How do I qt corals with fish

[RJT]

I want to start getting corals ready for main display. Are there extra precautions that I should do to qt corals? How do I make sure the acros don't carry any deadly fish pests/diseases?

 

[Max93]

You should leave your corals in a fallow separate tank for 76 days.

or dip them and hope there’s no ich on the corals. Or buy from a reliable source to help reduce risk further.

or start a display tank without any fish until your entire tank is filled with all the corals you want, go fallow, then add your fish last.

 

[mike550]

@RJT I have a 20G isolation tank that I use to quarantine corals. Im not super aggressive with my quarantine process. I dip them on the way into the QT and then again before they go into the DT. Since I only have one tank I alternate between corals and fish.

 

[RJT]

What do you dip your corals in?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The fallow method is the safest (the quote below was for live rock QT, but it applies to corals too - typically with different hitchhikers though):

My recommendation is to quarantine it for 45 days (minimum) at 81F - this runs it fallow so it won't carry ich or velvet into your tank, and it gives you ample time to observe it for hitchhikers (both wanted and unwanted) including things like invasive macroalgae/tunicates/sponges/anemones/etc.

 

[RJT]

Is it necessary to have a cycled tank for coral? I may setup a qt solely for corals but it isn't clear if ammonia affects sps.

 

[RJT]

You should leave your corals in a fallow separate tank for 76 days.

or dip them and hope there’s no ich on the corals. Or buy from a reliable source to help reduce risk further.

or start a display tank without any fish until your entire tank is filled with all the corals you want, go fallow, then add your fish last.

@Max93 I am leaning towards buying from a reputable supplier and having a separate tank just for corals. It will allow me to have more power head flow and not disturb the fish as much.

 

[mike550]

What do you dip your corals in?

I use CoralRx but there are a lot of threads that describe QT processes for corAl

 

[Tamberav]

Is it necessary to have a cycled tank for coral? I may setup a qt solely for corals but it isn't clear if ammonia affects sps.

For SPS you want not only a cycled tank but aged rock or maybe biomedia.

I found SPS did amazing in tanks that were basically mini displays without fish.

I watched others try to QT acro's in bare tanks with losses. Probably not impossible but increases difficulty.. just like most would fail putting acro's into a dry rock tank day 1.

 

[RJT]

For SPS you want not only a cycled tank but aged rock or maybe biomedia.

I found SPS did amazing in tanks that were basically mini displays without fish.

I watched others try to QT acro's in bare tanks with losses. Probably not impossible but increases difficulty.. just like most would fail putting acro's into a dry rock tank day 1.

@Tamberav thank you. There goes one idea I had of setting up a tank quickly and being successful. I will wait until I get the fish in the dt and use the current qt for only coral once the fish are out.