazi dosing.

The plan was if I noticed any ich/damaged fins or other things that seemed off, I figured I could just treat then as required using 'reef safe' solutions such as polyp labs medic/melafix given there's substrate still in it.

With the existing tank am I wasting my time completely by just observing the little tang over the next 3-4 weeks without dosing anything and running the UV?
Should I extend that time given it's just observation ?

I know it's not a proper QT doing it this way and I'll have to set one up so I can dose copper etc in future and do it properly, but I wonder if it'd still be better than nothing ?

I do observational QT for 90 days. The downside is that it may already be too late if you begin treatment only after signs of disease appear.

I would definitely extend your QT if you are doing observation only.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Your post mentioned that and algae, but corals?

Corals are a type of invertebrate - basically only fish can be put through hypo.

 

[DarkReefer]

Corals are a type of invertebrate - basically only fish can be put through hypo.

Fair enough, never heard of them referred to as that before so I guess that's something new I've learned today. Thanks for clarifying