How I treat new fish

Reef Breeders · Jun 20, 2012

First thing I do is make sure that I have a qt tank for the fish. I open the bag, and dump about half the water down the drain. Then I float the bag in my fuge, using a clip to hold it in place. I start a siphon from the qt, and use an airline valve to get about 2 drips/second. I leave the fish like that for half an hour, then dump the fish and water into a container, and pick up the fish with my hands (gently!!!) then put it in the qt, and dump the rest of the bag water down the drain. I qt for 4 weeks with no chemicals, unless something shows up. Always make sure that your fish eats before you buy it, if you can, and try different foods until it eats if it will not eat for you. Please feel free to add anything.

Ace25 · Jun 20, 2012

I see nothing wrong at all with your procedure. Do you do this for ALL new fish or just the "easy" ones? For me, I don't QT certain fish I know won't make it through QT (expert only type fish) but for the majority I, like many others, learned my lesson the hard way and QT all fish I feel are suitable which is the majority of fish for our hobby.

Steelerfan747 · Jun 20, 2012

I do pretty much everything you say except qt. Not that I don't think ii should it's just I don't have aqt tank so I risk it. Luckily I have not had any issues. Please do not take it like I don't think it's necessary, I do and hope to have one some day

ritter6788 · Jun 20, 2012

Why do you acclimate fish to the DT and then put it in the QT? 1/2 hour sounds good to me on the acclimation time. I think 2-3 hour acclimation times cause more harm than good, especially for long shipments. I try to get them out of that bag and into clean water ASAP.

Reef Breeders · Jun 20, 2012

ritter6788 said:
Why do you acclimate fish to the DT and then put it in the QT? 1/2 hour sounds good to me on the acclimation time. I think 2-3 hour acclimation times cause more harm than good, especially for long shipments. I try to get them out of that bag and into clean water ASAP.

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Reef Breeders · Jun 20, 2012

Steelerfan747 said:
I do pretty much everything you say except qt. Not that I don't think ii should it's just I don't have aqt tank so I risk it. Luckily I have not had any issues. Please do not take it like I don't think it's necessary, I do and hope to have one some day

I have seen SO many people who lost thousands over that one tang, or anthias they thought would make a nice addition. Always qt

Aquaph8 · Jun 20, 2012

I always check the salinity first. I've got a couple fish in really low salinity compared to my QT and I've had to lower the salinity in the QT prior to acclimating. I can then feel comfortable with a shorter acclimation period and slowly bring the salinity up over the corse of QT to match my display. I've found fish ordered online to be pretty close so far but LFS to have much lower levels.

ritter6788 · Jun 20, 2012

anemonekeeper said:
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Gotcha!

mallorieGgator · Jun 20, 2012

I've lost more fish QT'ing than I have not. I've not lost any fish in my display. I've lost lots in QT. The nature of QT is very stressful. The fish is in a sterile environment with no other fish and gets treated with meds. IMO, if you've QT'ed from the beginning, keep up the good procedure. If you haven't and decide to put all of your fish in QT, then I wouldn't unless you have a nice, established QT.

Reef Breeders · Jun 20, 2012

mallorieGgator said:
I've lost more fish QT'ing than I have not. I've not lost any fish in my display. I've lost lots in QT. The nature of QT is very stressful. The fish is in a sterile environment with no other fish and gets treated with meds. IMO, if you've QT'ed from the beginning, keep up the good procedure. If you haven't and decide to put all of your fish in QT, then I wouldn't unless you have a nice, established QT.

My frag system doubles as a fuge when needed, and I can isolate each tank for meds

steamer51 · Jun 21, 2012

I agree to get the fish in clean water (QT) as soon as possible due to amount of ammonia in the bag as soon as you open it to fresh air. +1 on checking the salinity in the bag to determine if you need a longer acclimation due to it being off. Generally LFS water in my area is 1.020 (fish separate from coral system kept lower for less chance of ich) and once I visited a store that sells primarily on line and their water was 1.010, big difference from my tank at 1.025/6.