When should I add a quarantine tank

[jpfelgueiras]

My tank is a 85l AIO (TMC Next Wave 85) that I have started 6 weeks ago.
After the first 4 weeks the parameters look good (0 NH4 and 0.02 NO2) and I started adding some live stock.
Currently I have 3 Trochus, 2 Nassarius, 2 frags of zoas, 1 polyp of Caulastrea, small Euphyllia devisa head and 2 ocellaris.

In my plan ( always subject of change) I’m not thinking in adding that many fish or invertebrates .

• Nemateleotris magnifica
• Gramma loreto
• Cryptocentrus cinctus
• Alpheus randalli
• Lysmata amboinensis
• Lybia tessellata
• 3x Cerith

With coral I’m not to worry of adding them since I can dip them but for fish and invertebrates I find out it’s a significant risk.

I have my eyes on a small 30l AIO that I’m thinking on using it first as a quarantine and after adding all the planed fishes and invertebrates as a fragging tank.

My question is if I should put on hold the additions of any fish and invertebrates (slowly adding only coral) until I have the quarantine tank or am I being over cautious.

To add some more context, the rest of items my plan consist are only corals:

• Ricordea
• Sinularia
• Sarcophyton
• Euphyllia ancora
• Acanthastrea echinata
• Plerogyra sinuosa
• Duncanopsammia axifuga
• Trachyphyllia geoffroyi

My parameters are:

• NH4 - 0
• NO2 - 0
• NO3 - 2
• PO - 0.03
• Salinity - 1.025
• Temp - 26C
• PH - 8.3
• Mg - 1255
• KH - 11
• Ca - 420

 

[Catawba_Valley_Reef]

My tank is a 85l AIO (TMC Next Wave 85) that I have started 6 weeks ago.
After the first 4 weeks the parameters look good (0 NH4 and 0.02 NO2) and I started adding some live stock.
Currently I have 3 Trochus, 2 Nassarius, 2 frags of zoas, 1 polyp of Caulastrea, small Euphyllia devisa head and 2 ocellaris.

In my plan ( always subject of change) I’m not thinking in adding that many fish or invertebrates .

• Nemateleotris magnifica
• Gramma loreto
• Cryptocentrus cinctus
• Alpheus randalli
• Lysmata amboinensis
• Lybia tessellata
• 3x Cerith

With coral I’m not to worry of adding them since I can dip them but for fish and invertebrates I find out it’s a significant risk.

I have my eyes on a small 30l AIO that I’m thinking on using it first as a quarantine and after adding all the planed fishes and invertebrates as a fragging tank.

My question is if I should put on hold the additions of any fish and invertebrates (slowly adding only coral) until I have the quarantine tank or am I being over cautious.

To add some more context, the rest of items my plan consist are only corals:

• Ricordea
• Sinularia
• Sarcophyton
• Euphyllia ancora
• Acanthastrea echinata
• Plerogyra sinuosa
• Duncanopsammia axifuga
• Trachyphyllia geoffroyi

My parameters are:

• NH4 - 0
• NO2 - 0
• NO3 - 2
• PO - 0.03
• Salinity - 1.025
• Temp - 26C
• PH - 8.3
• Mg - 1255
• KH - 11
• Ca - 420

A quarantine tank is always a good idea in my opinion.

Keep in mind that dipping a coral will kill the adult pests but not any eggs (example flatworms).

You could add your first fish or two into the main tank and then wait 30 days to make sure you don’t see any flukes, ich, etc. If no signs of disease, then from that point forward I would quarantine all other fish and inverts in a separate tank.

Sadly fish disease can come in on inverts and potentially even certain corals. The tomont stage of ich can insist on a hard surface such as a snail shell or frag plug.

 

[edsbeaker]

Hi,
I don’t believe you are being overly cautious with wanting to quarantine all fish and inverts.

I realize that you already have two non quarantined clownfish already in your display tank, but if you are going to go the route of quarantining, my belief is that all fish from the very first fish should go through the quarantine process for a couple of reasons.

First, if that fish does have a disease, flukes, ich, velvet, whatever, you would need to place that fish into a quarantine tank to treat anyway, and now your display tank is infected and have to run that fallow for 70+ days.

The second reason is that sometimes you may not recognize that a new fish has either died due to a disease, or even recovered from a disease that is now in your display tank. Now you begin quarantining all additional fish, but, unknowingly, place these disease free fish into the infected display tank.

I just think that, in the long run, it’s easier and less problematic to quarantine all fish from the start.