Cutting 30-Day quarantine short - risk assessment?

[matthias_bln]

Hi fellow reefers,

For unfortunate family reasons we need to get on an emergency roadtrip from Seattle to the Bay Area. I would love to not have the QT tank running while we're gone, however I've got three fish in therapeutic copper on Day 25 (of 30). I have done several rounds of GC and Metroplex and also used GC in the food for 14 days.

I would love to understand what risk I'm taking on if I would move the fish to the DT at this point vs. after day 30 (+usual observation period). Appreciate your help!

Thanks!
Matthias

 

[MetaKnight101]

Hmm, in my opinion, I think it would be better for you to move your fish to a separate observation tank and not straight into the DT. Meaning just take your fish from the QT tank and place them in a different tank with no meds just clean water (and flow ofc) and have them there while you're gone. As for parasites and stuff, your fish SHOULD be fine I think. The point of a 30 day QT is to kill parasites in all stages I think but if you QT your fish at least two weeks coppers and TRANSFER them to another tank right after two weeks they should be parasite free because the parasites are in a dormant state (protomont stage)

So yes you can move your fish to the DT (assuming you did copper treatment right by not letting copper levels dip the sufficient level to keep ich or velvet dormant but I prefer putting them into another clean tank just in case.

TLDR: just transfer your fish into a new tank and they should fine, make sure you have some sort of filtration, you can put them in the DT but you have some to little risk because well we're human and we all make mistakes during our QT sometimes. (This is what I would do if I was in your shoes)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hmm, in my opinion, I think it would be better for you to move your fish to a separate observation tank and not straight into the DT. Meaning just take your fish from the QT tank and place them in a different tank with no meds just clean water (and flow ofc) and have them there while you're gone. As for parasites and stuff, your fish SHOULD be fine I think. The point of a 30 day QT is to kill parasites in all stages I think but if you QT your fish at least two weeks coppers and TRANSFER them to another tank right after two weeks they should be parasite free because the parasites are in a dormant state (protomont stage)

So yes you can move your fish to the DT (assuming you did copper treatment right by not letting copper levels dip the sufficient level to keep ich or velvet dormant but I prefer putting them into another clean tank just in case.

TLDR: just transfer your fish into a new tank and they should fine, make sure you have some sort of filtration, you can put them in the DT but you have some to little risk because well we're human and we all make mistakes during our QT sometimes. (This is what I would do if I was in your shoes)

One thing you won’t have cleared with your protocol is Neobenedenia flukes. They won’t give symptoms until around 4 weeks. What fish do you have in the QT?

Your risk assessment needs to weigh the value of the fish in the QT versus the DT.

Jay

 

[MetaKnight101]

One thing you won’t have cleared with your protocol is Neobenedenia flukes. They won’t give symptoms until around 4 weeks. What fish do you have in the QT?

Your risk assessment needs to weigh the value of the fish in the QT versus the DT.

Jay

Usually, I would treat Prazi with cupramine regardless if I see flukes or not but for this case, I would dose of Prazi one time before leaving this should be adequate enough for roughly 4-5 days and hopefully by then he would have returned home to dose a 2nd time to kill any remaining flukes that have hatched. In other words, I would go ahead with dosing Prazi.