Quarantine: why, what, when, how long, alternatives...

[Sk8r]

For the NTTH folk, on quarantine.
How much precaution you need is dependent on your sources---how clean they are...and on species: some are real vulnerable to parasites, and some are delicate and come down with disease and fungus.
BUT--even clean sources can have a problem. And an individual fish can have a problem. And if they have a problem, you have a problem.

Corals likewise have problems, but you can dip them, and in the case of zoas, observe them for eggs and hatches for a while after dip. And you can be a little surer than you can of fish.

If you are go-for-the-max on protection, you have 3 systems: the Reef, which is the finished product, the fish quarantine, and the frag/new coral tank.
You quarantine and ttm (tank transfer) against ich and other problems, and treat if needed. Only after this do you move a fish into the Reef. You hold all corals (after dip) in the coral tank for 72 days after the last coral has entered that tank. Put a new coral in? 72 days later, you can move any coral in there to the Reef. It's fairly simple. 72 days is how long it takes ich to starve-out: ich can't reproduce on corals. It needs fish. And the long watch prevents coral pests from getting loose into The Reef.

If you don't have a fish room with the 'room' for all this, you use a qt that's a bare glass tank that can sit on the kitchen counter for a while; even a poly bucket can be a treatment tank, if you turn out to need it. And if you can't hold your corals as above, at least dip them, and at least observe softies for a hold of a few days, involving a magnifying glass and an egg search (nudibranchs).

Remember that 72 days. If you have a breakout, and it should go away, as sometimes a very weak infestation has been known to do---do NOT put any other fish into that tank of yours for 72 days. 72 days clean, you MAY be safe. Or not.

We all have to compromise against a standard, and if the standard is set unachievably high, the tendency is to give up and do nothing. Don't 'do nothing.' Do as much as you can, and if all you can possibly do is to sit on your hands for 72 days and not expose another fish, that's better than buying a fish, putting it in, and feeding another generation of ich.

There's a lot you can do with a fallow tank for 72 days. You can mess with the rockwork, you can plan, you can watch your inverts. Just hold off, hold out, and perfect your water chemistry. Get it REALLY perfect. That's an achievement, and the skill will never be wasted. It'll help any next specimen resist anything it might meet.

Most of all don't let the extremity of some precautions discourage you from doing ANYTHING. Do what you can do, and most of all, apply patience.

[crocogator106]

Good advice! I had a SW tank years ago and never quarantined anything-lol. I learned my lesson then. I'm even starting out with dry rock this time-can't be too careful. I'm thinking of using a 10g as a quarantine tank, its cheap as well as any equipment I might need for it. Probably cheaper in the long run to quarantine than have to spend $$$$$ trying to get rid of something once its introduced into the DT.

[Sk8r]

And in answer to the obvious question---what is 'perfect water?'
It's pretty well your fresh new salt water...balanced with all the dried-out trace elements and principal major elements it takes to take zero-content-h20, (aka ro/di with zero tds)---and turn it into good seawater.

You can NOT add every trace in the book independently unless you're the Atlanta Aquarium. That scale, well, maybe. But you're not the Atlanta Aquarium.
So how DO you keep up with the trace elements? Those weekly 10% water changes. Run 'em from the sump (drain the sump and put them into that) or however you have to, but do them. That's how you replace those trace elements the fish and corals use up.
The traces matter.
Salinity matters.
And for ALL tanks, alkalinity matters---that's the measure of a tank's ability to handle acids. PH may measure acidity, nice, but what you need to know is the tank's capacity to manage PH, and that's measured by alk, as best I understand it. Certainly ALk is a good bellwether of where your magnesium level is and where your calcium is. So track ALK above all other parameters besides salinity and temperature. That's, in a sense, a pretty reliable measure of your tank's health.

Fish-onlies and softie tanks don't need to go beyond watching their salinity and alkalinity---as long as they DO the water changes. Stony coral tanks need to test those two things and supplement them constantly. Fortunately a little dose of mag now and again plus kalk in the topoff water is usually enough to do this practically labor-free.

If you've significantly missed some water changes, then it's a real good idea to look at that magnesium and calcium level, and consider some larger, closer-together water changes, or if a stony reef, start doing some frequent tests and correction.

That's the main big deal in keeping 'perfect' water. Do water changes and watch those specifics I've named. They're so very basic. Keep 'em right, keep 'em steady, and you will have far, far less trouble with your tank in general. Fish that have good healthy slime coats can stand off problems. Give 'em a good chance!