Quarantining New Fish

[saltwaterlover]

So I’m going to quarantine my new fish when I get them but I’m setting the display tank up a little bit before so by the time the quarantining is done the tank will be ready, but I won’t have any good bacteria that I can put a sponge in the display tank filter weeks in advance for the quarantine tank, because it’s going up at practically the same time. And anyway I’m using copper so doesn’t that just take all the bacteria away anyway so that would be pointless. SO my question iss[emoji23] how much water should I take out of my quarantine tank (it’s 60cm x 40cm x 33cm, L,W,H) daily to keep the ammonia down enough so they don’t die ?

And do you hAve to use a glass or acrylic tank, can you use like a food safe (a big one) container (I’ve seen loads of people use them for hospital and quarantining) (cuz I’m new in the hobby and quarantining is more expenses added[emoji88][emoji23] I don’t mind but if I could do the cheaper option it’ll be a lot better)

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

I would get an ammonia monitor, it's this little card thingy that goes in the tank that changes color as ammonia increases. It's made by Seachem I think. It should be used as a quick visual reference only, don't expect the greatest accuracy.

Also, you will want a test kit to test for ammonia daily. You may need to do anywhere between 5-30% water changes to keep levels safe depending on how many fish you have in there and how much you feed them. When I quarantine, I just do a 5-10% water change daily but I usually only have one fish in the system.

 

[saltwaterlover]

I would get an ammonia monitor, it's this little card thingy that goes in the tank that changes color as ammonia increases. It's made by Seachem I think. It should be used as a quick visual reference only, don't expect the greatest accuracy.

Also, you will want a test kit to test for ammonia daily. You may need to do anywhere between 5-30% water changes to keep levels safe depending on how many fish you have in there and how much you feed them. When I quarantine, I just do a 5-10% water change daily but I usually only have one fish in the system.

Ok awesome thanks, yeah I was planning on getting a ammonia alert monitor

 

[saltwaterlover]

I would get an ammonia monitor, it's this little card thingy that goes in the tank that changes color as ammonia increases. It's made by Seachem I think. It should be used as a quick visual reference only, don't expect the greatest accuracy.

Also, you will want a test kit to test for ammonia daily. You may need to do anywhere between 5-30% water changes to keep levels safe depending on how many fish you have in there and how much you feed them. When I quarantine, I just do a 5-10% water change daily but I usually only have one fish in the system.

Would you say this would be a good test kit?

 

[Big G]

Yep. One of these ^^^ Place it about mid way down the tank wall away from tank lighting as possible. It can interfere with the badge. When viewing, use a small flashlight and light the badge from behind to get an accurate color to show on the face of the badge.

 

[AcroNem]

Will you be running any treatments while they're In QT? I usually do 30-50% changes every other day or as needed for ammonia. But I also run prophylactic treatment on every fish so depending on the drug being used I'll hold off for longer. Definitely get an ammonia badge and test daily as others have said.

 

[saltwaterlover]

Will you be running any treatments while they're In QT? I usually do 30-50% changes every other day or as needed for ammonia. But I also run prophylactic treatment on every fish so depending on the drug being used I'll hold off for longer. Definitely get an ammonia badge and test daily as others have said.

I was planning on dosing the water with copper? I’ve seen people who use it on every new fish to kill anything like ich or a unseen parasite on a new fish

 

[starypotter]

As far as you're asking with the food safe containers, are you talking about like a big storage tote or something smaller? I tried to do the tank transfer method in smaller containers like I've seen be done and I'll tell you that it just didn't work. My fish got ammonia poisoning in a day. They're all okay now thankfully, but I would never try that again, it's too risky IMHO. As for treating in a storage container, I think it'll just depend on what information you can find about those medications interacting with the plastic. As far as I'm aware, copper doesn't mess with your biological filter. For what it's worth since it seems you're not in the states not sure what's available to you, I used Microbe Lift in my QT tank when I had to transfer all of the fish from the tiny containers to my spare QT. I dosed it for days and didn't see a dent in the reading on the ammonia badge. I also had filter foam from my cycled tank as well. I finally got BioSpira and in a day or maybe two of tossing in a couple cap fulls my ammonia was under control.
Also check out the fish disease forum, it's got a ton of stickies. Regular old copper is really only useful for ich and velvet. If you want to kill a full spectrum of harmful pests then you'll need to use several different medications.

 

[AcroNem]

I was planning on dosing the water with copper? I’ve seen people who use it on every new fish to kill anything like ich or a unseen parasite on a new fish

What fish will you be treating? I've had some pretty bad turnouts with some fish in copper. If you haven't used it before be very careful. it's definitely one of the most effective for treating but it can be very risky. I'd always run them through Metronidazole or Formalin if I could.

 

[NinnJinn]

When using copper it will mess with the actual ammonia test kits so you will basically have to rely on the seachem badge

 

[sergifed91]

when qting new fish. I don't do anything the first 3 days. I just let them be with the lights out. and let them destress. then on the third day. I do a FW dip and if nothing comes off then I use a general medication for a week. then from there. but if there are signs of flukes I use ich-x. I believe there are 2 types of ich-x I use. but I don't treat other than general medications unless I really need to. just to relieve the stress off the fish.

 

[saltwaterlover]

What fish will you be treating? I've had some pretty bad turnouts with some fish in copper. If you haven't used it before be very careful. it's definitely one of the most effective for treating but it can be very risky. I'd always run them through Metronidazole or Formalin if I could.

Things like, tangs, wrasse, basslet, chromis, clownfish, gobies, and a Toby puffer

 

[saltwaterlover]

When using copper it will mess with the actual ammonia test kits so you will basically have to rely on the seachem badge

Ok [emoji31][emoji23]

 

[saltwaterlover]

As far as you're asking with the food safe containers, are you talking about like a big storage tote or something smaller? I tried to do the tank transfer method in smaller containers like I've seen be done and I'll tell you that it just didn't work. My fish got ammonia poisoning in a day. They're all okay now thankfully, but I would never try that again, it's too risky IMHO. As for treating in a storage container, I think it'll just depend on what information you can find about those medications interacting with the plastic. As far as I'm aware, copper doesn't mess with your biological filter. For what it's worth since it seems you're not in the states not sure what's available to you, I used Microbe Lift in my QT tank when I had to transfer all of the fish from the tiny containers to my spare QT. I dosed it for days and didn't see a dent in the reading on the ammonia badge. I also had filter foam from my cycled tank as well. I finally got BioSpira and in a day or maybe two of tossing in a couple cap fulls my ammonia was under control.
Also check out the fish disease forum, it's got a ton of stickies. Regular old copper is really only useful for ich and velvet. If you want to kill a full spectrum of harmful pests then you'll need to use several different medications.

No, no. Not a small container like a big one, there’s one that’s the same size as a 20 gallon tank and also what kind of medications do you recommend? Basically I just wanna quarantine them and get rid of any parasites that isn’t noticeable on a fish so when they go in the display tank nothing is effected or gets sick by the new fish.

Because it is a small tank I was just going to use a filter like this..? (I’ve seen people use these too)

And then a heater. But because I wanna set the tank up at practically the same time as the QT how would I get the bacteria? Could I use something like ATM colony for the filter because that’s the bacteria it needs?

 

[starypotter]

No, no. Not a small container like a big one, there’s one that’s the same size as a 20 gallon tank and also what kind of medications do you recommend? Basically I just wanna quarantine them and get rid of any parasites that isn’t noticeable on a fish so when they go in the display tank nothing is effected or gets sick by the new fish.

Because it is a small tank I was just going to use a filter like this..? (I’ve seen people use these too)

And then a heater. But because I wanna set the tank up at practically the same time as the QT how would I get the bacteria? Could I use something like ATM colony for the filter because that’s the bacteria it needs?

Okay well copper is something that can get rid of ich and velvet which from what I've read both are similarly common these days, but if you're in the UK that's different, practices are supposedly better there. But there's still a possibility that they could have flukes or internal parasites.
Now I am a far cry from Humblefish, so make sure you do your own research on anything I'm saying here because I could very well be wrong so that's my big warning. However I do have a plan. I have my fish in QT, it's a 29 gallon. It is admittedly overstocked because I had a cross contamination screw up with my first four fish so two batches of QT are in there together. The only reason it's not giving me much of an issue I think is because in this tank I have 2 clownfish, 1 neon goby, 1 kaudern's cardinal, 1 midas blenny, and 4 clown gobies. I'm keeping a close eye on my ammonia badge and everything but I would in no way recommend that number of fish in one QT. I only ended up there from a rookie mistake.

So my plan is to run a 30 day copper treatment. My fish have all been in this tank several weeks now, I've been observing, but most importantly they're all eating. I just got my Hanna test kit for copper today, personally I wouldn't risk the chances of error with the color matching test kits, they can be fairly inaccurate.
After I run 30 days of copper, or before, not so sure yet, I'm going to run PraziPro according to the directions. This is for flukes and intestinal worms and black ich.
I also am considering running Metronidazole. This covers internal parasites, brook, and uronema.

I plan to give them some time between these medications, or maybe do the 14 day in copper route then split the fish up into 2 10 gallons for the other treatments so they're not in copper as long.

So by time you finish those three you've covered ich and velvet. Flukes and intestinal worms and black ich. And internal parasites, brook, and uronema. Those three cover pretty much everything.

Frankly I'm in no rush to get these fish into the tank. Well I really really am, but I also want to make sure that nothing will come back to bite me. I might do all of that, I might not, but here's my thinking... maybe one of my fish in there has a good immune system. It might have something internal, but it's living fine with it. It's internal so you can't see. But my fear is what if down the road I get a fish and that fish due to the fish itself or a species thing, is really susceptible to something that another fish has and isn't being bothered by. I could treat that second fish if I see it's having a problem, but if I haven't treated everything else in my display with the same assumption then as soon as that 'weaker' fish goes into the display it's sick again even if the other fish weren't ill because of it. I'd much rather take the time to fully treat everything than have to disassemble my rocks to catch all my fish and go through a 76 day fallow.

HOWEVER big however here, your list of fish, tangs, wrasses, maybe some others, they are often frequently difficult to QT because they can be sensitive to treatments. Whatever you decide on, just double check. Ask in the forums about the specific treatments for specific sigh. Tangs are often called 'ich magnets' yet some are very sensitive to treatments.

Here's a link to the different treatments and how when etc you do them. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/treatment-options-index.247573/
I'd suggest just reading every one of the sticky threads in the disease forum. https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-and-diagnosis.771/

Because your big tank won't be cycled enough to really get a good sponge of bacteria then you need to buy some in a bottle or start the cycling now. I recently used Bio-Spira and it worked very well. It's a way to have an almost instant cycle. I don't know much about ATM colony and how well it works, but that's the idea. There's a thread going right now Bottled Bacteria Myth or Fact where a user is testing out the different bottled bacterias. Bio Spira worked for me, but I know others will recommend Dr Tims.

As for the filter, if you need to go out and buy something, as cheap as that looks, if you're going to be running medications and stuff it might be better to pick up a HOB filter because some treatments require you to run carbon as a form of removal which is just something to think of. It also helps to add a bit more water movement. In the US we recommend AquaClear filters, but I don't know if they're available in the UK. Or you could always just remove with water changes.

 

[saltwaterlover]

Okay well copper is something that can get rid of ich and velvet which from what I've read both are similarly common these days, but if you're in the UK that's different, practices are supposedly better there. But there's still a possibility that they could have flukes or internal parasites.
Now I am a far cry from Humblefish, so make sure you do your own research on anything I'm saying here because I could very well be wrong so that's my big warning. However I do have a plan. I have my fish in QT, it's a 29 gallon. It is admittedly overstocked because I had a cross contamination screw up with my first four fish so two batches of QT are in there together. The only reason it's not giving me much of an issue I think is because in this tank I have 2 clownfish, 1 neon goby, 1 kaudern's cardinal, 1 midas blenny, and 4 clown gobies. I'm keeping a close eye on my ammonia badge and everything but I would in no way recommend that number of fish in one QT. I only ended up there from a rookie mistake.

So my plan is to run a 30 day copper treatment. My fish have all been in this tank several weeks now, I've been observing, but most importantly they're all eating. I just got my Hanna test kit for copper today, personally I wouldn't risk the chances of error with the color matching test kits, they can be fairly inaccurate.
After I run 30 days of copper, or before, not so sure yet, I'm going to run PraziPro according to the directions. This is for flukes and intestinal worms and black ich.
I also am considering running Metronidazole. This covers internal parasites, brook, and uronema.

I plan to give them some time between these medications, or maybe do the 14 day in copper route then split the fish up into 2 10 gallons for the other treatments so they're not in copper as long.

So by time you finish those three you've covered ich and velvet. Flukes and intestinal worms and black ich. And internal parasites, brook, and uronema. Those three cover pretty much everything.

Frankly I'm in no rush to get these fish into the tank. Well I really really am, but I also want to make sure that nothing will come back to bite me. I might do all of that, I might not, but here's my thinking... maybe one of my fish in there has a good immune system. It might have something internal, but it's living fine with it. It's internal so you can't see. But my fear is what if down the road I get a fish and that fish due to the fish itself or a species thing, is really susceptible to something that another fish has and isn't being bothered by. I could treat that second fish if I see it's having a problem, but if I haven't treated everything else in my display with the same assumption then as soon as that 'weaker' fish goes into the display it's sick again even if the other fish weren't ill because of it. I'd much rather take the time to fully treat everything than have to disassemble my rocks to catch all my fish and go through a 76 day fallow.

HOWEVER big however here, your list of fish, tangs, wrasses, maybe some others, they are often frequently difficult to QT because they can be sensitive to treatments. Whatever you decide on, just double check. Ask in the forums about the specific treatments for specific sigh. Tangs are often called 'ich magnets' yet some are very sensitive to treatments.

Here's a link to the different treatments and how when etc you do them. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/treatment-options-index.247573/
I'd suggest just reading every one of the sticky threads in the disease forum. https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-and-diagnosis.771/

Because your big tank won't be cycled enough to really get a good sponge of bacteria then you need to buy some in a bottle or start the cycling now. I recently used Bio-Spira and it worked very well. It's a way to have an almost instant cycle. I don't know much about ATM colony and how well it works, but that's the idea. There's a thread going right now Bottled Bacteria Myth or Fact where a user is testing out the different bottled bacterias. Bio Spira worked for me, but I know others will recommend Dr Tims.

As for the filter, if you need to go out and buy something, as cheap as that looks, if you're going to be running medications and stuff it might be better to pick up a HOB filter because some treatments require you to run carbon as a form of removal which is just something to think of. It also helps to add a bit more water movement. In the US we recommend AquaClear filters, but I don't know if they're available in the UK. Or you could always just remove with water changes.

Thank you so so much this is all so helpful, if I’ve got anymore questions about this type of subject you know who to ask! Thank you very much[emoji1319]

 

[saltwaterlover]

Okay well copper is something that can get rid of ich and velvet which from what I've read both are similarly common these days, but if you're in the UK that's different, practices are supposedly better there. But there's still a possibility that they could have flukes or internal parasites.
Now I am a far cry from Humblefish, so make sure you do your own research on anything I'm saying here because I could very well be wrong so that's my big warning. However I do have a plan. I have my fish in QT, it's a 29 gallon. It is admittedly overstocked because I had a cross contamination screw up with my first four fish so two batches of QT are in there together. The only reason it's not giving me much of an issue I think is because in this tank I have 2 clownfish, 1 neon goby, 1 kaudern's cardinal, 1 midas blenny, and 4 clown gobies. I'm keeping a close eye on my ammonia badge and everything but I would in no way recommend that number of fish in one QT. I only ended up there from a rookie mistake.

So my plan is to run a 30 day copper treatment. My fish have all been in this tank several weeks now, I've been observing, but most importantly they're all eating. I just got my Hanna test kit for copper today, personally I wouldn't risk the chances of error with the color matching test kits, they can be fairly inaccurate.
After I run 30 days of copper, or before, not so sure yet, I'm going to run PraziPro according to the directions. This is for flukes and intestinal worms and black ich.
I also am considering running Metronidazole. This covers internal parasites, brook, and uronema.

I plan to give them some time between these medications, or maybe do the 14 day in copper route then split the fish up into 2 10 gallons for the other treatments so they're not in copper as long.

So by time you finish those three you've covered ich and velvet. Flukes and intestinal worms and black ich. And internal parasites, brook, and uronema. Those three cover pretty much everything.

Frankly I'm in no rush to get these fish into the tank. Well I really really am, but I also want to make sure that nothing will come back to bite me. I might do all of that, I might not, but here's my thinking... maybe one of my fish in there has a good immune system. It might have something internal, but it's living fine with it. It's internal so you can't see. But my fear is what if down the road I get a fish and that fish due to the fish itself or a species thing, is really susceptible to something that another fish has and isn't being bothered by. I could treat that second fish if I see it's having a problem, but if I haven't treated everything else in my display with the same assumption then as soon as that 'weaker' fish goes into the display it's sick again even if the other fish weren't ill because of it. I'd much rather take the time to fully treat everything than have to disassemble my rocks to catch all my fish and go through a 76 day fallow.

HOWEVER big however here, your list of fish, tangs, wrasses, maybe some others, they are often frequently difficult to QT because they can be sensitive to treatments. Whatever you decide on, just double check. Ask in the forums about the specific treatments for specific sigh. Tangs are often called 'ich magnets' yet some are very sensitive to treatments.

Here's a link to the different treatments and how when etc you do them. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/treatment-options-index.247573/
I'd suggest just reading every one of the sticky threads in the disease forum. https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/fish-disease-treatment-and-diagnosis.771/

Because your big tank won't be cycled enough to really get a good sponge of bacteria then you need to buy some in a bottle or start the cycling now. I recently used Bio-Spira and it worked very well. It's a way to have an almost instant cycle. I don't know much about ATM colony and how well it works, but that's the idea. There's a thread going right now Bottled Bacteria Myth or Fact where a user is testing out the different bottled bacterias. Bio Spira worked for me, but I know others will recommend Dr Tims.

As for the filter, if you need to go out and buy something, as cheap as that looks, if you're going to be running medications and stuff it might be better to pick up a HOB filter because some treatments require you to run carbon as a form of removal which is just something to think of. It also helps to add a bit more water movement. In the US we recommend AquaClear filters, but I don't know if they're available in the UK. Or you could always just remove with water changes.

Hi lol I’ve got one more question? So I’ve found a new tank and it’s an actual tank with a proper filter but I’m not sure if the filter will be equipped for the job and if it’s one you could put carbon in?
https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/...MIxd3Rq8Wx3QIVr7ztCh0xDgAuEAQYASABEgKYafD_BwE

 

[Big G]

Hi lol I’ve got one more question? So I’ve found a new tank and it’s an actual tank with a proper filter but I’m not sure if the filter will be equipped for the job and if it’s one you could put carbon in?
https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/...MIxd3Rq8Wx3QIVr7ztCh0xDgAuEAQYASABEgKYafD_BwE

Looks like one of the replacement filter cartridges you can purchase, has carbon and other materials to "clear the water" and remove "odours"

 

[saltwaterlover]

Looks like one of the replacement filter cartridges you can purchase, has carbon and other materials to "clear the water" and remove "odours"

Yeah I saw that, so do you think it’ll be suitable for a QT tank?

 

[Big G]

What makes a QT filter a winner for me, is if it is very easy to change filter material, the material can be easily modified for different uses/tasks, the media is reasonably priced and readily and widely available. And of course, the filter itself should be very durable and the rate of flow adjustable.