How early do you set up a QT tank?

[tbrown]

So I've been horrible about QTing new livestock for my tank. Everytime I have set one up it's been somewhat last minute and I lose most if not all of the QTed inverts. When I drip, dip, and add them to the DT I have minimal losses. I hate doing that because 1 bad purchase can ruin the whole tank. Do you typically keep a QT set up and running? If so, do you drain and disinfect after transferring livestock to the DT?

 

[blaxsun]

Well, I don't dip my inverts because that's kind of hard on them...

 

[tbrown]

Well, I don't dip my inverts because that's kind of hard on them...

I only dip corals and (I'm bad, I know) that is only a rare occasion for me. I hate the idea of putting them in something that could potentially kill the coral and leave pests...

 

[blaxsun]

I only dip corals and (I'm bad, I know) that is only a rare occasion for me. I hate the idea of putting them in something that could potentially kill the coral and leave pests...

I dip and dunk - corals go straight into the tank after dip/inspection. Inverts I just acclimate for 40min and they go straight into the tank as well. Same for fish (no QT), but that's a separate discussion.

 

[bnord]

I dip corals and put them in a frag tank that acts as a QT i guess

I keep a QT tank up and running, as it has become a treatment tank in a. pinch as well - and hard to plan for pinches

 

[tbrown]

I dip and dunk - corals go straight into the tank after dip/inspection. Inverts I just acclimate for 40min and they go straight into the tank as well. Same for fish (no QT), but that's a separate discussion.

That's how I usually do it. You're a rebel like me! I recently got a shipment of corals though and a friend mentioned the possibility of EEFW. I decided they needed a QT. One of the hammers had BJD so it was separated from the rest. So far everything is looking OK (except the BJDOA which died within a couple of hours of receiving). I had some bristleworms come off during the Reef Primer dip but nothing else and no sign of eggs on any of the plugs but my tank is currently pest free and I'd love to keep it that way.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For fish- QT is advantageous upon purchase. Quarantining a fish allows the fish to de-stress and for you to have the fish adjust to your parameters, your food while providing it a safe place for it to thrive away from more aggressive and established tank mates who can out compete it for food. Putting a fish directly into your display puts the fish into more stress after being netted at store or from shipment and added stress events leads to the reason why we quarantine our fish.
A fish’s immune system should be able to fight off more infections and diseases, however the shock of transportation compromises your fish’s immune system leaving it vulnerable to any disease that gets shipped with it.
For coral, many good suggestions offered as I quick dip, rinse in a container of tank water and place in display tank

 

[tbrown]

So dip corals and straight to the DT after inspection seems to be the consensus so far. Fish in QT because parasites come after the stress which is very much shipping. What about CUC? I've never QTed fresh or salt CUC. I almost always QT my freshwater fish because I have a tank set up with pond snails and some quick growing plants.

 

[tbrown]

I dip corals and put them in a frag tank that acts as a QT i guess

I keep a QT tank up and running, as it has become a treatment tank in a. pinch as well - and hard to plan for pinches

Do you disinfect the QT tank after use or do you figure if the fish is good it should be good? Do you give it a resting period or take one fish out and drop the next one in?

 

[frankjoegutz]

So I've been horrible about QTing new livestock for my tank. Everytime I have set one up it's been somewhat last minute and I lose most if not all of the QTed inverts. When I drip, dip, and add them to the DT I have minimal losses. I hate doing that because 1 bad purchase can ruin the whole tank. Do you typically keep a QT set up and running? If so, do you drain and disinfect after transferring livestock to the DT?

I have a 120 DT, I keep a 40 gallon QT going at all times with a hang on back filter… seems to work. I use ich-X and do partial water changes as recommended. So yes after every treatment I do a 20% water change.

 

[mehaffydr]

I have 3- 20 gallon QT and 1-40 Gallon QT. I keep them all running all the time. I treat fish with copper and also Hypo. at the end of QT I drain tank and refill. I don't get carried away with cleaning with bleach or anything as the copper and Hypo have killed off any parasites.

I use one of the tanks for Inverts so it never gets copper and I maintain 1.023 - 1.025 salinity on it. Inverts stay in this tank for 76 day fallow.

 

[Jedi1199]

I have never QT'd anything. Fish go in bag into DT for half hour or so. Then I dump out 1/2 the LFS water, and add in about 1/4 cupfull of tank water every 15-20 minutes for a couple hours (I have no real schedule for this). Then directly into DT.

For corals, they go from shipping box, to a 15 minute dip in ReVive and then directly to DT. I did a test once last year on how much the temp drops in a dip container. The result was that it is pointless to temp acclimate them. The temp of the dip drops to room temp quickly. I feel it is better to simply dip them and add them than to run them through the temp adjustment several times. Make sense? You take a coral from shipping box at say 70*, temp acclimate it to tank temp 78*, then dip it for 15 minutes as temp plunges to 72* then add to tank at 78*.... seems a pointless exercise to me.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

So dip corals and straight to the DT after inspection seems to be the consensus so far. Fish in QT because parasites come after the stress which is very much shipping. What about CUC? I've never QTed fresh or salt CUC. I almost always QT my freshwater fish because I have a tank set up with pond snails and some quick growing plants.

The most I do with cuc is sometimes take a toothbrush to snail shells, but usually I don't even do that.

 

[Sean Clark]

I have been going overboard on QT lately. I would rather not deal with the hassle of a bigger tank with a problem. In the past I was less scrupulous.

 

[Jedi1199]

I have been going overboard on QT lately. I would rather not deal with the hassle of a bigger tank with a problem. In the past I was less scrupulous.

I am on that page with you. I am in the early stages of a tank upgrade. Ordered tank, stand ect ect. It will be weeks before I can make the transition. After the new tank is up and running my 32g bio-cube will be taken offline. I am considering using it as a QT tank.

As I said before, I never QT anything. I have been lucky so far, but I also know that at some point my luck will run out. I would rather repurpose that 32 for a QT than junk it.

 

[tbrown]

I am on that page with you. I am in the early stages of a tank upgrade. Ordered tank, stand ect ect. It will be weeks before I can make the transition. After the new tank is up and running my 32g bio-cube will be taken offline. I am considering using it as a QT tank.

As I said before, I never QT anything. I have been lucky so far, but I also know that at some point my luck will run out. I would rather repurpose that 32 for a QT than junk it.

I rarely QT anything and actually had never dipped until recently. I just got a shipment of corals in and someone told me there's were covered in pests so I decided to dip. Nothing came off so I set up a little QT. 3 hours in and a hammer that arrived looking less than ideal died of BJD (company was great and issued a store credit for the loss). Today (day 2) torch also has BJD. I dipped again in Reef Primer and H202 and the torch doesn't look to have any BJD left but it doesn't look happy. I'm kind of happy I QTed this set...

 

[Dave-T]

For fish- QT is advantageous upon purchase. Quarantining a fish allows the fish to de-stress and for you to have the fish adjust to your parameters, your food while providing it a safe place for it to thrive away from more aggressive and established tank mates who can out compete it for food. Putting a fish directly into your display puts the fish into more stress after being netted at store or from shipment and added stress events leads to the reason why we quarantine our fish.
A fish’s immune system should be able to fight off more infections and diseases, however the shock of transportation compromises your fish’s immune system leaving it vulnerable to any disease that gets shipped with it.
For coral, many good suggestions offered as I quick dip, rinse in a container of tank water and place in display tank

How do you keep your QT parameters the same as your DT parameters?

 

[Jedi1199]

How do you keep your QT parameters the same as your DT parameters?

Since a QT tank is really nothing more than a bare tank, the easiest way is to fill it with DT water. Remember that a QT is just a small holding tank. You don't need a sump or any elaborate accessories to run it. You don't even need a light. In fact, a light is actually not recommended as far as my research goes.

A HoB filter will create a small current, and a place for the required bio media to attach for while the fish is there.

 

[vetteguy53081]

How do you keep your QT parameters the same as your DT parameters?

Doesn’t have to be identical but test kits will help determine proximities

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So I've been horrible about QTing new livestock for my tank. Everytime I have set one up it's been somewhat last minute and I lose most if not all of the QTed inverts. When I drip, dip, and add them to the DT I have minimal losses. I hate doing that because 1 bad purchase can ruin the whole tank. Do you typically keep a QT set up and running? If so, do you drain and disinfect after transferring livestock to the DT?

At work, I always have multiple quarantine tanks running and biologically active. I also have a fishless coral tray to acclimate corals for lighting and to screen them for pests.
There are only two reasons to strip a quarantine tank: 1) it housed fish that died from an uncontrolled/unidentified disease. Or 2) The tank has been dosed many times with praziquantel and has built up a population of prazi eating bacteria.
Jay