First time quarantining and having issues

[lba4590]

I have a 29g QT with a large HOB filter, used Turbostart 900 and some cycled media and everything looks fine. Salinity is 1.20 to match what the fish I got were in. So I bought a line spot flasher wrasse, longfin fairy wrasse, bicolor blenny, and royal gramma. Both of the wrasses are looking pretty unhappy, laying on the bottom, but not breathing heavily or anything. The royal gramma is absolutely losing it over his reflection on the bottom of the tank. Acted a little aggressively towards one of the wrasses too. The blenny is the only one that seems decently happy. Will it further stress them to start copper or metro/Kanaplex treatment? I really don’t want to stress them further and I’m not really sure what to do. I do have a tank divider, would it help to section on the gramma? None are eating but it’s been about 8 hours. I’m probably being overly worried but I’ve never done this before.. just not really sure where to start.

 

[KingTideCorals]

Salinity is WAY low, work on raising that up to 1.025-1.026

Heres a video I just dropped on how I set my QT up and how I run my regiments..

 

[lba4590]

Salinity is WAY low, work on raising that up to 1.025-1.026

Heres a video I just dropped on how I set my QT up and how I run my regiments..

Thank you! I read to match the salinity of the tanks they came from.. but I’m sure there’s a million ways to do this. My DT is 1.025 so I planned to slowly raise it .001 per day after a week or so.

 

[KingTideCorals]

Thank you! I read to match the salinity of the tanks they came from.. but I’m sure there’s a million ways to do this. My DT is 1.025 so I planned to slowly raise it .001 per day after a week or so.

Be best to just get em in a higher salinity sooner rather than later! Better for the fish.

Hope you enjoy the channel and sub!

 

[AcanthurusRex]

Thank you! I read to match the salinity of the tanks they came from.. but I’m sure there’s a million ways to do this. My DT is 1.025 so I planned to slowly raise it .001 per day after a week or so.

You did it correctly. Use saltwater for makeup until the SG gets to where you need it.

 

[Cell]

Its fine to start at the salinity they came at. Many do. Do you have pvc or other hiding spots for the fish? You need to give them some cover.

 

[AcanthurusRex]

All this info is in the stickies.
Is the bottom of the tank open? If so tape something on the bottom. Create a PVC reef.
Wrasse are difficult.

 

[lba4590]

Its fine to start at the salinity they came at. Many do. Do you have pvc or other hiding spots for the fish? You need to give them some cover.

Yes lots of pvc and they’re all hiding in them

 

[lba4590]

All this info is in the stickies.
Is the bottom of the tank open? If so tape something on the bottom. Create a PVC reef.
Wrasse are difficult.

Yes looked thorough most of the stickies but I still feel unprepared/confused. What do you mean by open? It’s just bare bottom on a black stand but it’s reflecting.. has lots of PVC pieces

 

[lba4590]

Ok update, both the blenny and royal gramma are eating well now. Are there any tips for successfully quarantining wrasses? I had a carpenters wrasse that seemed incredibly healthy and suddenly died... wrasses are my favorite fish, I really want them to do well, I’m super worried and tempted to just throw them in my DT hoping they survive

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Salinity is WAY low, work on raising that up to 1.025-1.026

Heres a video I just dropped on how I set my QT up and how I run my regiments..

Actually, the SG is fine for these fish, it actually helps them better balance osmotically. The only reason to move them higher would be when they get moved into a reef system.
Jay

 

[Tamberav]

I do TTM with my wrasses and the peroxide dips a 6 days apart. They do well with it but wrasses are drama queens so they act the world is ending.

You may want to hold off on copper until they are eating well. Putting a small layer of dry sand on the bottom of the tank will cure the reflection issue. Yes, you can add a small layer of sand with copper.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have a 29g QT with a large HOB filter, used Turbostart 900 and some cycled media and everything looks fine. Salinity is 1.20 to match what the fish I got were in. So I bought a line spot flasher wrasse, longfin fairy wrasse, bicolor blenny, and royal gramma. Both of the wrasses are looking pretty unhappy, laying on the bottom, but not breathing heavily or anything. The royal gramma is absolutely losing it over his reflection on the bottom of the tank. Acted a little aggressively towards one of the wrasses too. The blenny is the only one that seems decently happy. Will it further stress them to start copper or metro/Kanaplex treatment? I really don’t want to stress them further and I’m not really sure what to do. I do have a tank divider, would it help to section on the gramma? None are eating but it’s been about 8 hours. I’m probably being overly worried but I’ve never done this before.. just not really sure where to start.

Make sure that you monitor your ammonia. As others said, try to remove the reflection of the tank bottom, taping below perhaps? I often use inert sand. I’d start ramping up the copper soon, get it to full dose in 3 days. Lots of hiding places, and avoid bright tank lights.
Jay

 

[lba4590]

Make sure that you monitor your ammonia. As others said, try to remove the reflection of the tank bottom, taping below perhaps? I often use inert sand. I’d start ramping up the copper soon, get it to full dose in 3 days. Lots of hiding places, and avoid bright tank lights.
Jay

Thanks! I do have some dry sand I can add. I have the lights off too, just ambient lighting. The lights on the tank are pretty pathetic anyways. I have a sea chem ammonia badge.. is that trustworthy?

 

[AcanthurusRex]

Thanks! I do have some dry sand I can add. I have the lights off too, just ambient lighting. The lights on the tank are pretty pathetic anyways. I have a sea chem ammonia badge.. is that trustworthy?

Inert means non-aragonite which will absorb medication.
In my 55g QT the stand only supports the rim. The fish freaked out until I the covered the bottom glass. The 20g sits on a board so there is no issue. The reflection issue gets better as the bottom gets covered with bio-film.
Seachem badge is the only way to go with copper. If there is any color do a water change.
Do you have a Hannah Cu checker, get one. Anecdotally I have never had issues with CopperPower.

 

[Greg P]

Salinity is WAY low, work on raising that up to 1.025-1.026 ...

Umm NO
As Jay wrote, lower salinity means less osmotic work for the fish. This results in more energy spent healing etc.

You can safely keep SW fish as low as 1.008 for extended periods without issue, minus the drawbacks of retarded nitrifying bacterial activity.

Salinity is 1.20 to match what the fish I got were in.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this but rather is actually less stressful for the fish than drip acclimating.
Once you're ready to move them, you can safely raise the water by as much as 0.003 per day max without problems.

Not sure what the ideal SG is for copper

 

[KingTideCorals]

Umm NO
As Jay wrote, lower salinity means less osmotic work for the fish. This results in more energy spent healing etc.

You can safely keep SW fish as low as 1.008 for extended periods without issue, minus the drawbacks of retarded nitrifying bacterial activity.



There is absolutely nothing wrong with this but rather is actually less stressful for the fish than drip acclimating.
Once you're ready to move them, you can safely raise the water by as much as 0.003 per day max without problems.

Not sure what the ideal SG is for copper

Apologies was just thinking he was transitioning them to a reef tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Inert means non-aragonite which will absorb medication.
In my 55g QT the stand only supports the rim. The fish freaked out until I the covered the bottom glass. The 20g sits on a board so there is no issue. The reflection issue gets better as the bottom gets covered with bio-film.
Seachem badge is the only way to go with copper. If there is any color do a water change.
Do you have a Hannah Cu checker, get one. Anecdotally I have never had issues with CopperPower.

And it is best to never use a reducing agent while treating with copper (Prime, Amquel, any ammonia detoxifier). If you do, and your copper product is complexed with an amine, a huge amount of free copper is released, harming the fish. I don’t have a definitive list of copper products involved, so I just use water changes to manage ammonia....
Jay

 

[Erick Armanii]

Umm NO
As Jay wrote, lower salinity means less osmotic work for the fish. This results in more energy spent healing etc.

You can safely keep SW fish as low as 1.008 for extended periods without issue, minus the drawbacks of retarded nitrifying bacterial activity.



There is absolutely nothing wrong with this but rather is actually less stressful for the fish than drip acclimating.
Once you're ready to move them, you can safely raise the water by as much as 0.003 per day max without problems.

Not sure what the ideal SG is for copper

As previously mentioned this is 100% accurate.
Lower salinity is not only safe but easier on the fish. A lot of quarantine systems are run at lower or hypo salinity giving the fish an opportunity to better combat parasites or other isssues.

 

[Erick Armanii]

Umm NO
As Jay wrote, lower salinity means less osmotic work for the fish. This results in more energy spent healing etc.

You can safely keep SW fish as low as 1.008 for extended periods without issue, minus the drawbacks of retarded nitrifying bacterial activity.



There is absolutely nothing wrong with this but rather is actually less stressful for the fish than drip acclimating.
Once you're ready to move them, you can safely raise the water by as much as 0.003 per day max without problems.

Not sure what the ideal SG is for copper

As previously mentioned this is 100% accurate.
Lower salinity is not only safe but easier on the fish. A lot of quarantine systems are run at lower or hypo salinity giving the fish an opportunity to better combat parasites or other isssues