First Fish Quarantine Help Please!

[Hordearii]

Hi everyone, I'm starting my first reef tank and I've finally gotten to the step of adding my first fish and I need some help with quarantining. I was planning on doing the 80/20 quarantine recommended on the BRS TV series with Elliott.. but I only found out this weekend that Furan-2 has been discontinued, so now I'm not sure what protocol I should use? Nitrofurazone in other forms is not available in my location either. The list of fish meds I have access to are: API General Cure, Copper Power, Prazipro, API Erythromycin, Sulfaplex, Metroplex, Kanaplex, API Focus, Cupramine, Fritz Copper Safe, Fenbendazole, methelyne blue, kordon's ich attack, Melafix, Pimafix, and Fritz Expel-P. Please let me know what would be the most effective way to QT and treat my fish with only these options before putting them in my display tank! I have 3 fish arriving this week. They are all captive bred, but come from a facility that deals in wild caught fish too, so I am being careful. The fish arriving this week are 2 premium Gladiator clownfish and an orchid dottyback. I plan to use a 10 gallon and use an acclimation box for the dottyback. They will then be introduced into my 135 gallon display, and hopefully some more fish soon after. Once I know what protocol to use I will have the medicated water for the full quarantine prepped in advance. Thank you for the help and suggestions, looking forward to getting some fish into the tank!

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

The 80/20 by BRS I found to be very confusing and unnecessary. After much research this is the quarantine method I use. This method will deal with ich/velvet/flukes/brook/external uro/black ich. I don’t treat for internal parasites so you may have to alter things if you want to:

Copper Power for 30 days (30 days starts from the last seen spots on the fish)

Prazipro x2 for 7 days each

37% Formaldehyde dip for 45 min

 

[AydenLincoln]

Quarantine can also be used to monitor them and not treat. I’d recommend getting some PVC piping for hiding places, a simple HOB filter, heater, and air stone in a bare bottom tank. I would say it’s entirely up to you as to whether or not you want to medicate. If they seem fine though and have no obvious signs of disease then it may not be worth it but at the time things like copper can’t hurt when dosed carefully/correctly and may provide some treatment if they do have something you can’t see. If you look at the list of ingredients anything with copper many of these are good brands (though maybe not API) and make sure you are using a saltwater medication if you do medicate not freshwater.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I use cupramine for ich and velvet treatment per the directions. I like it because it is water soluble, and doesn't leach copper after removal. You will need other meds for any possible internal parasites. I haven't used them together, however, so I cannot comment on doing a combined treatment. Also, some fish cannot by qt'd in copper.Good luck!

 

[Hordearii]

The 80/20 by BRS I found to be very confusing and unnecessary. After much research this is the quarantine method I use. This method will deal with ich/velvet/flukes/brook/external uro/black ich. I don’t treat for internal parasites so you may have to alter things if you want to:

Copper Power for 30 days (30 days starts from the last seen spots on the fish)

Prazipro x2 for 7 days each

37% Formaldehyde dip for 45 min

What is the formaldehyde for? I don't have access to it, but curious

 

[Hordearii]

Quarantine can also be used to monitor them and not treat. I’d recommend getting some PVC piping for hiding places, a simple HOB filter, heater, and air stone in a bare bottom tank. I would say it’s entirely up to you as to whether or not you want to medicate. If they seem fine though and have no obvious signs of disease then it may not be worth it but at the time things like copper can’t hurt when dosed carefully/correctly and may provide some treatment if they do have something you can’t see. If you look at the list of ingredients anything with copper many of these are good brands (though maybe not API) and make sure you are using a saltwater medication if you do medicate not freshwater.

Thanks Aidan, I have the PVC, but was planning on using Prime instead of a HoB filter because it's compatible with copper power. I had a 15 gallon QT set up, but my red racer nerite snails decided they needed the brackish they were in it to breed, so now I'm doing a 10 gallon with airstone and prime. Copper Power is good for salt water though for sure .

 

[Hordearii]

I use cupramine for ich and velvet treatment per the directions. I like it because it is water soluble, and doesn't leach copper after removal. You will need other meds for any possible internal parasites. I haven't used them together, however, so I cannot comment on doing a combined treatment. Also, some fish cannot by qt'd in copper.Good luck!

I thought about using Cupramine, but then read using it together with Prime can make it 10x more toxic because it isn't chelated copper. Do you know which fish can't be QT in copper? I'm only planning to do a medicated QT for this first arrival, all other fish will be coming from captive bred only environments

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

What is the formaldehyde for? I don't have access to it, but curious

Formaldehyde will kill Brook and External Uronemia. You can buy 37% formaldehyde on Amazon. Then you add 12 drops to one gallon of water, put an air stone in it and bathe the fish for 45 min. It will also knock off flukes and I think velvet. So some people do this at the beginning of quarantine to decrease the pathogen load on the fish. Formaldehyde is cancer causing so it needs to be handled with care. Other option is to buy a product called safety stop which contains Formalin but the dosing on that has not been verified.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I thought about using Cupramine, but then read using it together with Prime can make it 10x more toxic because it isn't chelated copper. Do you know which fish can't be QT in copper? I'm only planning to do a medicated QT for this first arrival, all other fish will be coming from captive bred only environments

Fish and Treatment Guidelines (with chart)

The following chart is a quick reference guide on what QT protocol should be used according to which type of fish you are running through QT. It will give you an idea of which methods are generally safest with certain species but is not meant to...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Hordearii]

Formaldehyde will kill Brook and External Uronemia. You can buy 37% formaldehyde on Amazon. Then you add 12 drops to one gallon of water, put an air stone in it and bathe the fish for 45 min. It will also knock off flukes and I think velvet. So some people do this at the beginning of quarantine to decrease the pathogen load on the fish. Formaldehyde is cancer causing so it needs to be handled with care. Other option is to buy a product called safety stop which contains Formalin but the dosing on that has not been verified.

Hmmm okay I will see what I can find. I'm in Canada so some of these things are harder to access... I do see 4 oz of it on Amazon for $60, but it wouldn't be here until the second week of August, so might be too late. Can I not treat Brook or Uronema with any of the medications I listed above? I know flukes at least can be dealt with by use of prazipro or general cure at least

 

[Hordearii]

Fish and Treatment Guidelines (with chart)

The following chart is a quick reference guide on what QT protocol should be used according to which type of fish you are running through QT. It will give you an idea of which methods are generally safest with certain species but is not meant to...

www.reef2reef.com

This is awesome, thank you! Makes me much more comfortable using copper with the clowns and dottyback.

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Hmmm okay I will see what I can find. I'm in Canada so some of these things are harder to access... I do see 4 oz of it on Amazon for $60, but it wouldn't be here until the second week of August, so might be too late. Can I not treat Brook or Uronema with any of the medications I listed above? I know flukes at least can be dealt with by use of prazipro or general cure at least

I think the flukes and copper are your best bet to eliminate most issues with fish. If you start this process you are already better then probably 80% of reefers. I think formalin is great to have on hand but only if you see the disease needed to treat it. The QT process is a great time to observe your fish. There are plenty of people here to help.
Also biggest threat in qt is ammonia levels to the fish and oxygen levels. So try and just research the basics of QT and go from there. Don't over complex it and read the instructions on the bottles. My tip on QT is always have made saltwater on hand to do WC if you noticed something going wrong.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Hmmm okay I will see what I can find. I'm in Canada so some of these things are harder to access... I do see 4 oz of it on Amazon for $60, but it wouldn't be here until the second week of August, so might be too late. Can I not treat Brook or Uronema with any of the medications I listed above? I know flukes at least can be dealt with by use of prazipro or general cure at least

I don’t know the answer to that question. I’ll have to leave that one up to the experts.

Copper will take care of ich/velvet
Prazi/General cure will take care of fluke (make sure you use each round for 7 days x 2 rounds to kill the new hatchlings)
Brook/Uro/Black Ich I know Formalin will take care of but I’m sure there are other things that kill them that I don’t know about

 

[Hordearii]

I think the flukes and copper are your best bet to eliminate most issues with fish. If you start this process you are already better then probably 80% of reefers. I think formalin is great to have on hand but only if you see the disease needed to treat it. The QT process is a great time to observe your fish. There are plenty of people here to help.
Also biggest threat in qt is ammonia levels to the fish and oxygen levels. So try and just research the basics of QT and go from there. Don't over complex it and read the instructions on the bottles. My tip on QT is always have made saltwater on hand to do WC if you noticed something going wrong.

No worries I have been in the freshwater side of things for a while, so I'm comfortable managing the ammonia side of things. I have plenty of prime on hand and will keep water available at all times during QT to be safe. My airstone is already in the tank waiting to be used. I know you can't use prazi at the same time as prime, so I am a bit more concerned about that second half of QT, but I hope I can make that relatively easy with lots of water on hand.

 

[Hordearii]

I don’t know the answer to that question. I’ll have to leave that one up to the experts.

Copper will take care of ich/velvet
Prazi/General cure will take care of fluke (make sure you use each round for 7 days x 2 rounds to kill the new hatchlings)
Brook/Uro/Black Ich I know Formalin will take care of but I’m sure there are other things that kill them that I don’t know about

Hmmm, okay, I don't think formalin is available in Canada, but I will take a look. Do people typically pre-treat for brook/uro/etc. in QT or just if they see signs it may be needed during QT?

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Hmmm, okay, I don't think formalin is available in Canada, but I will take a look. Do people typically pre-treat for brook/uro/etc. in QT or just if they see signs it may be needed during QT?

I believe most do it if they see signs or if they are dealing with fish that are highly susceptible to it (Brook = Clown) (Uro = Anthias). I like to do it to be comprehensive.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

As someone said earlier, if you do copper and Prazi correctly, you will have eliminated the 3 most common and concerning pathogens. This is a great start and more than most people in the hobby do unfortunately. Be careful that your meds don’t drop below therapeutic dosage when changing water. Once you get the hang of the whole quarantine thing, it actually becomes really fun and you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t do it earlier. Plus you’ll always be looking for rescue fish from other hobbyists that need a quarantine. The only downside to that is there can be more fish available than one has room for and at some point one just needs to stop

 

[Hordearii]

As someone said earlier, if you do copper and Prazi correctly, you will have eliminated the 3 most common and concerning pathogens. This is a great start and more than most people in the hobby do unfortunately. Be careful that your meds don’t drop below therapeutic dosage when changing water. Once you get the hang of the whole quarantine thing, it actually becomes really fun and you’ll ask yourself why you didn’t do it earlier. Plus you’ll always be looking for rescue fish from other hobbyists that need a quarantine. The only downside to that is there can be more fish available than one has room for and at some point one just needs to stop

Thanks so much for all the help, I will be thorough with my water changes to keep the copper consistent. I will for now monitor the clowns during their quarantine for signs of brook, and then figure out a treatment if needed, but otherwise focus on treating with Copper Power for the first 2 weeks, then do an additional 2 weeks of treating with Prazi, and take it from there. Thanks again for all the help!