Quarantine/Treatment Opportunity

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

Hello again all, I'm moving this week to a larger place and will finally have an opportunity to quarantine properly. My reef is a 120 gallon, and I have a 300 gallon stock tank. I wil have space for both indoors 20 feet apart.
Current plan is to run copper in the stock tank, as moving means all the fish need caught anyway, and eliminate the curse of ich and velvet evermore, letting the reef run fishless in that time, then after returning the fish to the reef, downgrade the stock tank to a 55 for quarantine purposes in the future. Several of my fish ich up whenever a new guy shows up but ive got a fairy wrasse absolutely covered in what I fear may be velvet, tho Ive had him 6 weeks and nothing else has died so that's odd. Still eating good and active but gets easily chased off by melanarus, which I imagine is stressful.
Any comments, concerns, or advice? Should i put live rock in the stock tank or just the fish, heater, cover and powerheads? Should i medicate for anything else while the stock tank is up? Thank you in advance.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hello again all, I'm moving this week to a larger place and will finally have an opportunity to quarantine properly. My reef is a 120 gallon, and I have a 300 gallon stock tank. I wil have space for both indoors 20 feet apart.
Current plan is to run copper in the stock tank, as moving means all the fish need caught anyway, and eliminate the curse of ich and velvet evermore, letting the reef run fishless in that time, then after returning the fish to the reef, downgrade the stock tank to a 55 for quarantine purposes in the future. Several of my fish ich up whenever a new guy shows up but ive got a fairy wrasse absolutely covered in what I fear may be velvet, tho Ive had him 6 weeks and nothing else has died so that's odd. Still eating good and active but gets easily chased off by melanarus, which I imagine is stressful.
Any comments, concerns, or advice? Should i put live rock in the stock tank or just the fish, heater, cover and powerheads? Should i medicate for anything else while the stock tank is up? Thank you in advance.

If you can see discrete spots on the fairy wrasse, since it is still eating, it doesn't have velvet, most likely a moderately severe case of ich. If you can post a clear video under white lights, I can confirm that for you, but copper treats both issues.

You will need some sort of biofilter in the stock tank to manage the water quality. An inert biofilter media would be best (siporax, bioballs, sponge media, etc.) but you can use live rock if you must - just be aware that it will absorb some of the copper, requiring retesting and redosing.

Be sure to add good aeration from some air stones (not just circulating pumps).

Here is our updated quarantine protocol:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/

 

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

Welp. Officially gasping on the floor this morning. Guessing probably too late? Lot less spots than i saw last night. Nobody else is displaying more than very mild symptoms of ich, and thats only the tangs and basslet. The sailfin however has been here a month and still refuses to eat anything offered, nori, mysis, nothing. Will only graze and looks rather thin.

 

[Bixby'sMenagerie]

If you can see discrete spots on the fairy wrasse, since it is still eating, it doesn't have velvet, most likely a moderately severe case of ich. If you can post a clear video under white lights, I can confirm that for you, but copper treats both issues.

You will need some sort of biofilter in the stock tank to manage the water quality. An inert biofilter media would be best (siporax, bioballs, sponge media, etc.) but you can use live rock if you must - just be aware that it will absorb some of the copper, requiring retesting and redosing.

Be sure to add good aeration from some air stones (not just circulating pumps).

Here is our updated quarantine protocol:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/

Do you think it would be more efficient/safer to use a 55? I have 2 spares i could use, would use less water and i could use a hob filter, I had originally chosen the stock tank just to play it safe with the amount of fish, which is:
2.5" hippo tang
2" sailfin tang
2.5" clarkii/1" clarkii
Pygmy hawkfish
Melanarus wrasse
Coris wrasse (yellow)
2.5" pajama cardinal
Royal gramma
Coral beauty
2.5" blue velvet damsel
10" engineer goby
Extremely sick ruby head fairy wrasse (considering dual medication in a 10g but probably too late?)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Do you think it would be more efficient/safer to use a 55? I have 2 spares i could use, would use less water and i could use a hob filter, I had originally chosen the stock tank just to play it safe with the amount of fish, which is:
2.5" hippo tang
2" sailfin tang
2.5" clarkii/1" clarkii
Pygmy hawkfish
Melanarus wrasse
Coris wrasse (yellow)
2.5" pajama cardinal
Royal gramma
Coral beauty
2.5" blue velvet damsel
10" engineer goby
Extremely sick ruby head fairy wrasse (considering dual medication in a 10g but probably too late?)

That fish list would be o.k. in a 55 gallon tank, however, only if the tank has an effective biofilter, or if you use a lot of "bacteria in a bottle" to try and control the ammonia. Setting up a hospital tank "on the fly" is very tricky, you need to keep the ammonia level below 0.5 ppm. Trouble is, amine-chelated copper products will give a false ammonia reading. You might need to use an ammonia badge to try and measure only the toxic form of the ammonia.