Yellow watchman goby, QT?

LadyMac · Jul 31, 2018

Hey all! I am hoping by next Tuesday I will have an adorable yellow watchman goby for my little tiger pistol shrimp. Should I QT him? I've had mixed answers from many people. I have a spare ten gallon, with a sponge filter(not cycled, it was for a freshwater tank that I just took down.) If I do QT, I don't have any sand and was told no rock. Just pvc for a hide. The store he is coming from is who I've gotten all my stock from. I really don't see an issue with any pathogens and I've not QTed anything just yet. But my question is, would the ywg be ok with no sand and just a sponge filter and pvc hide? That seems like it would be more stressful than the display tank!

eatbreakfast · Jul 31, 2018

If you haven't qt'd your previous fish, qting this guy won't matter much.

Katrina71 · Jul 31, 2018

I don't QT. I know it's Russian roulette, but...

Flexin · Jul 31, 2018

Once you have an incident, you will QT. Good luck in whatever you decide.

Martin728 · Jul 31, 2018

Following this as I’ve always wondered what the best practice is.

When I started in this hobby I followed your same edict and did not QT. For the same reasons I trusted my sources and I had no issues for over a year. Then I got slapped with a Dino outbreak that took better part of 4-6months to get over. After that I started QTing everything but then the imapientce bug started to bite. And I would add them to my display as soon as they were eating aggressively for a week. I got lucky a few more times until recently when I lost half my fish after an addition.

QT everything for the specified time frame!

LadyMac · Jul 31, 2018

Martin728 said:
Following this as I’ve always wondered what the best practice is.

When I started in this hobby I followed your same edict and did not QT. For the same reasons I trusted my sources and I had no issues for over a year. Then I got slapped with a Dino outbreak that took better part of 4-6months to get over. After that I started QTing everything but then the imapientce bug started to bite. And I would add them to my display as soon as they were eating aggressively for a week. I got lucky a few more times until recently when I lost half my fish after an addition.

QT everything for the specified time frame!

So is it 30, 60 or 90 days? I get conflicting answers on that as well. I don't mind to QT I just want to be sure I can properly have this ten gallon set up for him where he will not be stressed.

LadyMac · Jul 31, 2018

I guess technically I do have sand, in the sump and some I pulled from the display that at the time had cyano on it. It's outside in a bucket that has rain water in it, so it's definitely not cycled. However the sand in the sump is. I could pull all of this, but I don't think it would be deep enough for the ten. Possibly place it in a container in there to give him a nice semi deep sand bed.

Flexin · Jul 31, 2018

Martin728 said:
Following this as I’ve always wondered what the best practice is.

When I started in this hobby I followed your same edict and did not QT. For the same reasons I trusted my sources and I had no issues for over a year. Then I got slapped with a Dino outbreak that took better part of 4-6months to get over. After that I started QTing everything but then the imapientce bug started to bite. And I would add them to my display as soon as they were eating aggressively for a week. I got lucky a few more times until recently when I lost half my fish after an addition.

QT everything for the specified time frame!

Sorry to hear about that loss. Same here. I had parasites come and I lost fish for some time. So now I do with corals and fish. Of course with the corals, I dip while in QT.

Timing for my corals is about a 10 days for me. I dip when they go in and then every other day. So day 2 I dip again, day 4 and day 6. Then leave them be for four days and move the to the display.

I've had monti eating nudis before and they can wipe out all your montis. And if someone tells you to treat the tank is something goes wrong, just know that can also throw your tank in a tail spin.

Curious to hear length of time on fish, I've heard everything from a week to 3 months. My gut would tell me to go 2 weeks and see if they are healthy. If it's a tang, you may want to do a fresh water dip if you see any signs of parasites.

LadyMac · Jul 31, 2018

Flexin said:
Sorry to hear about that loss. Same here. I had parasites come and I lost fish for some time. So now I do with corals and fish. Of course with the corals, I dip while in QT.

Timing for my corals is about a 10 days for me. I dip when they go in and then every other day. So day 2 I dip again, day 4 and day 6. Then leave them be for four days and move the to the display.

I've had monti eating nudis before and they can wipe out all your montis. And if someone tells you to treat the tank is something goes wrong, just know that can also throw your tank in a tail spin.

Curious to hear length of time on fish, I've heard everything from a week to 3 months. My gut would tell me to go 2 weeks and see if they are healthy. If it's a tang, you may want to do a fresh water dip if you see any signs of parasites.

Haha no tangs. I've got two false percula clowns and a few zoanthids, a palythoa and the pistol shrimp. So as for stocking it's very very light. I was just curious as to how I could setup a bare tank that won't stress a sand dwelling fish into illness.

Martin728 · Jul 31, 2018

Flexin said:
Sorry to hear about that loss. Same here. I had parasites come and I lost fish for some time. So now I do with corals and fish. Of course with the corals, I dip while in QT.

Timing for my corals is about a 10 days for me. I dip when they go in and then every other day. So day 2 I dip again, day 4 and day 6. Then leave them be for four days and move the to the display.

I've had monti eating nudis before and they can wipe out all your montis. And if someone tells you to treat the tank is something goes wrong, just know that can also throw your tank in a tail spin.

Curious to hear length of time on fish, I've heard everything from a week to 3 months. My gut would tell me to go 2 weeks and see if they are healthy. If it's a tang, you may want to do a fresh water dip if you see any signs of parasites.

4-6wks is what I shoot for with regards to fish. Could go longer depending on how the animal reacts to conditions. Coral is same time frame for me. I dip twice. Day 1 then again day 6 then I let them be to adapt to water chemistry for remainder of the 4 weeks. One could argue another dip on day 9 to break any pest life cycles and starve them out.

LadyMac · Aug 1, 2018

Ok so I'm not sure if this fish is wild caught or tank raised. So my setup will be a ten gallon with a small hang on back filter. I'll put filter floss from the sump (rinsed in fresh salt water) in there for the BB. I was going to use sand from the sump too but was told it's not advised cause pathogens in it. I do have some sand that's now inert and am picking up a bowl to place that in. Plan to also put some pvc for hides and keep it well well covered. I painted a blue background for the back so he doesn't feel all in the open and the bottom is painted black. I will at for two weeks, if he shows illness longer.

How does that sound?

Flexin · Aug 1, 2018

I find ammonia badges helpful for QT tank to keep up with water quality.

LadyMac · Aug 1, 2018

Do they really work? I was told to steer clear of them since they were pretty inaccurate. Is there a brand that's better than others?

Flexin · Aug 1, 2018

They work for me, I'm sure it not completely accurate, but it's better than nothing or testing each day. At least you can tell if conditions are changing and do a water change.