quarintine tank

[Land_shark067]

Hey Guys!

so i had an ick outbreak that killed all my fish so i have waited 6 weeks without any fish in my DT and am getting my first quarantine tank set up. would like to share my quarantine plans and see if anyone has any comments. i have learned my painful lesson and will QT any new fish for 5 weeks. plus after QT time i wont have a fish in the tank for 12 weeks.

I have a 20 gallon aquarium with a filter that has been cycling in my DT sump for last 3 weeks. basic hang on back filter. then adding basic heater and thermostat. i have found using hang on back with water low enough to splash gives me the oxygenation to avoid needing an air stone.

going to treat with Seachem Paraguard for the recommend 2 weeks. do a 50% water change then going to dose with seachem cupramine and dose with with paraguard again as well. I have researched paraguard and prazipro and am trusting seachems amazing reputation and using paraguard. it will treat for flukes which is my main goal in the first 2 weeks and claims it will treat for ich as well. them then I plan on re-dosing and use copper (Seachem cupramine) for 2 weeks to kill any ich. (i have read about TTM and seems to be some mixed feeling about what stresses fish more being caught and moved a lot or copper and so i decided to try treating with copper this time and see how the fish fair. i have used copper on fresh fish before and never had any issues with proper low does. )

after those four weeks i plan on doing a 50% water change and then adding carbon to remove copper and stressguard for 1 week. after that time going to add the fish to DT tank being sure to add him without adding any QT water to DT tank.

post process: bleach and dry all equipment and toss filter media. buy and cycle new media in DT sump for next QT process.

*and test for ammonia daily doing any extra water changes as needed during this whole process.

Question: can i use prime in the water i use for water changes? (supposed to react badly to copper) if not how do i treat new water for chlorine?

thanks in advance for any help or comment!

[BigBlueTang]

Originally Posted by Land_shark067

Hey Guys!

so i had an ick outbreak that killed all my fish so i have waited 6 weeks without any fish in my DT and am getting my first quarantine tank set up. would like to share my quarantine plans and see if anyone has any comments. i have learned my painful lesson and will QT any new fish for 5 weeks. plus after QT time i wont have a fish in the tank for 12 weeks.

I have a 20 gallon aquarium with a filter that has been cycling in my DT sump for last 3 weeks. basic hang on back filter. then adding basic heater and thermostat. i have found using hang on back with water low enough to splash gives me the oxygenation to avoid needing an air stone.

going to treat with Seachem Paraguard for the recommend 2 weeks. do a 50% water change then going to dose with seachem cupramine and dose with with paraguard again as well. I have researched paraguard and prazipro and am trusting seachems amazing reputation and using paraguard. it will treat for flukes which is my main goal in the first 2 weeks and claims it will treat for ich as well. them then I plan on re-dosing and use copper (Seachem cupramine) for 2 weeks to kill any ich. (i have read about TTM and seems to be some mixed feeling about what stresses fish more being caught and moved a lot or copper and so i decided to try treating with copper this time and see how the fish fair. i have used copper on fresh fish before and never had any issues with proper low does. )

after those four weeks i plan on doing a 50% water change and then adding carbon to remove copper and stressguard for 1 week. after that time going to add the fish to DT tank being sure to add him without adding any QT water to DT tank.

post process: bleach and dry all equipment and toss filter media. buy and cycle new media in DT sump for next QT process.

*and test for ammonia daily doing any extra water changes as needed during this whole process.

Question: can i use prime in the water i use for water changes? (supposed to react badly to copper) if not how do i treat new water for chlorine?

thanks in advance for any help or comment!

Okay. There's a lot wrong with this plan, although you're on the right start.

First off, you can't use anything from your display to the QT, I mean the filter media. You're basically just adding ich to your QT. You can use biospira, which will cycle the tank in around three days.

It seems to me, that you're doing copper because it is easier. I can assure you that it's not, and doing TTM eradicates any chance of Ich. I would highly recommend it. Plus TTM=12 days, Copper=30 Days

I would highly recommend a prazi treatment instead of the stressguard. Prazipro is a form of Praziquantel, and it is very light on the fish, and treats for internal parasites.

Again, there's no point cycling filter media in a tank that you know has ich, there's not really a point in Qt'ing if you do that.

To answer your question, I'm guessing you don't have an RODI. You need to get one of those, if you're still using tap water, you're setting yourself up for failure. BRS units go for ~180$.. Adding prime to copper will kill the fish extremely quickly. Don't do it.

It seems like you've done some research, but not quite enough. After revising your plan, I would recommend posting it in the fish disease forum, you may get more experienced guidance. I'm no expert by any means, but these are some pretty big glaring errors in your QT process. Just research research research, and slow down.
Good luck.

[pyithar]

fallow time for ich is at least 72 days. i'd suggest TTM to treat ich and prazipro for flukes. copper will stress the fish as well. but if you want to use copper anyway, you should not use cupermine together with prime. use the RO/DI water to mix new water. new water for the water change needs to have the same level of copper concentration as the quarantine tank's to have a stable copper concentration in the quarantine tank.

[kmbyrnes]

I'm sorry to hear about your fish loss.
I'm happy to hear you're going to QT in the future.
By posting here you have shown you are looking for help.
The above advice is excellent. I hope you follow it and have a successful restart.

[Land_shark067]

Originally Posted by BigBlueTang

you can't use anything from your display to the QT, I mean the filter media. You're basically just adding ich to your QT. You can use biospira, which will cycle the tank in around three days.

I would highly recommend a prazi treatment instead of the stressguard.

Good luck.

Thanks for your advice and thats totally a face palm mistake adding from contaminated tank to the QT tank!!!! Now the whole point of the QT tank is Im assuming he is already infected and treating him so while i will follow your advice and not use the media, if i had i would have been ok because this treatment regiment would have irradiated any that was brought over.

And i think you just miss quoted me i am not treating with stressguard i am treating with paraguard in order to eliminate anything like flukes. its the last(5th) week when they are basically in recovery and just some additional time in isolation so i can keep an eye on them i was going to use stressguard to help him recover from treatment.

[Land_shark067]

UPDATE: i have read more and found that Paraguard will break the CU2+ into CU+ which will easily become toxic and do not want to mix at all. I am going to keep researching but my plan may be to just treat with paraguard since its easier on the fish unless visual signs of a parasite or disease appear. then using 100% new water I will treat with cuprimane.

[fernalfer]

Originally Posted by Land_shark067

UPDATE: i have read more and found that Paraguard will break the CU2+ into CU+ which will easily become toxic and do not want to mix at all. I am going to keep researching but my plan may be to just treat with paraguard since its easier on the fish unless visual signs of a parasite or disease appear. then using 100% new water I will treat with cuprimane.

I use Cupramine (copper) only because my wife has put a lock on buying all new second pieces of equipment for the second tank. otherwise i'd do TTM. So if you want to use copper like i do this is my QT regiment:

Obviously want all your QT tank equipment sterile and cycled if possible. I do prazipro for 6 days then a 30% water change and dose prazipro 1 more time for 6 more days. I then do another 30% water change and wait 5 days to make sure their is no more prazipro left in the water and start Cupramine. My target dose is 4.0ppm because i treat regardless of signs of Ick. Since you have Ick i would shoot for 5.0ppm. When dosing Cupramine make sure to slowly dose to get to your target dose over a course of 4-6 days so you don't shock your fish. Once you reach your target dose is when the treatment clock starts. I keep him in copper for 3-4 weeks and then run carbon along with a 50% water change and then observe for 2 more weeks and then into the DT he goes.

Good Luck and sorry about your fish.

[BigBlueTang]

Copper will kill all the nitrifying bacteria in a cycled tank, there's not really a point in cycling a tank if you're using copper. Read Sk8r's sticky about uncycled tanks in the setting up sticky.


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[john the hermit]

Cupramine is supposed NOT to kill beneficial bacteria. It's been reported as being used in fish only tanks as producing no ammonia spike. It's also advertised as safe for bacteria.

[fernalfer]

Originally Posted by BigBlueTang

Copper will kill all the nitrifying bacteria in a cycled tank, there's not really a point in cycling a tank if you're using copper. Read Sk8r's sticky about uncycled tanks in the setting up sticky.


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I've used Cupramine plenty of times never killed my bacteria and tank always stayed cycled.

[xanthurum]

Cupramine will not kill your nitrifying bacteria.

[Bruce51]

for ttm just use a couple of 5 gal buckets,small heater and cheap powerhead, takes 12 days and last transfer goes to qt tank

[Land_shark067]

So i have had to move and wasnt able to get any new fish and risk them during a move but now im in the new place the the tank is stable and running well its been 5 months with no fish in the tank so i think the previous outbreak of ick has died off and i have done more research on the medications i want to use and am going to get my first fish (a starry blenny) and run him though this quarantine process. since i havent had any fish my display has been struggling with algae control and i think once this guy gets in the tank he will have plenty to eat but want to get him treated and eating before he goes into display.

below is my plan for my quarantine method if everyone could critic it and let me know any pointers!

Setup: 10 gallon aquarium, hang on top filter(like these cuz the remove the need for bubbler, also unless i say otherwise it wont have media or carbon in it) and a heater. all water will come from the display tank so no harm full combination of prime and copper and the salinity and PH will match the DT.

day 1: 5 min fresh water dip then into QT tank filled from water from display tank
day1-3: observation and food acclimation
day 4: begin 2 weeks of copper treatment and dose with prazipro
day 10:50% water change and redose with prazipro
day 16: 90% water change and add carbon to filter
day 18:assuming no trace of copper is detectable remove carbon and dose with paraguard for 2 week
day 25:50% water change and continue paraguard treatment
day 32: 90% water change and treat with stressguard
day 35: if eating and looking healthy release in display tank.
finish: bleach clean and dry QT and all equipment for next fish (thinking a pair of clowns)

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions