QT Advice

tdowning · Mar 13, 2018

Ok R2R...so I made the mistake of not QT'ing my fish friends before putting them in to my display, mainly because I didn't have a QT set up. Of course, that led to ich. So here is where I'm at right now. I set up a 75 gallon QT, but as a fellow reefer said, I put it too close to my display tank.

At this point, however, my display tank is only 3 months old, I have it stocked with a decent amount of fish a couple frags. I don't want to stress the fish out anymore than they already may be and so I'm afraid that if I move them to QT they will get even more stressed so I was debating just treating my DT. I don't mind if I lose crabs/snails but I want to ultimately do what's best for my fish friends.

I did fill up my QT with 75 gallons of water from my DT and I'm currently letting it run. Anyway, would love to hear all your thoughts and inputs but I know what I've done wrong and will change that moving forward, I just want to try and fix this the right way with minimal loss of fish.

Also, if you have any questions or need anymore info, please let me know.

Thanks...a newbie that thought he was no longer a newbie :-(

Crabs McJones · Mar 13, 2018

Never treat in your display tank. Putting copper in your display tank can result in copper seeping into the rock and then leeching out over time which will cause your corals and inverts to always be upset and potentially die as most have no tolerance for any copper levels. Move all fish over to the qt, treat, and let the DT remain fishless for a minimum of 76 days to kill off all traces of ich. Hope this helps

tdowning · Mar 13, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
Never treat in your display tank. Putting copper in your display tank can result in copper seeping into the rock and then leeching out over time which will cause your corals and inverts to always be upset and potentially die as most have no tolerance for any copper levels. Move all fish over to the qt, treat, and let the DT remain fishless for a minimum of 76 days.

Not using copper...was going to use Paraguard and PolypLab's Medic.

tdowning · Mar 13, 2018

And what about my DT being too close to my QT?

Crabs McJones · Mar 13, 2018

tdowning said:
Not using copper...was going to use Paraguard and PolypLab's Medic.

Right on paraguards website it states not safe for reef tanks or inverts. Personally I wouldn't risk it.

Crabs McJones · Mar 13, 2018

tdowning said:
And what about my DT being too close to my QT?

That should be fine. Looks good

lacrosseboss18 · Mar 13, 2018

You might want to check out this post.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/

tdowning · Mar 13, 2018

lacrosseboss18 said:
You might want to check out this post.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/aerosol-transmission.190292/

That's what prompted me to ask the question about proximity.

HotRocks · Mar 14, 2018

tdowning said:
That's what prompted me to ask the question about proximity.

You want a minimum of 10'. Between your tanks. I would also recommend moving all fish to QT, treating with copper or CP, allow DT to be fallow (fishless) for 76 days to be sure you have eliminated all strains of ich. IME, I would worry much less about the tank swap stressing them as ich is much more worrysome. Beautiful setup you have there! Good luck.

DLHDesign · Mar 14, 2018

tdowning said:
That's what prompted me to ask the question about proximity.

One option (and it's not really ideal) for close proximity like this would be to run the DT fallow for an extra 30 days (total of 106 days). The first 30 days would be while the QT is cleaned of problems through medications, etc. Once that tank (and the fish in it) are clean, there is no risk of aerosol transmission. At this point, the fallow clock (76 days) actually begins on the DT.

Another option would be to set up a frag QT tank (ideally more than 10ft away from the fish QT) and move your corals (and potentially some rock if needed) into that, resetting the DT (bleaching the rocks, tank, etc. and then re-cycling it all), and then putting it all back together after the 30 days of fish QT. The corals would need to be in QT for 76 days, but at least that way you get your DT back up soon after QT is done (and the tank finishes cycling, of course). That's a pretty labor intensive process and eliminates the benefits of live rock and such, but it has the advantage of being a faster (in terms of the DT being stocked again) solution, at least...

HotRocks · Mar 14, 2018

DLHDesign said:
One option (and it's not really ideal) for close proximity like this would be to run the DT fallow for an extra 30 days (total of 106 days). The first 30 days would be while the QT is cleaned of problems through medications, etc. Once that tank (and the fish in it) are clean, there is no risk of aerosol transmission. At this point, the fallow clock (76 days) actually begins on the DT.

Another option would be to set up a frag QT tank (ideally more than 10ft away from the fish QT) and move your corals (and potentially some rock if needed) into that, resetting the DT (bleaching the rocks, tank, etc. and then re-cycling it all), and then putting it all back together after the 30 days of fish QT. The corals would need to be in QT for 76 days, but at least that way you get your DT back up soon after QT is done (and the tank finishes cycling, of course). That's a pretty labor intensive process and eliminates the benefits of live rock and such, but it has the advantage of being a faster (in terms of the DT being stocked again) solution, at least...

Just curious? If the DT is still within the 10' range of the QT, once the QT is clean, is it possible for transmission to occur back to the clean QT from the infected display? Or assuming that there is no airstone in the DT and powerheads are aimed down then transmission wouldn't occur? I am just trying to wrap my head around it.

Another option would be to just drain the 75 into a few bins, move it to a safe distance away from DT, and follow normal protocol?

4FordFamily · Mar 14, 2018

tdowning said:
Not using copper...was going to use Paraguard and PolypLab's Medic.

Unfortunately that will not work. You’ll need 100% pure CP (not from eBay, but my prescription) or copper. I opt for copper. Your quarantine should be ten feet away from the DT.

Truthfully, all fish need to come out and be treated, and the tank run fallow for 76 days to starve the parasite. Going forward, all fish need 30 days in copper, and I’d suggest 1.5-2 week’s observation afterward. In the observation I also treat for flukes with prazipro twice, 5-7 days apart.

ngoodermuth · Mar 14, 2018

HotRocks said:
Another option would be to just drain the 75 into a few bins, move it to a safe distance away from DT, and follow normal protocol?

This is what I would do

tdowning · Mar 14, 2018

Thanks all. I'm going to drain it when I get home from work, move it...fill it back up and then start the process of moving fish from the DT to the QT...the poor Powder Brown Tang is the worse in the tank so I'm hoping to get all this done this afternoon and get treatment rolling right away. Thanks again everyone for your help, I appreciate it.

DLHDesign · Mar 14, 2018

HotRocks said:
is it possible for transmission to occur back to the clean QT from the infected display?

Oh - right. See; that's why I shouldn't come up with ideas in the middle of the night... Sorry; you are correct - moving it is the best (only, really) option.

HotRocks · Mar 14, 2018

DLHDesign said:
Oh - right. See; that's why I shouldn't come up with ideas in the middle of the night... Sorry; you are correct - moving it is the best (only, really) option.

LOL, I just figured you knew something I didn't! I wasn't undermining just trying to figure it out!

DLHDesign · Mar 14, 2018

HotRocks said:
LOL, I just figured you knew something I didn't! I wasn't undermining just trying to figure it out!

No worries - your question was totally appropriate and I appreciate it. Your suggestion to move it is/was the right one and I'm glad that @tdowning has that option (another thing my addled brain did was assumed that moving the tank wasn't possible...).

HotRocks · Mar 14, 2018

DLHDesign said:
No worries - your question was totally appropriate and I appreciate it. Your suggestion to move it is/was the right one and I'm glad that @tdowning has that option (another thing my addled brain did was assumed that moving the tank wasn't possible...).

Haha, Thanks. yeah he is doing the right thing IMO/IME. Good stuff!

tdowning · Mar 15, 2018

HotRocks said:
Haha, Thanks. yeah he is doing the right thing IMO/IME. Good stuff!

So, today has been a busy day, I moved the QT to other side of the basement, spent 30 minutes trying to catch my fish then decided to just pull out all my rock 5 hours later, the qt is moved and all the fish are in it and have their first treatment. I am sad to report that I found my clown tang had moved to the big aquarium in the sky which is weird as I had seen zero spots on him, regardless, tomorrow is a new day.

HotRocks · Mar 15, 2018

tdowning said:
So, today has been a busy day, I moved the QT to other side of the basement, spent 30 minutes trying to catch my fish then decided to just pull out all my rock 5 hours later, the qt is moved and all the fish are in it and have their first treatment. I am sad to report that I found my clown tang had moved to the big aquarium in the sky which is weird as I had seen zero spots on him, regardless, tomorrow is a new day.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your Clown Tang. Bummer. It is a lot of work, but well worth it IMO, your well on your way to a Sterile DT! Your doing it right!