Fish Stocking 2.0

[Lostoften]

Well, display tank tank is running fallow after a case of velvet/flukes/unknown wiped out my entire tank.

Picked up a pair of clowns, yellow wrasse, and a tiger goby.

Couple questions:

Is the 30 day qt advocated as the standard vs 14 days in therapeutic copper due to most people don’t have 1 qt let alone 2. Or the failure of 14 is higher then 30 days in copper.

I currently don’t have any sand in the qt for the wrasse/goby. Should I pick up some silica sand, or as long as they are eating they are fine?

Last question, can you have too much oxygen in the water? Have one bubbler running in a 29gallon along with HOB filter and a power head.

Appreciate the thoughts/guidance.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

30 days is recommended to ensure the fish is healthy as 14 days is not enough time with some illnesses. you don’t need sand in your qt, just some pvc pipes and maybe a rock if you really wanted to, however it will absorb the copper and may make it more difficult to keep a therapeutic level of copper. a bubbler, powerhead and hob filter is great.

 

[Lostoften]

Thanks, one of the LFS does the 14 days in copper and then transfers to a completely clean tank. Didn’t know if 30 days has higher efficacy or just simpler due to one tank.

Also, getting set tomorrow to dose copper safe and their is no advantage to copper powder over copper safe correct?

Thanks!

 

[eliaslikesfish]

Thanks, one of the LFS does the 14 days in copper and then transfers to a completely clean tank. Didn’t know if 30 days has higher efficacy or just simpler due to one tank.

Also, getting set tomorrow to dose copper safe and their is no advantage to copper powder over copper safe correct?

Thanks!

i’ve honestly never used copper powder but i can say copper safe works like a charm and is what many people on R2R would recommend for a quarantine protocol. i highly recommend a hanna checker to monitor and maintain the copper copper level at 2.25PPM for therapeutic effect. don’t let it drop below 2 or go above 2.5 would be my recommendation

 

[Lostoften]

Awesome, just nervous as prior qt haven’t gone well. Recently due to sick fish and previous tanks due to improper setup/monitoring (years ago).

 

[eliaslikesfish]

Awesome, just nervous as prior qt haven’t gone well. Recently due to sick fish and previous tanks due to improper setup/monitoring (years ago).

some great advice in here as well.

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Lostoften]

Yep, Jay was helping me through the disaster that wiped the prior crew. Wish from a loss of fish and financials that I followed that with the first stocking attempt.

 

[Lostoften]

Unfortunately, lost a fish today. The goby ate fine this morning but just found dead. One side did have a little red behind gills.

SG 1.025
Copper: 2.51 (3 doses yesterday to reach this level)
Ammonia: Seachem badge between yellow and green. Salifert <0.15

Clowns and yellow wrasse are swimming fine.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

@Jay Hemdal

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Unfortunately, lost a fish today. The goby ate fine this morning but just found dead. One side did have a little red behind gills.

SG 1.025
Copper: 2.51 (3 doses yesterday to reach this level)
Ammonia: Seachem badge between yellow and green. Salifert <0.15

Clowns and yellow wrasse are swimming fine.

Tough to say what happened after the fact. How long had you had this fish?

 

[Lostoften]

Tough to say what happened after the fact. How long had you had this fish?

He was added to qt tank Thursday. I didn’t test salinity from LFS, but shop owner said all their tanks are 1.023-1.025. I floated the four fish for 20-25 mins, then added their water together in a 5 gallon bucket and added a cup of tank water every 5 mins for 30 mins then added to the tank. All fish ate well on Friday morning. I added 1/2 of expected copper (15 ml), then mid afternoon I added 7.5ml and before bed another 7.5 ml. This morning the fish ate well, even the yellow wrasse which has the least aggressive eater. Water this morning all tested right on target. I know putting fish through QT is stressful on fish (and owners), but didn’t expect a setback so soon.

My previous fish came from a LFS that swears by hydropex. These came from a different LFS that are against hydropex, but believe in kick-ick and rally pro to treat.

So far struggling to find an avenue that gets healthy fish in DT. Fingers crossed the clowns and yellow wrasse make it through.

 

[Lostoften]

The qt tank, was reset after the last batch of fish failed treatment. I rinsed everything with water and vinegar then rinsed thoroughly, and let dry for three plus days before refilling with fresh saltwater.

 

[Spare time]

Thanks, one of the LFS does the 14 days in copper and then transfers to a completely clean tank. Didn’t know if 30 days has higher efficacy or just simpler due to one tank.

Also, getting set tomorrow to dose copper safe and their is no advantage to copper powder over copper safe correct?

Thanks!

Copper power and copper safe are essentially the same.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

He was added to qt tank Thursday. I didn’t test salinity from LFS, but shop owner said all their tanks are 1.023-1.025. I floated the four fish for 20-25 mins, then added their water together in a 5 gallon bucket and added a cup of tank water every 5 mins for 30 mins then added to the tank. All fish ate well on Friday morning. I added 1/2 of expected copper (15 ml), then mid afternoon I added 7.5ml and before bed another 7.5 ml. This morning the fish ate well, even the yellow wrasse which has the least aggressive eater. Water this morning all tested right on target. I know putting fish through QT is stressful on fish (and owners), but didn’t expect a setback so soon.

My previous fish came from a LFS that swears by hydropex. These came from a different LFS that are against hydropex, but believe in kick-ick and rally pro to treat.

So far struggling to find an avenue that gets healthy fish in DT. Fingers crossed the clowns and yellow wrasse make it through.

So - this is a major consideration: These gobies are relative low value for the people catching them, but they hide really well, so they are difficult to capture in a net. Divers don’t want to spend a lot of time catching a fish that they can only sell for ten cents or less. Most of these fish are therefore caught with drugs, usually cyanide. Cyanide has been used since the 1960’s in the Philippines and since around 1980 in Indonesia. Some of the fish caught this way die suddenly days to weeks later. I’ve studied some shipments and the mortality rate can be 40 to 60%. I can’t rule that out as the problem here.

 

[Lostoften]

Thanks, tank tested fine this morning. With the exception that the heater is struggling with a colder house. I turned down the air stone, and moved it under the power head (it was right next to heater). I believe the tank has so much air coming in that the heater can’t keep up. Temperature was down to 75.2 this morning.

Clowns are eating well, yellow wrasse isn’t eating great, but eating.