Noah Hemingway
Active Member
I have heard SO many different opinions on this so I will ask on here. How long do you guys quarantine new corals and fish for? And if you don’t do it at all what’s your reasoning?
How long to quarantine?
- Thread starter Noah Hemingway
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CivicS14
Well-Known Member
I don't have a dedicated quarantine for corals since I don't have the extra lights needed. However, for fish, I do 30 days. I don't do any medication unless I see symptoms. Else, I just watch the fish for 30 days to get it eating well and watch for symptoms. Luckily, the most I ever had to address was white stringy poop that metro and focus in the food and cleared it right up. However, I do keep copper power and prazipro on hand as well.
I dip and scrub coral when i get them but do not have a dedicated qt for them. I do fish for 18 days in copper and make sure nothing else pops up with them. Life cycle of ick is 14 days so I go a few more to make sure. I have had to fresh water dip as well during copper. I have been pretty luck otherwise. I do 1.018-1.020 salinity, copper slowly increased up to 2.50ppm. I make sure they have good clean healthy food, and water changes to keep from them getting bacterial infections and ammonia spikes. I use a Red Sea reefer 34 gallon all in one with skimmer. This seems to be the way to go, super easy with it all in one.
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Noah Hemingway
Active Member
Thanks for the great advice! This seems like a reasonable way to do it!I dip and scrub coral when i get them but do not have a dedicated qt for them. I do fish for 18 days in copper and make sure nothing else pops up with them. Life cycle of ick is 14 days so I go a few more to make sure. I have had to fresh water dip as well during copper. I have been pretty luck otherwise. I do 1.018-1.020 salinity, copper slowly increased up to 2.50ppm. I make sure they have good clean healthy food, and water changes to keep from them getting bacterial infections and ammonia spikes. I use a Red Sea reefer 34 gallon all in one with skimmer. This seems to be the way to go, super easy with it all in one.
AbjectMaelstroM
Valuable Member
Humblefish method outlined here:
humble.fish
All incoming fish go into a fresh QT, with matched salinity of the source. No treatment for the first 48 hours to let them settle and start eating, unless I see something that requires immediate intervention on my part.
After 48 hours I start with 14 days in copper or chloroquine phosphate, depending on species. After CP/copper, transfer to a fresh QT for 14 days prazi/metro. Feed medicated food with GC and selcon for one of the daily meals for internal parasites.
At the end of 28 days, one last transfer to the now fresh and sterile QT that was used for copper and observe for 14 days unmedicated. Then into DT unless another round is needed.
For coral and inverts, I used a separate QT for 76 days. Now I use a separate QT but with a pair of black mollies as canary fish. If after 3 weeks they don't show parasites, I transfer coral invert to DT.
How To - Quarantine
How to Setup a Quarantine Tank (updated 4-6-2023) The following are the essentials: Aquarium (10-30 gallons seems to work for most people. A larger QT lets you house more fish and gives you more wiggle room when it comes to ammonia. A smaller QT is cheaper, easier to maintain and can be...
humble.fish
All incoming fish go into a fresh QT, with matched salinity of the source. No treatment for the first 48 hours to let them settle and start eating, unless I see something that requires immediate intervention on my part.
After 48 hours I start with 14 days in copper or chloroquine phosphate, depending on species. After CP/copper, transfer to a fresh QT for 14 days prazi/metro. Feed medicated food with GC and selcon for one of the daily meals for internal parasites.
At the end of 28 days, one last transfer to the now fresh and sterile QT that was used for copper and observe for 14 days unmedicated. Then into DT unless another round is needed.
For coral and inverts, I used a separate QT for 76 days. Now I use a separate QT but with a pair of black mollies as canary fish. If after 3 weeks they don't show parasites, I transfer coral invert to DT.
I would strongly advise treating fish with copper. There are many times that they are carrying ich or velvet and you do not see it during observation. Unless you have xray vision and are able to view their gills, then just observe them.
Corals.. cut off plug, dip, short QT for aptasia and the like.
Corals.. cut off plug, dip, short QT for aptasia and the like.
I guess i could have given a bit more info for coral. So for frags anything that’s not live tissue ie frag plugs/ disks, rock etc I cut off and discard. I also will use h202 in a separate dip bucket if algae is seen. I use bayer, revive, aquaforest protect dip, and h202 all as needed. Heavy visual inspection is a must, and even use a magnifying lens.
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IUp to now have never QT incoming new fish. Planning on using Cupramine and Hanna Copper Test HI702. Q1) plz verify lowering SG to 1.018 is a good idea for incoming fish 2) It is suggested therpuetic level for cupra,ine at .05 over a weeks time. Dies that work for 1" Chromis or up to 3 like fish. 3) after 30 days do chromis need to slowly increase 5.5 tank to 1.026 prior to placing in display tank. Thx for your help
Dr. Jim
Valuable Member
For fish, I'm a firm believer that they should be treated for every possible parasite, internal and external. I treat with copper for 3 weeks and praziquantel for 5 days. (Repeat after 1 week only if I suspect flukes.) Levamisole in food for 5 days and repeated 1 week later. Metronidazole for 5-7 days. (There are some exceptions and modifications for certain fish, like copperbands, gobies, mandarins and wrasses, however). Total treatment period is about 4 weeks. (A couple of water changes along the way). I used to treat all fish-for-sale like this when I had a pet shop. (Every shipment of fish from wholesalers have parasites! I never saw one shipment that didn't!)
I haven't had parasites in my tanks for years using this strategy. UV sterilizer is used for entire time. Alkalinity is checked every day (because there is not rock or substrate in tank). Without doing this, it is "Russian roulette".
Just because a fish may look "clean" after quarantining for a month (with no chemical treatment) that does not mean it is parasite-free. It may have a resistance to parasites but harbor them, and/or, it may harbor intestinal parasites that you can't see.
Create a parasite-free tank and your fish will be healthy and live a long time....and you will have one less inevitable headache!
I haven't had parasites in my tanks for years using this strategy. UV sterilizer is used for entire time. Alkalinity is checked every day (because there is not rock or substrate in tank). Without doing this, it is "Russian roulette".
Just because a fish may look "clean" after quarantining for a month (with no chemical treatment) that does not mean it is parasite-free. It may have a resistance to parasites but harbor them, and/or, it may harbor intestinal parasites that you can't see.
Create a parasite-free tank and your fish will be healthy and live a long time....and you will have one less inevitable headache!
Have never qt anything since I started in 2006 no outbreaks or signs of any disease in any of my tanks. I strongly believe keeping fish stress free by not overstocking and feeding live foods you keep the fishes immune system strong enough to fight them off. Maybe I will be unlucky at some point and change my views. At this moment though seems to me a lot of fish die in qt and that seems just wrong
+1 for this. I just changed my philosophy on copper because of this. However, I did catch it before hitting the display tank.
Had a fish in QT. It had been in for 2 weeks and showed 0 signs of ich or velvet. It was scheduled to go into the DT on Jan 2. But I saw it scratching the other day, so had to dose copper. Now it will have to spend 2 weeks in copper, and then at least a week minimum in my old 25g cube that I use for observation after treatments.
So from now on I'm just going to treat it all from the start and not risk it.
