Observational quarantine

[Brad Coughlan]

Hi there,
I have a tailspot blenny and clownfish in quarantine. I am not medicating. How long should I wait until they go into the display tank? Is 14 days enough or is 30 better? I do see a few spots on the blenny but I am mostly certain that it is just the pattern on the fish, but I will see if these spots change locations or dissapear and reappear

Thanks

 

[Spare time]

Can I try to persuade you to run copper/prazi? At least prazipro? Either way I'd do 81F for 30ish days

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Can I try to persuade you to run copper/prazi? At least prazipro? Either way I'd do 81F for 30ish days

I would do copper, but the only trouble is that the only copper I have is a combined medication with formlain, I just don't want to put excess stress on the fish with the formalin

As for prazi, the store I got the fish from all go through flukes and de worming treatment

Being in the UK, I have not been to a store that has a copper medication which doesn't have formalin, maybe I could have a look online perhaps

Thanks for the reply

 

[Spare time]

I would do copper, but the only trouble is that the only copper I have is a combined medication with formlain, I just don't want to put excess stress on the fish with the formalin

As for prazi, the store I got the fish from all go through flukes and de worming treatment

Being in the UK, I have not been to a store that has a copper medication which doesn't have formalin, maybe I could have a look online perhaps

Thanks for the reply

Interesting you can only get formalin copper combo.


Alternatively, you can do hyposalinity. It doesn't work for velvet but it treats ich (and flukes). While you won't be treating for velvet, you at least can cross ich off the list during the month period.

 

[MnFish1]

Hi there,
I have a tailspot blenny and clownfish in quarantine. I am not medicating. How long should I wait until they go into the display tank? Is 14 days enough or is 30 better? I do see a few spots on the blenny but I am mostly certain that it is just the pattern on the fish, but I will see if these spots change locations or dissapear and reappear

Thanks

I would suggest 30 days if you're going to observe. You could also do hypo salinity if you do not want to do copper. EDIT - this will only help with Ich, as compared to velvet/etc.

 

[LPS Bum]

Definitely 30 days for observational QT. If you can't/won't use copper, I'd at least recommend a Safety Stop bath (formalin and methylene blue), followed by another week in observation.

Disease is everywhere in this hobby, and an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Definitely 30 days for observational QT. If you can't/won't use copper, I'd at least recommend a Safety Stop bath (formalin and methylene blue), followed by another week in observation.

Disease is everywhere in this hobby, and an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.

Yeah I agree, I had ich before and I certainly don't want to go fallow again

Thanks for the info

 

[Brad Coughlan]

I would suggest 30 days if you're going to observe. You could also do hypo salinity if you do not want to do copper. EDIT - this will only help with Ice, as compared to velvet/etc.

Thanks
I will do 30 days then
I sometimes struggle to see the blenny, but 30 days is enough for any parasites on it to spread to the clownfish

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks
I will do 30 days then
I sometimes struggle to see the blenny, but 30 days is enough for any parasites on it to spread to the clownfish

As I said if you're concerned about Ich, you can do hyposalinty there is an article/sticky at the top of the forum.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

As I said if you're concerned about Ich, you can do hyposalinty there is an article/sticky at the top of the forum.

Will do
Thanks for the info

 

[NeedAReef]

Hi there,
I have a tailspot blenny and clownfish in quarantine. I am not medicating. How long should I wait until they go into the display tank? Is 14 days enough or is 30 better? I do see a few spots on the blenny but I am mostly certain that it is just the pattern on the fish, but I will see if these spots change locations or dissapear and reappear

Thanks

mine stay 4-6 weeks no meds just a uv in the tank. best thing I ever added to my routine.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

mine stay 4-6 weeks no meds just a uv in the tank. best thing I ever added to my routine.

I'll go with 4 weeks then
Thanks

 

[NeedAReef]

I'll go with 4 weeks then
Thanks

I would say it varies, I have gone as long as 2 months or more, if you are dealing with a fish who you don't see much, like a night dweller or a hiding place camper, it can take longer to watch. That and it can be stressful, if you are doing a larger fish in a small QT, like a tang. just my opinion other results may vary

 

[Brad Coughlan]

I would say it varies, I have gone as long as 2 months or more, if you are dealing with a fish who you don't see much, like a night dweller or a hiding place camper, it can take longer to watch. That and it can be stressful, if you are doing a larger fish in a small QT, like a tang. just my opinion other results may vary

Yeah
Any signs of ich I will monitor to see if any spots change locations, dissappear and reappear etc

Since its the blenny that is hard to see, I am hoping 30 days is enough time for the clownfish to show any disease if any

Last time I had ich, the royal gramma that introduced it showed signs within the first day but clownfish took a while to show it (by the way, thats a different set of fish and they are in the display tank and ich free, new batch I am just observing)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I would do copper, but the only trouble is that the only copper I have is a combined medication with formlain, I just don't want to put excess stress on the fish with the formalin

As for prazi, the store I got the fish from all go through flukes and de worming treatment

Being in the UK, I have not been to a store that has a copper medication which doesn't have formalin, maybe I could have a look online perhaps

Thanks for the reply

Yes - that copper/formalin medication is tough to use. For observational quarantine, you are safest going at least 45 days.

Jay

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Yes - that copper/formalin medication is tough to use. For observational quarantine, you are safest going at least 45 days.

Jay

Yeah
I'll do 45 days then and just keep an eye on them
Thanks

 

[Brad Coughlan]

Yes - that copper/formalin medication is tough to use. For observational quarantine, you are safest going at least 45 days.

Jay

Hi I managed to get a picture of the blenny and I saw some white spots on its face

Do you think this is ich or just the pattern? I will try to get the same angle another day to see if they are still there, but just visually do you think it looks like ich?

 

[Spare time]

I don't know based off the picture, but this is sort of why you might as well do hyposalinity. There is a chance you go weeks until you notice ich and then have to restart the QT timeline all over again.

 

[Aqualund]

Observational quarantine still has risk. The fish's immune system may be able to keep it looking healthy while it is actually hosting a disease or parasite. How will you know if they are not carrying anything in their gills? If.medication is not an option for you I recommend the "tank transfer method," or a saltwater molly.

 

[Brad Coughlan]

I don't know based off the picture, but this is sort of why you might as well do hyposalinity. There is a chance you go weeks until you notice ich and then have to restart the QT timeline all over again.

Yeah don't worry, the picture quality isn't great so apologies for that
I have attempted hypo salinity before, then realised that my refractometer only reads down to 1.015, hence why I went with copper. I think I'll just have to do a long observational quarantine
Thanks