Medication dip in reef tank

[ClearRain]

So I'm bringing home a Scopas Tang today from work. He's going into an acclimation box for a few days so my Majestic Angel won't kill him. So, I thought since I'll have him in the box and easy to catch, I would pseudo quarantine him by doing daily dips in Paragaurd. Now, my question is, after the fish is dipped will the residual medication be detrimental to my tank? When I dip at work, I don't worry about it because the system is roughly 400 gal. But in my 54, Im worried about hurting my sps.. Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Humblefish]

I don't believe a little Paraguard residue will hurt your corals; however you could always run some carbon after doing the dips just to be safe.

I also don't believe dipping with Paraguard will provide much benefit to your fish, especially after he's been in the DT and any diseases he's carrying have already gone waterborne.

 

[ClearRain]

I'm dripping him now, will do 30mins-hr dip before he goes into display, depending on how stressed he is. I know it doesn't do much good after he's hit DT water, but I guess it makes me feel a little better knowing he gets something I've been running the system at work at 1.018, temp around 80, and cu+ between .25-.50ppm, so hopefully he's not carrying!

 

[melypr1985]

I don't believe a little Paraguard residue will hurt your corals; however you could always run some carbon after doing the dips just to be safe.

I also don't believe dipping with Paraguard will provide much benefit to your fish, especially after he's been in the DT and any diseases he's carrying have already gone waterborne.

I agree with this. Best of luck to you! I hope he's not carrying either

 

[ClearRain]

I decided to just scrap the idea. I don't believe my tank is disease free as it is. I'll treat him if he shows signs of anything while in the acc. Box... Mel, what do you do at your store for disease control? I try my best on our 2 systems, but there's only so much I can do without quarantine tanks

 

[melypr1985]

I decided to just scrap the idea. I don't believe my tank is disease free as it is. I'll treat him if he shows signs of anything while in the acc. Box... Mel, what do you do at your store for disease control? I try my best on our 2 systems, but there's only so much I can do without quarantine tanks

I run coppersafe at 2ppm (900 gallon fish only system) and run prazipro once a week. Each of these tanks are able to be isolated from the rest and I have a really big HOB filter hanging on the top tank on the end. I usually use this tank to isolate off of the system and treat with antibiotics if needed. I have a large assortment of meds to use at the store and keep a very large jug of Ruby Reef Rally to use when receiving new clowns. They get ~90 minute bath in that before going into the copper system. That's about it. Copper get's tested daily. 300 gallon water change weekly, 48 hours after prazi is dosed. Oh and we run the salinity at 1.019 or 18 since that's what the fish are usually shipped in.

 

[ClearRain]

Mel I wish our owner understood the importance of the isolation and treatments I might try and sneak some HOBs on our 25gals at the end of the row... I don't even have a clue as to what to do on our invert system aside from dips/baths as I notice things.

 

[melypr1985]

I don't even have a clue as to what to do on our invert system aside from dips/baths as I notice things.

I don't keep fish in our invert system. Though, when I say invert system I mean tanks that only house snails, hermits and shrimp (for the most part). The coral systems, for the most part again, only house fish that cannot handle copper such as mandarins or other hardy fish such as wrasses.

 

[melypr1985]

I might try and sneak some HOBs on our 25gals at the end of the row.

We have all kinds of equipment that is used and just sitting around. Things that were store-used however long ago but still work. This is where I've gotten most of the extra stuff I use like the HOBs. I also went to my boss with a cost-benefit analysis. I showed him how much per week it would cost to treat that system with prazipro and coppersafe. When I showed him that vs how much in fish losses we were having he said it was a no-brainer. I forget how much it was, but it was something like 20 bucks a week.

 

[ClearRain]

Our invert side is another 400 gal. Like 30 10 gal tanks, so fish have to go in there, but we do the same thing, hardier fish. We also have loads of things sitting around, and since I'm on light duty atm that's what I'm going to do tomorrow. I say "sneak" because the owner will think it's not nessesary. But if I put them on when he isn't there, he'll never notice same way we snuck 3 250w heaters into the sump to raise the temp on that system haha

 

[Humblefish]

We have all kinds of equipment that is used and just sitting around. Things that were store-used however long ago but still work. This is where I've gotten most of the extra stuff I use like the HOBs. I also went to my boss with a cost-benefit analysis. I showed him how much per week it would cost to treat that system with prazipro and coppersafe. When I showed him that vs how much in fish losses we were having he said it was a no-brainer. I forget how much it was, but it was something like 20 bucks a week.

^^ Smart lady.