How to Quarantine

[melypr1985]

I just read the article and from what I just read it seems like a great method. From the results in the Kollman study I don't understand why all LFS don't keep all there fish only systems at a Hyposalinity. It seems like the best option for the fish and the store since it is easy and cheap.
Have you had good experiences with this? Seems like all you would need is the basic QT setup and a cheap ATO for the QT tank. If it really replaces both prazi and copper/CP, why would I not want to try it on the next batch of fish? If you know something I don't feel free to chime in. Thanks again for all the great info.

The reason more people dont use it is because it's difficult to execute properly. If your salinity edges even a little above the 1.009 then you have to start over.(edit to say: there are also hypo resistant strains of ich out there) Having an ATO helps alot as well. The reason we dont do it at our store is because we mix all our water at 1.025 (we sell it and use it for our other systems as well. It would take a lot of work to fill our sump to a certain level, then add a certain level of fresh water to that. Teaching the others to do this properly as well is a problem. This is minor though, the bigest problem for us is evap. Our system is more than 2,000 and we just can't get an ATO for that large of a system. So, even if I went through the trouble to make water changes easy for everyone, the evap would kill us on it. I'm honestly trying to get them to run prazi once a week in our FO system instead of copper since most of our fish have a bigger problem with flukes than with ich. I hope that answers at least part of your question, the nyquil is kicking in and I'm probably losing it a little

 

[Humblefish]

The reason more people dont use it is because it's difficult to execute properly. If your salinity edges even a little above the 1.009 then you have to start over.(edit to say: there are also hypo resistant strains of ich out there) Having an ATO helps alot as well. The reason we dont do it at our store is because we mix all our water at 1.025 (we sell it and use it for our other systems as well. It would take a lot of work to fill our sump to a certain level, then add a certain level of fresh water to that. Teaching the others to do this properly as well is a problem. This is minor though, the bigest problem for us is evap. Our system is more than 2,000 and we just can't get an ATO for that large of a system. So, even if I went through the trouble to make water changes easy for everyone, the evap would kill us on it. I'm honestly trying to get them to run prazi once a week in our FO system instead of copper since most of our fish have a bigger problem with flukes than with ich. I hope that answers at least part of your question, the nyquil is kicking in and I'm probably losing it a little

+1 Plus how do you sell fish being kept at 1.009 to customers keeping their SG typically at 1.025-26? The fish would die of osmotic shock.

The hypo resistant strains (two were actually discovered) was a study done by Yambot in 2003.

 

[Alucard]

What if I'm not planning on having any fish, maybe ever. Just keeping anemones and shrimp?

 

[Humblefish]

What if I'm not planning on having any fish, maybe ever. Just keeping anemones and shrimp?

No need to QT then. Except certain nems (mainly carpets) do get infections (treatable with cipro). And if you ever get into corals, those can carry pests that can harm other corals.

 

[Alucard]

No need to QT then. Except certain nems (mainly carpets) do get infections (treatable with cipro). And if you ever get into corals, those can carry pests that can harm other corals.

Ok thanks so much!

 

[VJV]

Simple question: when you have several tanks as I do (Fish QT, coral QT, family room tank, daughter tank), how can you make sure you "sterilize" your hands going from one to another? Alcohol? I wash under really hot water but not sure is enough?

 

[Humblefish]

Simple question: when you have several tanks as I do (Fish QT, coral QT, family room tank, daughter tank), how can you make sure you "sterilize" your hands going from one to another? Alcohol? I wash under really hot water but not sure is enough?

Soap & water - that's all I've ever done. Remember to get your arms too if you went deep into a tank. Always do this immediately after working in any tank, to protect YOU from harmful organisms living inside your aquarium.

Rinse thoroughly afterwards to be sure all the soap residue is gone if you plan on putting your hands in another tank.

 

[VJV]

Thanks! Just remembered another one: how long would ich survive in open air? The other day I bough some bulk ceramic media in my fish store and the employee used its hands to take it out of the container and into a bag. He did not have wet hands and probably just being paranoid, but I decided to wait before putting the media in my been two weeks. Do you think I can safely put it back in?

Thanks again!

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks! Just remembered another one: how long would ich survive in open air? The other day I bough some bulk ceramic media in my fish store and the employee used its hands to take it out of the container and into a bag. He did not have wet hands and probably just being paranoid, but I decided to wait before putting the media in my been two weeks. Do you think I can safely put it back in?

Ich theronts probably can't survive long in "open air" but a droplet of water that hasn't evaporated would be another story. For example, whenever I go to a LFS I am always handed a dripping wet bag. That's the sort of thing you want to be paranoid about. Or here's another scenario: For those who buy their SW from a LFS because they don't have an RODI ... Do you think the LFS employee really washes their hands when they go from one of their tanks to the water vat?

 

[mandylv23]

You can just add it to the DT and restart the 76 day clock. However, this only applies to fish diseases (i.e. encysted ich tomonts) and not coral pests which the favia could also have. Or you can isolate it to a fishless frag tank for 76 days (this is what I do with all new corals/inverts.)

How do you quarantine corals or treat them to get rid of coral pests before adding them to even a drag tank?

 

[melypr1985]

How do you quarantine corals or treat them to get rid of coral pests before adding them to even a drag tank?

You keep them in a fishless frag tank for 76 days. You can use a coral dip for coral pests before they go into the coral QT.... then observe for other pests that the dip didn't get rid of and act accordingly for whatever you might find. You can also give another dip before they go into the DT.

 

[mandylv23]

Best coral dip to use?

 

[melypr1985]

Best coral dip to use?

I use Revive and have used Coral RX at the store. Both work pretty well, but there are a lot of people that are now using Bayer. I've never tried it, but I hear great things. I believe @twilliard has a write up about it. I think.

 

[Humblefish]

You keep them in a fishless frag tank for 76 days. You can use a coral dip for coral pests before they go into the coral QT.... then observe for other pests that the dip didn't get rid of and act accordingly for whatever you might find. You can also give another dip before they go into the DT.

^^What she said. Below is a pic of my 29 gal "fishless" frag tank. I place all corals/inverts in here for 76 days before they go into my DT. Just cheap T5 lighting, Koralia powerhead, HOB powerfilter, heater, rock/sand and a frag rack gets the job done.

 

[VJV]

^^What she said. Below is a pic of my 29 gal "fishless" frag tank. I place all corals/inverts in here for 76 days before they go into my DT. Just cheap T5 lighting, Koralia powerhead, HOB powerfilter, heater, rock/sand and a frag rack gets the job done.

A couple of questions:

Why the sandbed? Filtration or aesthetics?

What is your water change routine?

Skimmer any use in such tank? Namely to remove coral slime or chemical warfare?

Activated carbon?

 

[Humblefish]

Why the sandbed? Filtration or aesthetics?

Purely aesthetics. Same thing with the softies growing on the LR; I keep the corals I am QT'ing on the rack above. But just a little bare LR (3-4 pieces) is all you really need for filtration purposes.

What is your water change routine?

Because there are no fish, there's very little waste, thus I rarely do a WC. Maybe every few months or so just to bump up my calcium/magnesium. Alkalinity & calcium I maintain by gravity dripping kalk into the tank every night. But there are other products you can use to maintain these in such a small tank. I target feed all my corals once a week plus throw in a pinch of flake every few days to maintain bacteria levels.

Skimmer any use in such tank? Namely to remove coral slime or chemical warfare?

I use this one (just because someone gave it to me): http://www.marinedepot.com/Red_Sea_...tein_Skimmers-Red_Sea-RS1131-FIPSHOVS-vi.html

However, I really like the CPR skimmer for small tanks: http://www.marinedepot.com/CPR_Bak_..._Protein_Skimmers-CPR-CR1111-FIPSHOVS-vi.html

Coralife makes a nice HOB skimmer as well.

Activated carbon?

I put a small bag of Rox 0.8 in the Aquaclear 70 HOB powerfilter I've got running on the tank. Sometimes I'll run some GFO in a Phosban Reactor 150 when I have algae problems (which was only when I first started up the tank.)

 

[VJV]

Thanks a tom Humblefish! Maybe a bit off topic, but here is my coral QT. It is an 8 gallon TMC Microhabitat AIO with a Maxspect Celestial LED.

The back compartment is split into three chambers. The first one has an air driven protein skimmer, the second is filled with seachem's Matrix media with a filter pad on top. I will also add some carbon here and GFP if/when needed. The third is the return.

 

[Humblefish]

@VJV Looks like you have an effective coral QT to me. Good job!

 

[VJV]

Thanks [emoji4]! I like it a lot. Very simple, clean and gives me easy access to the corals.

 

[Humblefish]

Thanks [emoji4]! I like it a lot. Very simple, clean and gives me easy access to the corals.

Next time somebody is like "OMG I can't QT corals", I'm gonna show them a pic of your setup. Never thought about using a biocube (or similar) for that purpose.