How to Quarantine

merlberg · Apr 3, 2015

Ok thanks ... I'll do w/o it then lol

Dalmatia · Apr 7, 2015

personally i keep over a 100 pounds of live rock in my 72 gallon bow front hospital/qt tank. With all the meds I've used in that tank, i have never had a problem with ammonia... The copepods or bb never died off using cupramine or a homemade remedy (noxich with formaldehyde).... Why isn't it a good idea to have more live rock in your qt?

Dalmatia · Apr 7, 2015

This is the qt/ht

ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1428442300.259569.jpg

Humblefish · Apr 7, 2015

Dalmatia said:
Why isn't it a good idea to have more live rock in your qt?

Because rock/substrate absorbs meds, especially copper. This can be somewhat mitigated by daily testing and adding more copper as needed. But you have to be diligent about it.

Dalmatia · Apr 7, 2015

so? its a qt/ht tank? meds are good for that

Humblefish · Apr 7, 2015

Dalmatia said:
so? its a qt/ht tank? meds are good for that

If absorption causes copper to drop below therapeutic levels, treatment will be ineffective.

Dalmatia · Apr 7, 2015

thats why you use a copper test kit?

Humblefish · Apr 7, 2015

Dalmatia said:
thats why you use a copper test kit?

How many times a day do you test? If the Cu level drops below therapeutic for even a short period of time, the 30 day treatment clock must restart. I sometimes travel for work and need to know my Cu level will remain constant while I am away. I know many people nowadays that have busy lives/hectic schedules and literally do not have time to test their Cu level on a daily basis.

Dalmatia · Apr 8, 2015

I check my levels every 2-3 days. You may need more copper than you'd normally use but the levels wont change over night. Another thing is, you should have a minute of your time at least once every 2 days to do a test? If you don't,,, I wouldn't treat my fish with out some help (like the wife)

Humblefish · Apr 8, 2015

Dalmatia said:
I check my levels every 2-3 days. You may need more copper than you'd normally use but the levels wont change over night. Another thing is, you should have a minute of your time at least once every 2 days to do a test? If you don't,,, I wouldn't treat my fish with out some help (like the wife)

I can't even get my wife to clean the glass while I am away ... let alone test copper levels. I'm lucky if the fish even get fed.

Dalmatia · Apr 8, 2015

thats why you may need more copper than you'd normally put in to bring it up to 0.5ppm..
but trust me nooooo ammonia spikes or anything!! all the fish in that qt/ht have been added in the last 3 or 4 weeks with out a problem (21 fish)

Dalmatia · Apr 8, 2015

thats sucks

Humblefish · Apr 8, 2015

Back in the day, I used to dose Coppersafe in a QT with an undergravel filter and crushed coral substrate. I would also add a few dead coral skeletons for hiding spots. Treated for 30 days and never had any problems. I never tested the Cu level. I didn't consider that I should be adding copper to the tank slowly; it was all done in one shot.

Fast forward and now we have this "superior fully charged ionic" copper called Cupramine. With Cupramine, it takes 48 hrs to reach therapeutic levels and most people say you should go slower than that. With Cupramine, I need to test constantly. With Cupramine, now we have "copper sensitive" species that I never had any problems treating before with Coppersafe. When I first used Cupramine in my ug filter/crushed coral QT, I could never keep the levels stable.

Rant done ... :xd: ... Fritz Aquatics has taken over Coppersafe from Mardel, but based on how badly they screwed up re-making Maracyn 1 & 2, I'm not so sure I trust Coppersafe anymore. Fortunately, I only need copper nowadays for wrasses.

Dalmatia · Apr 8, 2015

Humblefish said:
Back in the day, I used to dose Coppersafe in a QT with an undergravel filter and crushed coral substrate. I would also add a few dead coral skeletons for hiding spots. Treated for 30 days and never had any problems. I never tested the Cu level. I didn't consider that I should be adding copper to the tank slowly; it was all done in one shot.

Fast forward and now we have this "superior fully charged ionic" copper called Cupramine. With Cupramine, it takes 48 hrs to reach therapeutic levels and most people say you should go slower than that. With Cupramine, I need to test constantly. With Cupramine, now we have "copper sensitive" species that I never had any problems treating before with Coppersafe. When I first used Cupramine in my ug filter/crushed coral QT, I could never keep the levels stable.

Rant done ... :xd: ... Fritz Aquatics has taken over Coppersafe from Mardel, but based on how badly they screwed up re-making Maracyn 1 & 2, I'm not so sure I trust Coppersafe anymore. Fortunately, I only need copper nowadays for wrasses.

That means you have a descent LFS [emoji2]
I usually order my fish and do the qt my self when they arrive

Humblefish · Apr 8, 2015

Dalmatia said:
That means you have a descent LFS [emoji2]
I usually order my fish and do the qt my self when they arrive

No, I QT everything. But I use either Chloroquine phosphate or tank transfer method for everything except wrasses. Sometimes I do tank transfer for wrasses, if I have the time. But if I know I'm going to be travelling, copper it is for new wrasses.

Robink · Apr 25, 2015

Very good write up. Will definitely be using your methods.
Thanks again...

A_CoupleClowns · May 7, 2015

Humblefish I can't thank you enough for all the knowledge and advice you have shared with us. Figured I would throw up a photo of our tang rodeo QT setup in the thread that made it all possible

Here is our "quick and dirty" QT setup.

And a few photos of the 400g's future residents hanging out in QT. We also have a Dussumieri, Purple and Orange shoulder in the QT's but we don't have any decent photos of those guys at the moment.

This was what the QT's turned into without the dividers in place.