The Other Way to Run a Reef Tank (no Quarantine)

[MnFish1]

I always have enjoy reading your post. Not always in 100% agreement, however you always added value to the discussion. I agreed with above post (except who cares), I thought that was unnecessary and untrue.

Let’s park at:
“it's the owners responsibility to diagnose and treat it”

As it should be. AMEN

Lets discuss “treat it”. In my experiences, removing stress is the best possible treatment for many situations with fish and with people. Death certificates indicate died from heart attack, when the real hidden killer was stress. Without a doubt stress compromises immune system. To what degree is more difficult to quantify.

True. Again - I was responding to someone who was suggesting 'natural selection' was the way to go - which is kind of a 'let's just see what happens, who cares' comment. Stress can and will likely make any illness 'worse'. However, Just like in humans, you wouldn't treat strep throat with a yoga class (i.e. stress reduction), IMHO- if a fish has a diagnosis of a treatable disease, in addition to stress reduction an antibiotic/antiparasitic is in order IMHO

 

[RWhitt907]

I'm trying this method, so far I have a bunch of frozen mysis shrimp and other gut loaded food. What would you (or anyone else in this feed) suggest adding to the mix.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

It was a rhetorical answer. But true.

I caught this beautiful Filefish just now in my tank to return back to the store as he grew a little larger than I like. He is about 5" and I rather have 5 or 6 small interesting fish than this big guy. I also have 2 more of them and when they get to big, I will return them.

I caught him with this hook which I made from a needle. I have caught a few fish like this and never hurt any of them as far as I can tell. You can see that hook is about 1/8"

The only other way I could catch this fish would be to remove everything from the tank.



Now I will see what smaller interesting fish I can get.

I have a Clarkii I need out of my tank and was thinking of this method but worried it would hurt the fish, thank you for the post. In your experience, could you file the barb off of a small hook and have the same result? Thank you in advance

 

[Paul B]

I'm trying this method, so far I have a bunch of frozen mysis shrimp and other gut loaded food. What would you (or anyone else in this feed) suggest adding to the mix.

Live worms or shellfish, either fresh or freshly frozen.

I have a Clarkii I need out of my tank and was thinking of this method but worried it would hurt the fish, thank you for the post. In your experience, could you file the barb off of a small hook and have the same result? Thank you in advance

You will never be able to buy a hook that small. Just heat a pin and bend it.

 

[Subsea]

I'm trying this method, so far I have a bunch of frozen mysis shrimp and other gut loaded food. What would you (or anyone else in this feed) suggest adding to the mix.

Go to seafood market and get live bivalves: oysters, clams and mussels.

 

[Paul B]

I have 2 more of those filefish and when they grow to large, I will again use that hook and give them away.

 

[Stigigemla]

There are very small hooks for fly fishing.
I guess size 18 or 20 should be easy to find.

KNFS Free Hook-Size Chart for Common Sunfishes - Bluegill, longear sunfish, green sunfish, redear sunfish, and more! — Koaw Nature

Quickly reference what hook size to use for fish in the genus Lepomis, or common sunfishes. Learn what hooks to use for microfishing in this genus for species like the orangespotted sunfish, bantam sunfish and northern sunfish.

www.koaw.org

 

[Paul B]

I am not sure, but that hook I made is about 1/8" and took about 5 seconds to make.

 

[Paul B]

I posted this 3 years ago:

My Ich magnet Hippo tang has been in my tank for maybe 6 or 8 months and no ich yet. He has also never been fed nori or any dry food.



That "ich Magnet" tang is still fine and one of the nicest looking hippo tangs I have ever seen.

This is him now and I have no doubt he will live another 8 or more years.



I also have this "ich Magnet" Tomini Tang which is here as a baby. Now fully grown and in perfect health.



My tank recently went through a very stressful period because I removed the rocks to eliminate that blus sponge that you can see under that tang in the above picture.

I put the fish in a vat for a couple of days while I wire brushed and bleached some of my rocks.

I also dumped out all the NSW and put in ASW. I felt the NSW had to many silicates in it and it was fueling the sponge. Soon I will dump that out and again use NSW.

I didn't lose any fish except 2 that were still hiding in the rocks I removed and put outside in the winter. It killed the sponge and those 2 fish. Nothing got sick and all the paired fish are still spawning including these guys in the back of my tank.

 

[Paul B]

 

[PocketGoose]

Just wanted to chime in as a non-qt owner as well. Unknowingly, I have pretty much practiced this same idea with all my tanks. I have fed LRS/Rods/fresh foods always and have not lost a fish from disease yet - In my current setup I have seen some parasites/spots here and there but as time progressed and with a solidified diet I haven't noticed any issues with the livestock. Interesting first post Paul, thanks for sharing.

 

[MnFish1]

Nice pictures Paul - I will not answer further

 

[EliMelly]

@Paul B I started with the quarantine method, eventually bought a non quarantined fish, and I am now going through an Ich outbreak. I ordered all of the recommended foods, including live black worms, selcon, and vita chem. Plus I just installed a Uv sterilizer. Do you have any tips for how I can build up a healthy immune system for the fish that were previously quarantined as well as any other recommendations that will assist with battling Ich?

 

[PocketGoose]

@Paul B I started with the quarantine method, eventually bought a non quarantined fish, and I am now going through an Ich outbreak. I ordered all of the recommended foods, including live black worms, selcon, and vita chem. Plus I just installed a Uv sterilizer. Do you have any tips for how I can build up a healthy immune system for the fish that were previously quarantined as well as any other recommendations that will assist with battling Ich?

I like soaking my foods in selcon or vitamarin m. Personally, I think it has an effect on overall health of fish.

 

[EliMelly]

I like soaking my foods in selcon or vitamarin m. Personally, I think it has an effect on overall health of fish.

I just purchased selcon, so will definitely be doing this!

 

[C4ctus99]

I just purchased selcon, so will definitely be doing this!

I had some ich outbreak, ended up doing TTM and going to let DT go fallow just because I don’t think my herbivores had a healthy enough diet currently to do well. Not enough algae in the tank

I know clams are Paul’s go to food and his herbivores have plenty of algae and the like to munch on

 

[jasonrusso]

I had some ich outbreak, ended up doing TTM and going to let DT go fallow just because I don’t think my herbivores had a healthy enough diet currently to do well. Not enough algae in the tank

I know clams are Paul’s go to food and his herbivores have plenty of algae and the like to munch on

All my fish love clams, including the herbivores (Tomini tang and foxface).

 

[Paul B]

@Paul B I started with the quarantine method, eventually bought a non quarantined fish, and I am now going through an Ich outbreak. I ordered all of the recommended foods, including live black worms, selcon, and vita chem. Plus I just installed a Uv sterilizer. Do you have any tips for how I can build up a healthy immune system for the fish that were previously quarantined as well as any other recommendations that will assist with battling Ich?

Now that your fish have ich, they are building up an immunity to it. The tank needs some age on it. Feed only foods with living bacteria like freshly frozen, worms or clams but you can use any frozen commercial food for the majority of feedings.

You need natural, tight, dark hiding places and plenty of rock. There is no need to use Selcon as it just washes off any food that isn't dry but it won't hurt. You are just wasting your money. The proper foods are all that are needed.

Never medicate unless in a separate tank on a fish that you feel will die otherwise. Don't use any chemicals in your tank.

 

[jasonrusso]

Live worms or shellfish, either fresh or freshly frozen.

How long do you think I can freeze clams for before the benefits start to diminish?

I feed frozen clams daily, usually cockles (low thimanese) when I can get them.

 

[Paul B]

You can freeze them for a very long time, but like anything frozen, the benefits start to wane as soon as you freeze them. I think 6 months would be fine but I am guessing.