Quarantine/Treatment Advice for Helfrichi Firefish

[stevemartins314]

Here's my current situation. I have 2 Occelaris clowns, they've been in my mixed reef nano for about 6 months. They were not treated or quarantined when I added them. They have been doing great. They are the only fish in the tank. I have a cleaner shrimp and CUC in there with them.

I just purchased a Helfrichi Firefish and Green clown goby on Saturday with the intention of placing in the same tank. I currently have them in a separate nano. The firefish is doing great and eating a lot but appears to have some fin damage, presumably from previous tank mates at the LFS. The green clown goby is hiding mostly but I've seen him eat and he looks ok.

I spent a good bit of money on these fish and I don't want to loose any of them. I was considering removing the clowns from the display tank and treating all 4 fish in one quarantine tank, they putting them back in the display tank after quarantine. Does this sound like a good plan or should I be doing something else with them.

I haven't quarantined any fish before but I'm trying to do things right now. Your advice is appreciated.

 

[madlos123]

I used to have 2 clownfish in my 20 gallon tank for one year. Once they settle in, they will claim their area and harass other new addition. When I added a couple firefish, they got beat up. So be careful. If your clownfish is biting your hand already just take caution. you might have to rescape?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here's my current situation. I have 2 Occelaris clowns, they've been in my mixed reef nano for about 6 months. They were not treated or quarantined when I added them. They have been doing great. They are the only fish in the tank. I have a cleaner shrimp and CUC in there with them.

I just purchased a Helfrichi Firefish and Green clown goby on Saturday with the intention of placing in the same tank. I currently have them in a separate nano. The firefish is doing great and eating a lot but appears to have some fin damage, presumably from previous tank mates at the LFS. The green clown goby is hiding mostly but I've seen him eat and he looks ok.

I spent a good bit of money on these fish and I don't want to loose any of them. I was considering removing the clowns from the display tank and treating all 4 fish in one quarantine tank, they putting them back in the display tank after quarantine. Does this sound like a good plan or should I be doing something else with them.

I haven't quarantined any fish before but I'm trying to do things right now. Your advice is appreciated.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!
After 6 months, I would think that the clownfish are going to be as clean of disease as any fish would be just exiting a quarantine. Your want to protect your clowns by quarantining your new fish. As @madlos123 said though, your clowns may not tolerate new fish additions very well, especially in a nano.

The argument could be made that your plan to pull the clowns and quarantine them al together might actually help with the territorial issue, by disrupting what the clowns perceive to be "their home."

What is the size of your nano and what is the size of your quarantine? Does the quarantine have a good operating biofilter?

Jay

 

[stevemartins314]

The nano is a 13 gallon. The quarantine tank is a 10 gallon. I have some porous ceramic media that's been curing with some live rock for a few months now, after quarantine I will throw it away. I was planning to use a HOB filter for the quarantine and filling it with the ceramic media.

I wont be adding any more fish to this tank. I haven't placed my corals in it yet but the plan is for it to be a mixed reef with mostly softies.

Here is my overall plan. I'm open to criticism on this.

Monitor and feed clown goby and firefish for 1 week in current nano tank
Place firefish and clown goby in the 10 gallon quarantine tank
Remove clowns from 13 gallon and put in same 10 gallon quarantine tank with firefish and clown goby.
Add medication to tank to treat parasites and disease.
Add all fish into 13 gallon display tank once quarantine is complete

Again, I'm open to suggestions...

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The nano is a 13 gallon. The quarantine tank is a 10 gallon. I have some porous ceramic media that's been curing with some live rock for a few months now, after quarantine I will throw it away. I was planning to use a HOB filter for the quarantine and filling it with the ceramic media.

I wont be adding any more fish to this tank. I haven't placed my corals in it yet but the plan is for it to be a mixed reef with mostly softies.

Here is my overall plan. I'm open to criticism on this.

Monitor and feed clown goby and firefish for 1 week in current nano tank
Place firefish and clown goby in the 10 gallon quarantine tank
Remove clowns from 13 gallon and put in same 10 gallon quarantine tank with firefish and clown goby.
Add medication to tank to treat parasites and disease.
Add all fish into 13 gallon display tank once quarantine is complete

Again, I'm open to suggestions...

Sorry - you lost me on line one above! You have 3 tanks then? What is the "current nano tank"? If that is the same as your 13 gallon with the clowns, I'm not sure I understand why you wouldn't start off with everything in the 10 gallon QT.

It's early and I just woke up, so maybe I'm missing something (grin).

General thoughts: it isn't advisable to "observe" new fish for a week. That only serves to allow disease to get started with them, and stopping a disease is much harder than preventing it. I never wait more than 72 hours before starting a treatment on new fish for quarantine.

You won't have to throw out your ceramic media when done - it is no more "contaminated" than the fish who just were in that tank. Keep the QT running in case you need an isolation tank, or something.

Jay

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

its a confusing post. you say nothing is wrong except for a few flayed fins which you suspect came from other fish at the LFS. So if there are no other sympton on any fish, including 2 you've already had for 6 months, what do you want to treat all 4 fish for?

 

[stevemartins314]

Sorry - you lost me on line one above! You have 3 tanks then? What is the "current nano tank"? If that is the same as your 13 gallon with the clowns, I'm not sure I understand why you wouldn't start off with everything in the 10 gallon QT.

It's early and I just woke up, so maybe I'm missing something (grin).

General thoughts: it isn't advisable to "observe" new fish for a week. That only serves to allow disease to get started with them, and stopping a disease is much harder than preventing it. I never wait more than 72 hours before starting a treatment on new fish for quarantine.

You won't have to throw out your ceramic media when done - it is no more "contaminated" than the fish who just were in that tank. Keep the QT running in case you need an isolation tank, or something.

Jay

Current Nano is a small 5 gallon I have set up on my nightstand that I use to quarantine frags. I put the new fish in there temporarily until I could get the quarantine strategy figured out.

Do you have any advice on what treatment to use?

 

[stevemartins314]

its a confusing post. you say nothing is wrong except for a few flayed fins which you suspect came from other fish at the LFS. So if there are no other sympton on any fish, including 2 you've already had for 6 months, what do you want to treat all 4 fish for?

I want to treat the fish to eliminate any disease that isn't showing currently. I've heard of people losing fist to parasites and disease after more than 6 months after acquiring them so I figured this would be an opportunity to put all fish through treatment together in order to eliminate any future problems. Is this a bad idea? Maybe that isn't the best approach? These are the questions I'm trying to answer.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Current Nano is a small 5 gallon I have set up on my nightstand that I use to quarantine frags. I put the new fish in there temporarily until I could get the quarantine strategy figured out.

Do you have any advice on what treatment to use?

The standard preventative quarantine I use is 30 days of coppersafe, 2x Prazipro treatments and then 2 weeks observation. People use tank transfer or low salinity, but those methods are mostly useful in treating marine ich, and they can miss some other common parasite issues. My method does not control brooklynella, if you see that, you need to switch to formalin for a time.
Jay

 

[stevemartins314]

The standard preventative quarantine I use is 30 days of coppersafe, 2x Prazipro treatments and then 2 weeks observation. People use tank transfer or low salinity, but those methods are mostly useful in treating marine ich, and they can miss some other common parasite issues. My method does not control brooklynella, if you see that, you need to switch to formalin for a time.
Jay

Thanks Jay!

Do you think I'm on the right track with my approach? Do you have any advice on what I should do differently than what I have planned so far? Thanks again!