QT - Proactive Treatments?

immortl · 10/14/2012, 02:25 PM

I am curious about what those of you who proactively treat new fish and corals in QT treat with and how you go about doing so.

I was thinking of proactively treating fish with an antibiotic (not sure which one, any recommendations?) and then copper. When doing something like this is there a particular order? i understand copper can be stressful for the fish, so I was thinking antibiotic first and the copper.

For corals I was thinking a dip or two and then close monitoring for several weeks.

I am just starting to research this and would really appreciate any feedback regarding specific medicines, techniques, and/or experiences with a regiment along these lines.

Thanks,
Joe

bnumair · 10/14/2012, 02:32 PM

Not all fish can handle copper and corals / invests cannot at all. So do ur research before copper treatment. I personally run prazipro for all fish and copper for few selected fish and i do a coral dip for all corals. I don't qt or dip or treat inverts

Palting · 10/14/2012, 03:44 PM

I dip corals, and do hypo for new fish.

Tokyoyankee · 10/15/2012, 04:31 AM

Coral RX dip all new incoming corals and then into the display tank. All new fish go into a QT with cupurmine for 2 weeks.

jerpa · 10/15/2012, 05:11 AM

I don't currently treat in QT but I've decided that I am going to begin with my next purchase. I prefer the tank transfer method followed by a treatment with praziquantel and several more weeks of observation. I feel there is less room for error with the tank transfer method and there are no worries of copper toxicity in sensitive fish.

I currently dip corals but will be setting up a dedicated QT to observe them for several weeks. I've seen people who QT corals from several weeks up to six months so I haven't decided on an exact timeframe yet.

I have noticed that the more fish and corals I have in my tank the more paranoid I get about adding something new. I'm updating my QT practices because I have more to lose in the tank now, not because of any issues I've had up to this point.

Ryand63 · 10/15/2012, 06:35 AM

following along for this one..I was wondeirng the same thing what people do.

Wolverine · 10/15/2012, 10:04 AM

I do a dip for corals (which includes FWE). I don't treat fish in the QT unless I see disease. Am I going to just throw in a treatment for all the diseases without knowing if the fish will manifest any of them?
If I start to see signs of disease, I treat that disease.

b0bab0ey · 10/15/2012, 10:43 AM

For corals: I dip in CoralRx, and then isolate for 5-7 days in a fishless nano reef I have setup. Being that CoralRx only kills the pests, and not the eggs they leave behind, the coral then gets dipped in CoralRx a second time before going in my DT. The 5-7 day isolation period also eliminates the risk of any unwanted Crypto "hitchhikers", although snorvich has stated that 3 days is normally sufficient for that reason.

For fish: Two rounds of PraziPro, spaced 5 days apart, to eliminate any worms & the second generation from the eggs usually left behind. Followed by one solid month in Chloroquine Phosphate to prophylactically treat Crypto, Oodinium, Brook, Uronema. CP treatment is done lights out to prevent light from breaking down the medication. It's also done after Prazi, as mixing CP (and copper) with Prazi reduces Prazi's effectiveness. Antibiotics are only administered on an as-needed basis.

This regimen might sound ultra-paranoid to a lot of you. But after battling Crypto, Flukes, flatworms for over a year in my DT, I finally decided I had had enough of all that BS. I've been completely pest free for almost a year now.

immortl · 10/19/2012, 09:24 AM

Thanks for the feedback. I have a lot more information to process and consider now.

My motivation behind this is my failure to quarantine a new rock with yellow polyps about two months back. About 3-4 weeks after introducing it to my display tank, I had an outbreak of ich. Somehow in all of my readings, I missed the part about the possibility of ich coming in on rocks/substrate and quarantining corals. And of course the ich outbreak occurred as I was out of town for a week. I managed to save one clown fish when I returned, but lost my other three fish. I was bummed and would like to do everything I can to learn from this mistake and prevent similar events in the future.

Thanks,
Joe

sleepydoc · 10/19/2012, 04:11 PM

The question of whether to prophylactically treat in QT vs observing has no definite answer. Many (most?) elect to treat, since diseases can be asymptomatic and the goal is to have a 'clean' DT.

If you head over to the disease forum, there are some good stickies on the treatment of ich. No perfect treatment of course, but the general options are hypo, tank transfer, and copper. I've heard of using chloroquine, like b0bab0ey mentions, but don't know the data on it.

I've used prazipro and cupramine in the past, but will likely do tank transfer for my future purchases.

danil · 10/19/2012, 05:09 PM

Proactively treatment is a must for me. I'm so sick fighting ich in DT so now I would rather lost fish to QT treatment. Sad - yes but I'll save all other fish and tons of frustration on my side.

With corals I used RX - not really great dip since it has no effect on Red Bugs and these buggers infected my tank twice. Same with black bugs on my montis. I think good dip for LPS is OK but for SPS QT is super great idea.

10/14/2012, 02:25 PM	#1
immortl Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 114	QT - Proactive Treatments? I am curious about what those of you who proactively treat new fish and corals in QT treat with and how you go about doing so. I was thinking of proactively treating fish with an antibiotic (not sure which one, any recommendations?) and then copper. When doing something like this is there a particular order? i understand copper can be stressful for the fish, so I was thinking antibiotic first and the copper. For corals I was thinking a dip or two and then close monitoring for several weeks. I am just starting to research this and would really appreciate any feedback regarding specific medicines, techniques, and/or experiences with a regiment along these lines. Thanks, Joe

10/14/2012, 02:32 PM	#2
bnumair Dr. Reef at ur service Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tulsa, Ok, USA Posts: 7,751 Blog Entries: 15	Not all fish can handle copper and corals / invests cannot at all. So do ur research before copper treatment. I personally run prazipro for all fish and copper for few selected fish and i do a coral dip for all corals. I don't qt or dip or treat inverts __________________ Water Quality: NO3 0,Phos 0,Cal 440,Alk 7.5,Mag 1300 "Reef Fast, You Crash, Reef Slow, You Pass" Mike's Reef 3:16 Current Tank Info: 350g DT,95g sump, 50g Frag tank, 4800gph return 4x Sea swirls. 6x AI Vega Color. 200# Pukani rock, dual recirculating skimmer, Biopellet, GFO Carbon rx's, Cal rx. Closed loop. 1.5hp chiller, genesis renew. Apex & RKE

10/14/2012, 03:44 PM	#3
Palting Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Ohio Posts: 6,912	I dip corals, and do hypo for new fish. __________________ Anything I post is just an opinion. One of many in this hobby. Believe and follow at your own risk of rapid and complete annihilation of all life in your tank :) Current Tank Info: Incept 3/2010, 150 RR, 50g sump, 20g fuge, 150w 15K MH x3, T5 actinics x8, moonlight LED x6, 1400gph return, Koralia 1400 x4, 300 g skimmer, 4 tangs, 2 mandarins, 2 perc, 6 line, 3 cardinals, 2 firefish, SPS, LPS, zoas, palys, shrooms, clam

10/15/2012, 05:11 AM	#5
jerpa Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Pittsburgh Posts: 2,174	I don't currently treat in QT but I've decided that I am going to begin with my next purchase. I prefer the tank transfer method followed by a treatment with praziquantel and several more weeks of observation. I feel there is less room for error with the tank transfer method and there are no worries of copper toxicity in sensitive fish. I currently dip corals but will be setting up a dedicated QT to observe them for several weeks. I've seen people who QT corals from several weeks up to six months so I haven't decided on an exact timeframe yet. I have noticed that the more fish and corals I have in my tank the more paranoid I get about adding something new. I'm updating my QT practices because I have more to lose in the tank now, not because of any issues I've had up to this point. __________________ Jer Current Tank Info: 40b basement sump, 40b refugium, 30g frag

10/15/2012, 06:35 AM	#6
Ryand63 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,045	following along for this one..I was wondeirng the same thing what people do. __________________ 55 Gallon FOWLR - BeamsWork 48" LED's w/ Reef Octopus Bh-90 10 Gallon QT

10/15/2012, 04:31 AM	#4
Tokyoyankee Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Tokyo, Japan Posts: 241	Coral RX dip all new incoming corals and then into the display tank. All new fish go into a QT with cupurmine for 2 weeks.

10/15/2012, 10:04 AM	#7
Wolverine RC Mod Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: West Bloomfield, MI Posts: 17,732	I do a dip for corals (which includes FWE). I don't treat fish in the QT unless I see disease. Am I going to just throw in a treatment for all the diseases without knowing if the fish will manifest any of them? If I start to see signs of disease, I treat that disease. __________________ Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. -Douglas Adams Current Tank Info: 14g, 29g nano reefs

10/15/2012, 10:43 AM	#8
b0bab0ey Moved On Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 2,564	For corals: I dip in CoralRx, and then isolate for 5-7 days in a fishless nano reef I have setup. Being that CoralRx only kills the pests, and not the eggs they leave behind, the coral then gets dipped in CoralRx a second time before going in my DT. The 5-7 day isolation period also eliminates the risk of any unwanted Crypto "hitchhikers", although snorvich has stated that 3 days is normally sufficient for that reason. For fish: Two rounds of PraziPro, spaced 5 days apart, to eliminate any worms & the second generation from the eggs usually left behind. Followed by one solid month in Chloroquine Phosphate to prophylactically treat Crypto, Oodinium, Brook, Uronema. CP treatment is done lights out to prevent light from breaking down the medication. It's also done *after* Prazi, as mixing CP (and copper) with Prazi reduces Prazi's effectiveness. Antibiotics are only administered on an as-needed basis. This regimen might sound ultra-paranoid to a lot of you. But after battling Crypto, Flukes, flatworms for over a year in my DT, I finally decided I had had enough of all that BS. I've been completely pest free for almost a year now.

10/19/2012, 09:24 AM	#9
immortl Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 114	Thanks for the feedback. I have a lot more information to process and consider now. My motivation behind this is my failure to quarantine a new rock with yellow polyps about two months back. About 3-4 weeks after introducing it to my display tank, I had an outbreak of ich. Somehow in all of my readings, I missed the part about the possibility of ich coming in on rocks/substrate and quarantining corals. And of course the ich outbreak occurred as I was out of town for a week. I managed to save one clown fish when I returned, but lost my other three fish. I was bummed and would like to do everything I can to learn from this mistake and prevent similar events in the future. Thanks, Joe

10/19/2012, 04:11 PM	#10
sleepydoc Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 3,907	The question of whether to prophylactically treat in QT vs observing has no definite answer. Many (most?) elect to treat, since diseases can be asymptomatic and the goal is to have a 'clean' DT. If you head over to the disease forum, there are some good stickies on the treatment of ich. No perfect treatment of course, but the general options are hypo, tank transfer, and copper. I've heard of using chloroquine, like b0bab0ey mentions, but don't know the data on it. I've used prazipro and cupramine in the past, but will likely do tank transfer for my future purchases. __________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 120 gallon, coast to coast overflow w/beananimal overflow. Waveline DC 10000 II return pump, 40 gal sump, Octopus XS200 skimmer, T5 lighting

10/19/2012, 05:09 PM	#11
danil Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Concord, CA Posts: 935	Proactively treatment is a must for me. I'm so sick fighting ich in DT so now I would rather lost fish to QT treatment. Sad - yes but I'll save all other fish and tons of frustration on my side. With corals I used RX - not really great dip since it has no effect on Red Bugs and these buggers infected my tank twice. Same with black bugs on my montis. I think good dip for LPS is OK but for SPS QT is super great idea.