Quarantine tank and procedure

[Alfredomeinhardt]

I want to setup a quarantine tank and I want to make sure I got all the procedure right.

I have a 10 gallon AIO tank that I will use for quarantine. I will add a heater and use the filter sock that comes with it.

I’ll add some PVC fittings for the fish to hide.

I don’t have to cycle the tank but I will be checking the ammonia daily and if it gets to .25 ppm I will do a 50% WC.

I’ll keep the fish there for 2 weeks and observe its behavior (eating, swimming, etc).

Here the question: do I have to add any copper or praxipro to the QT tank while the fish is there? (I assume that is I do, whenever I do WC I have to replenish the Copper and Prazipro).

After 2 weeks of the fish is ok I can add it to my display tank.

Please let me know if all of the above is correct.

Thanks

 

[bluemon]

Here is the stickied write up from @Jay Hemdal to get you started!

Thread 'Current Quarantine Protocol'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/

 

[winxp_man]

I want to setup a quarantine tank and I want to make sure I got all the procedure right.

I have a 10 gallon AIO tank that I will use for quarantine. I will add a heater and use the filter sock that comes with it.

I’ll add some PVC fittings for the fish to hide.

I don’t have to cycle the tank but I will be checking the ammonia daily and if it gets to .25 ppm I will do a 50% WC.

I’ll keep the fish there for 2 weeks and observe its behavior (eating, swimming, etc).

Here the question: do I have to add any copper or praxipro to the QT tank while the fish is there? (I assume that is I do, whenever I do WC I have to replenish the Copper and Prazipro).

After 2 weeks of the fish is ok I can add it to my display tank.

Please let me know if all of the above is correct.

Thanks

Copper power at 2.25 min to max of 2.50 ppm. For 30 days.

After copper prazi (pure is nice) for two weeks. You do a complete WC to remove as much of the copper power as possible. Then dose the amount needed for a 10 gal system. 8 days later a WC takes place if needed and dose around the required prazi for 10 gal QT system. The another two weeks of observation should be done.

This will normally give you fish with a clean bill of health.

I usually do 50% WC for the first week to two weeks of a brand new QT setup every day. You will be surprised how fast ammonia can rise, especially if you have more fish in the tank, and if you feed heavy and extra food is left and gets stuck in the filter.

Remember WC are good to also keep the water clean. You will be surprised how fast water gets the brown color. And next thing you know you end up with fish with bacteria on them.

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Sorry I didn’t reply earlier.

I do Copper power at 2.25 min to max of 2.50 ppm. For 30 days. The first 2 was I do 50% WC everyday to keep the ammonia at bay.
After the 30 days I empty the tank and add new water and prazi. Leave the fish there for two weeks. After the first 8 days I do 100% WC again if needed and add prazi.

After the two weeks I should be good to go??

 

[vittpsu21]

I want to setup a quarantine tank and I want to make sure I got all the procedure right.

I have a 10 gallon AIO tank that I will use for quarantine. I will add a heater and use the filter sock that comes with it.

I’ll add some PVC fittings for the fish to hide.

I don’t have to cycle the tank but I will be checking the ammonia daily and if it gets to .25 ppm I will do a 50% WC.

I’ll keep the fish there for 2 weeks and observe its behavior (eating, swimming, etc).

Here the question: do I have to add any copper or praxipro to the QT tank while the fish is there? (I assume that is I do, whenever I do WC I have to replenish the Copper and Prazipro).

After 2 weeks of the fish is ok I can add it to my display tank.

Please let me know if all of the above is correct.

Thanks

I’m starting down this path also but I’m pretty sure you mix the copper in beforehand with your water change as to keep the levels the same

 

[winxp_man]

Sorry I didn’t reply earlier.

I do Copper power at 2.25 min to max of 2.50 ppm. For 30 days. The first 2 was I do 50% WC everyday to keep the ammonia at bay.
After the 30 days I empty the tank and add new water and prazi. Leave the fish there for two weeks. After the first 8 days I do 100% WC again if needed and add prazi.

After the two weeks I should be good to go??

Yes….


30 days of copper, after that a WC to get rid of the copper, add prazi. Wait 24h minimum before doing a WC if a WC is needed. Then wait 8 days drop another dose of prazi.

After this I wait at least 2 weeks in observation. Some flukes can be stubborn. Or just incase something slipped by. If within the two weeks of observation fish look good, they are good to go in the DT.

 

[winxp_man]

I’m starting down this path also but I’m pretty sure you mix the copper in beforehand with your water change as to keep the levels the same

I have done it both ways. Mixed copper before going into tank or dosed after. Doesn’t matter from what I can tell. As long as you know the exact amount of new water going in. This will give you the ability to dose the exact amount. Now the issue can be that you might have had the tank at 2.50 and when you redose it ends up tipping over more. It’s why checking copper with Hanna is important.

 

[vittpsu21]

I’m starting down this path also but I’m pretty sure you mix the copper in beforehand with your water change as to keep the levels the same

I have done it both ways. Mixed copper before going into tank or dosed after. Doesn’t matter from what I can tell. As long as you know the exact amount of new water going in.

His above also I imagine…with the 50% water changes for first 2 weeks is simply because he has an unchecked qt? Otherwise you wouldn’t need that much that often?

 

[winxp_man]

His above also I imagine…with the 50% water changes for first 2 weeks is simply because he has an unchecked qt? Otherwise you wouldn’t need that much that often?

I have done 25% everyday. And it’s kept ammonia down no problem. Now if you feed a bit more a day or two and food ends up in the filter. This will build up ammonia pretty fast. It’s been my case anyway.

When I first started using the QT system and seachem ammonia badges, I thought it was a mistake going on with the ammonia badge. But checking with the Hanna ammonia checkers and using the free ammonia conversion calculator, I saw there was no mistake. Ammonia was high. So I said screw it WC everyday at least 25%, and no more issues and fish have clean water.

It’s not too hard once you have a mixing station and a system that makes WC’s easy.

 

[vittpsu21]

His above also I imagine…with the 50% water changes for first 2 weeks is simply because he has an unchecked qt? Otherwise you wouldn’t need that much that often?

I have done 25% everyday. And it’s kept ammonia down no problem. Now if you feed a bit more a day or two and food ends up in the filter. This will build up ammonia pretty fast. It’s been my case anyway.

When I first started using the QT system and seachem ammonia badges, I thought it was a mistake going on with the ammonia badge. But checking with the Hanna ammonia checkers and using the free ammonia conversion calculator, I saw there was no mistake. Ammonia was high. So I said screw it WC everyday at least 25%, and no more issues and fish have clean water.

It’s not too hard once you have a mixing station and a system that makes WC’s easy.

This is exactly what I learned and have been doing 25% daily. My seachem doesn’t move from yellow, but my Hanna reads anywhere from 0.3-0.5 sometimes, but since it’s nh4 a lot of it, the seachem doesn’t read it as toxic. I had a seeded sponge filter from my display that I put in, that I imagine is handling all of the nh3 and an hob + airstone also in there. I hadn’t started copper yet though because I wanted the ammonia to stabilize first as to not add extra stress.

The water changes and salt I’ve been going through has been a lot, and the learning curve and strsss doing it for the first time has been a lot. For reference my qt is a 40 breeder

 

[winxp_man]

This is exactly what I learned and have been doing 25% daily. My seachem doesn’t move from yellow, but my Hanna reads anywhere from 0.3-0.5 sometimes, but since it’s nh4 a lot of it, the seachem doesn’t read it as toxic. I had a seeded sponge filter from my display that I put in, that I imagine is handling all of the nh3 and an hob + airstone also in there. I hadn’t started copper yet though because I wanted the ammonia to stabilize first as to not add extra stress.

The water changes and salt I’ve been going through has been a lot, and the learning curve and strsss doing it for the first time has been a lot. For reference my qt is a 40 breeder

Bad thing about that is that if there is a disease you might end up with a dead fish. Have a hybrid powder doing really good. Put him in 2.4 from the start. Eating and saw some spots early on that might have been a few ich cones. Nothing now all clean. Have another week and a half of copper after which prazi time.

WC has been at almost 50%, 8.5 gal doing 3.5-4 gal wc a day. No issues.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I really like the BRS video series with Elliot, who does this for a living. A lot of good info in there.

 

[vittpsu21]

This is exactly what I learned and have been doing 25% daily. My seachem doesn’t move from yellow, but my Hanna reads anywhere from 0.3-0.5 sometimes, but since it’s nh4 a lot of it, the seachem doesn’t read it as toxic. I had a seeded sponge filter from my display that I put in, that I imagine is handling all of the nh3 and an hob + airstone also in there. I hadn’t started copper yet though because I wanted the ammonia to stabilize first as to not add extra stress.

The water changes and salt I’ve been going through has been a lot, and the learning curve and strsss doing it for the first time has been a lot. For reference my qt is a 40 breeder

Bad thing about that is that if there is a disease you might end up with a dead fish. Have a hybrid powder doing really good. Put him in 2.4 from the start. Eating and saw some spots early on that might have been a few ich cones. Nothing now all clean. Have another week and a half of copper after which prazi time.

WC has been at almost 50%, 8.5 gal doing 3.5-4 gal wc a day. No issues.

Ah you mean waiting copper, yeah makes sense. Maybe I do just need to start it rather than wait.