Quarantine with medicine? Or wait until visible sickness

[Scaggs1117]

He guys, when it comes to quarantining tangs…I know they’re likely to get ich.. is it good to quarantine them off the bat with copper? Or any other meds? Or wait until you see something. This is a powder blue tang specifically I’m talking about …20 gal long glass bottom quarantine tank.
Thanks!

 

[GoReefin]

Always good to quarantine fish first whenever adding to an established reef tank. Certain medications require removal of the fish which can really stress them out to the point of death especially if they are already fighting off an infection. Also once ich gets into a tank it's really difficult to fully eradicate them completely even with UV sterilizer and fallow methods.

 

[Scaggs1117]

Always good to quarantine fish first whenever adding to an established reef tank. Certain medications require removal of the fish which can really stress them out to the point of death especially if they are already fighting off an infection. Also once ich gets into a tank it's really difficult to fully eradicate them completely even with UV sterilizer and fallow methods.

I meant do I add medicine to the quarantine tank right away when I get a new fish or do I observe first

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

He guys, when it comes to quarantining tangs…I know they’re likely to get ich.. is it good to quarantine them off the bat with copper? Or any other meds? Or wait until you see something. This is a powder blue tang specifically I’m talking about …20 gal long glass bottom quarantine tank.
Thanks!

I would opt for a proactive quarantine. I just updated our protocol here:

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

 

[Scaggs1117]

I would opt for a proactive quarantine. I just updated our protocol here:

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

Thank you!

 

[Ziggy17]

I just finished my QT on a square tail. Copper then prazi, then observation for a couple weeks. Totally worth it. The peace of mind it brings is awesome.
I had the same 20g long setup for mine as well.

 

[Scaggs1117]

How often water changes with the copper so it doesn’t stress the fish out too much?

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Water changes are to remove ammonia /nitrate control . Have a good checker such as salifert or Hannah. When replacing water have it premixed with chelated copper such as copper power at 2.25 ppm .You don’t want copper to dip below 2.0 or go higher than 2.5 at any time . So fish don’t need a water change per say to get relief from the copper treatment, most fish tolerate copper at therapeutic level well, the fish medics can provide a list of those species that do better with hypo salinity quarantine.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

How often water changes with the copper so it doesn’t stress the fish out too much?

It’s best to run quarantine in a stable tank with a strong bio filter. That way, you don’t need to do any water changes during the course of the copper treatment.

If you do need to do a water change, just dose the new water with copper to the 2.25 ppm level and then add it to the tank.

 

[Scaggs1117]

Water changes are to remove ammonia /nitrate control . Have a good checker such as salifert or Hannah. When replacing water have it premixed with chelated copper such as copper power at 2.25 ppm .You don’t want copper to dip below 2.0 or go higher than 2.5 at any time . So fish don’t need a water change per say to get relief from the copper treatment, most fish tolerate copper at therapeutic level well, the fish medics can provide a list of those species that do better with hypo salinity quarantine.

Yes I’m saying to reduce ammonia..I don’t want to stress them out too much they’re having trouble eating as it is

 

[Scaggs1117]

It’s best to run quarantine in a stable tank with a strong bio filter. That way, you don’t need to do any water changes during the course of the copper treatment.

If you do need to do a water change, just dose the new water with copper to the 2.25 ppm level and then add it to the tank.

Doest copper kill the biofilter regardless if the tank is established or not?

 

[skyrne_isk]

Doest copper kill the biofilter regardless if the tank is established or not?

No. Copper has essentially zero impact on the bio filter.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Doest copper kill the biofilter regardless if the tank is established or not?

Copper has very little detrimental effect on the bio-filter. I estimated with ionic copper that it might set the biofilter back by about 25% and with amine/chelated copper like coppersafe, it’s even less.

The main reason that you need an effective biofilter going in is because these amine based copper products give a false positive on some ammonia tests. This can be about 0.5 ppm. You don’t want to have to try to sort out how much of your ammonia reading is due to the false reading, and how much is toxic ammonia that wasn’t managed by the filter.

 

[Scaggs1117]

Copper has very little detrimental effect on the bio-filter. I estimated with ionic copper that it might set the biofilter back by about 25% and with amine/chelated copper like coppersafe, it’s even less.

The main reason that you need an effective biofilter going in is because these amine based copper products give a false positive on some ammonia tests. This can be about 0.5 ppm. You don’t want to have to try to sort out how much of your ammonia reading is due to the false reading, and how much is toxic ammonia that wasn’t managed by the filter.

Copper has very little detrimental effect on the bio-filter. I estimated with ionic copper that it might set the biofilter back by about 25% and with amine/chelated copper like coppersafe, it’s even less.

The main reason that you need an effective biofilter going in is because these amine based copper products give a false positive on some ammonia tests. This can be about 0.5 ppm. You don’t want to have to try to sort out how much of your ammonia reading is due to the false reading, and how much is toxic ammonia that wasn’t managed by the filter.

Very helpful thank you!

 

[Scaggs1117]

No. Copper has essentially zero impact on the bio filter.

Thank you