Hello all! I was very appreciative to receive an article on how to quarantine fish, and it was very informative, yet it left me with a couple questions, and a couple things I want to know. I am not interested in cheating and getting fish into the main tank faster, but I do want to know more about several methods.
First: If I have 1 QT tank (likely what I can do for now), what medications for a fish would hurt an invert that goes into quarantine? Quarantining a shrimp seems like it will be a little difficult, but I have a while before I need to worry about that (information here is welcome though), I'm more immediately concerned about needing to ramp up CUC as my tank grows. If I've had a fish in QT with prophylactic treatments, will those treatments hurt an invert, and will a 100% water change be sufficient to protect them?
Second: Connected to the above, I am planning on a 20 gallon QT tank with a HOB filter. If I were to get a 5 gallon AIO tank as well (just like a little betta fish keeper), would that be a sufficient volume to QT CUC? That's about the only way I'll be able to manage 2 QT tanks. What are the risks of a tank that small? I know it'll need sand, particularly for nassa snails.
Third: QT methods, for prophylactic treatment (I have a busy schedule, I probably can't keep super close observation on fish). I'm particularly curious about medicated fresh water dips. If I were to give each new fish a medicated fresh water dip, then put it into the 20 gallon QT tank, could I less-closely observe the fish for about 4 weeks, and if it has no symptoms call it good? Again, I am not interested in cheating. What I want to do is minimize the medications in that QT tank. That way it can be a bad fish time-out tank, or a frag tank, and not have to worry about it having medications in it. It could become fairly stable is the hope, though I realize once things are established it's likely that tank will be left dry in storage. If this above proposed method is not okay, I have seen the other methods in the article I was sent (it was by a reef2reef member, named Humblefish), and I'd go back to those.
I'm going to start the main tank (54 gallons, 11 gallon sump) with probably 8 hermits, and put in sinking pellets for them. Then any waste food should also help cycle the tank, and I'll keep close watch on the ammonia, nitrate and phosphate levels. After 75 days, I'll have a clown QT'ing in parallel, and that fish will move to the main tank. After the clown it'll be a lawnmower or starry blenny, then a firefish. After that I'll ramp up CUC, then royal gramma, then YWG and pistol shrimp. Might possibly do the dynamic duo before a royal gramma, not totally set on that yet. Not sure exactly how I'll quarantine those two together, but I'll probably try to get them paired.
Thank you for input, I know this is a hotly debated topic, I'm just looking for a good route to take. Kind of hoping my freshwater dip method looks good, but I'll see what comes up!
First: If I have 1 QT tank (likely what I can do for now), what medications for a fish would hurt an invert that goes into quarantine? Quarantining a shrimp seems like it will be a little difficult, but I have a while before I need to worry about that (information here is welcome though), I'm more immediately concerned about needing to ramp up CUC as my tank grows. If I've had a fish in QT with prophylactic treatments, will those treatments hurt an invert, and will a 100% water change be sufficient to protect them?
Second: Connected to the above, I am planning on a 20 gallon QT tank with a HOB filter. If I were to get a 5 gallon AIO tank as well (just like a little betta fish keeper), would that be a sufficient volume to QT CUC? That's about the only way I'll be able to manage 2 QT tanks. What are the risks of a tank that small? I know it'll need sand, particularly for nassa snails.
Third: QT methods, for prophylactic treatment (I have a busy schedule, I probably can't keep super close observation on fish). I'm particularly curious about medicated fresh water dips. If I were to give each new fish a medicated fresh water dip, then put it into the 20 gallon QT tank, could I less-closely observe the fish for about 4 weeks, and if it has no symptoms call it good? Again, I am not interested in cheating. What I want to do is minimize the medications in that QT tank. That way it can be a bad fish time-out tank, or a frag tank, and not have to worry about it having medications in it. It could become fairly stable is the hope, though I realize once things are established it's likely that tank will be left dry in storage. If this above proposed method is not okay, I have seen the other methods in the article I was sent (it was by a reef2reef member, named Humblefish), and I'd go back to those.
I'm going to start the main tank (54 gallons, 11 gallon sump) with probably 8 hermits, and put in sinking pellets for them. Then any waste food should also help cycle the tank, and I'll keep close watch on the ammonia, nitrate and phosphate levels. After 75 days, I'll have a clown QT'ing in parallel, and that fish will move to the main tank. After the clown it'll be a lawnmower or starry blenny, then a firefish. After that I'll ramp up CUC, then royal gramma, then YWG and pistol shrimp. Might possibly do the dynamic duo before a royal gramma, not totally set on that yet. Not sure exactly how I'll quarantine those two together, but I'll probably try to get them paired.
Thank you for input, I know this is a hotly debated topic, I'm just looking for a good route to take. Kind of hoping my freshwater dip method looks good, but I'll see what comes up!
