Quarantine Tank

[Aquarist007]

Suggestions for Feeding corals and inverts

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...&postcount=122

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by Jarret

I'm curious as well as to what fish he has that makes quarantining them impossible....

I know there are some fish that are very hard to treat with copper such as a Hawaiian flame angel.
I had so much trouble with these last winter--between all the tanks I service I must have lost 10 of them--two of them myself by treating with copper

[gmr7494]

Sorry to interrupt the thread, but I had a question: when you have fish in the QT, do you need to keep the light on?

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by gmr7494

Sorry to interrupt the thread, but I had a question: when you have fish in the QT, do you need to keep the light on?

no--only if the fish subscribe to the daily newspaper

seriously, keeping the light off is less stressful to fish so it is probably a good idea when the fish are in quarantine

[Matt0676]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

Yes you are correct in taking this approach. The inverts and corals etc can't host the cysts so by the time you are finished qt'ing the fish the display tank will be ready for fish again.

While the fish are in the qt tank it is a good time to feed them garlic soaked food and vitachem---this will help build up their immune systems. Healthy diets for your fish will improve their immune systems over time. A healthy fish can survive a parasite outbreak better then a weak stressed fish.


As far as the inverts in the display tank---feed a cube of mysis every second or third day and or a pinch of flake food. That also keeps the bacteria healthy and at a level somewhat close to when the fish were in the tank so that when you put them back in there is not a great chance at a ammonia spike while the bacteria are cycling to catch up

Perfect, I will stop on the way home today and pick up a QT tank. I am excited to get this process started!! I really don't want to lose anymore fish/money!

I have been using the Garlic Extreme over the last few weeks, should I just keep going with that? I will also add the vitachem to my husbandry.

Also, if my current fish aren't showing signs/symptoms how long should I treat them with copper/hypo? I want to make sure I don't re-introduce ich into my DT.

[Matt0676]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

almost forgot---here is the link to the qt thread

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1420521

Great!! Thank you for posting that. I will be sure to read through it tonight (when I'm not at work )

[Aquarist007]

Ideally you should remove all fish from the display tank and treat them in the qt for 4 to 5 weeks.
During this time keep the display tank fishless. Any of the eggs left will hatch and die because the don't have a fish host.
If you are anxious to push forward then stock your tank with inverts and corals
To be extremely cautious I would add nothing to the tank 12-17 days before the 5 weeks are up. this will ensure that you didn't carry any eggs into the tank via the corals live rock and inverts you might have added
I and most reefers that use garlic use it twice a week or more on a continuing basis.
Follow the directions on the vitachem bottle---there is a weekly dosage amount that you add directly to the water and a daily dosage that you soak the food in

[Matt0676]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

Ideally you should remove all fish from the display tank and treat them in the qt for 4 to 5 weeks.
During this time keep the display tank fishless. Any of the eggs left will hatch and die because the don't have a fish host.
If you are anxious to push forward then stock your tank with inverts and corals
To be extremely cautious I would add nothing to the tank 12-17 days before the 5 weeks are up. this will ensure that you didn't carry any eggs into the tank via the corals live rock and inverts you might have added
I and most reefers that use garlic use it twice a week or more on a continuing basis.
Follow the directions on the vitachem bottle---there is a weekly dosage amount that you add directly to the water and a daily dosage that you soak the food in

Sounds great, I feel pretty good about not adding anything to the DT for a while. I want to make sure that there is almost NO chance that the ich will return. Losing those fish was an eye-opening experience!

Thanks again for all of your help, I appreciate it!

[gmr7494]

Originally Posted by capn_hylinur

no--only if the fish subscribe to the daily newspaper

seriously, keeping the light off is less stressful to fish so it is probably a good idea when the fish are in quarantine

Thank you good sir!

By the way, please let me know if if I've done everything correctly so far. I have a QT set up consisting of a 10-gallon tank with HOB filter. The sponge in the filter I seeded in my DT for about a week. I also have some PVC in the QT, small heater, and an airstone. I mixed a fresh batch of SW about 2 weeks ago and I top off every other day with RO/DI. Nothing is in the QT right now as I am planning to purchase some livestock probably next week.

In my DT, I had an ich outbreak about three weeks ago. It killed my clownfish pair. So right now, my DT is fishless and has been that way for about three weeks. I know the ich will die off with no hosts after about six weeks. Is this correct?

Also, will I need to cycle the QT still?

[Matt0676]

Ok, quick question. I just got home and it appears my clown has now caught the ich. I know I should let my filter for the QT cycle in my DT and gain bacteria but I am not confident that my clown will survive the time it takes to do that.

Can I put the clown into the QT if I make some fresh saltwater and get the temperature right? It is my goal to treat him ASAP. Please give me some ideas!