QT setup question

[the_chef_pierre]

I am planning on setting up a quarnatine tank prior to adding my first fish and I just want to make sure I am doing it right. My tank is a 30 gal so I plan on using a 10 gal for quarantine. I'll put in a heater and thermometer and plan on using a HOB filter with just the sponge part that I've been seeding in my tank for the last 2 weeks or so. I also have an air bubbler if needed.

The question I have is that I originally planned on setting up my QT tank using my display tank water after my water change, but I have had to administer reef flux to treat bryopsis in my display tank. If I use some of this water should it be fine? I could also mix it with some new salt water if that's better. I know reef flux fluconazole treatment is reef safe so it shouldnt affect what I plan on quarantining (which will likely be 2 clowns, but I also plan on getting a watchman goby and a pistol shrimp which I have a feeling might not be able to be quarantined).

 

[kput]

I'd mix up a fresh batch of water for the QT just to minimize stress / unecessary meds. It's good to drop a fish in a clean QT tank, and observe for a few days before beginning any type of treatment.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

So maybe use fresh water with my seeded sponge filter then? Any suggestions on what I should try to QT first (as its probably not a good idea to QT the 2 clowns and a goby together im thinking)? Can I drip acclimate a tiger pistol shrimp and simply add it to my DT, and then qt a watchman goby for a bit and add him to the tank a few weeks later? I hear theres some issues with quarantining gobies and invertebrates

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Thanks

 

[kput]

So maybe use fresh water with my seeded sponge filter then? Any suggestions on what I should try to QT first (as its probably not a good idea to QT the 2 clowns and a goby together im thinking)? Can I drip acclimate a tiger pistol shrimp and simply add it to my DT, and then qt a watchman goby for a bit and add him to the tank a few weeks later? I hear theres some issues with quarantining gobies and invertebrates

The water makes no difference, the bacteria will be in your seeded sponge.

You can QT the goby and shrimp together, but not if you are planning on doing copper treatment. Inverts can't tolerate copper at all, so it depends on your plan. If you are going to religiously QT everything for the reccommended time frames (76 days inverts, etc), then you'll need a seperate tank for them.
You need to figure out exactly how you want to go about things. Personally I am doing Humblefish's hybrid TTM with H202 treatment. It's 14 days with several transfers, instead of the typical 14 day meds and 14 day copper

 

[the_chef_pierre]

I dont want to have to medicate unless absolutely needed. I think my lfs does copper treatments on their fish but id have to check. Would I be able to put some livesand in my QT tank, since i have some extra in the bag that did not fit into my DT so is still clean

 

[kput]

If you do have to medicate, you don't want sand or rock in the tank, it can absorb the medicine and mess with your treatment.
Bare bottom, and PVC for hides is the traditional method.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Ok, but wouldnt I need some sand if I quarantine a pistol shrimp? or is it ok to just drip acclimate the pistol and add to my tank?

 

[kput]

So here's my general consensus on QT..

In a smaller tank like yours, how much effort you want to QT is solely up to you. Personally, I do a full QT for everything that goes into my display. But I have a 120g tank, with a $55 Cowfish (super suceptible to ich), and will be adding tons of expensive corals, fish, etc. so it's important to me to keep it all healthy.
But if you are going to QT one thing, QT them all. You can waste countless days QT'ing fish before adding them to your display, then add one shrimp that wasn't QT'd and bring over a parasite that you spent time trying to avoid.

For pistols; I currently have two in QT. One is 3" long, the other is less than .5". I have two small tupperware containers with sand in them for the inverts (when QT'ing inverts, you won't be treating them with meds like you do fish, so the sand doesn't matter). The small pistol burrowed himself in the container and I haven't seen him since. The large one ignores the container altogether. I put him in it, he climbed out. He currently resides under a rock on the bare bottom.


Here's my exact QT setup and process too. Make sure you keep all bodies of water at leaset 10' away from eachother to prevent aerosol transmission.

Fish QT:
Humblefish's Hybrid TTM. (Two 5 gallon tanks)

Hybrid TTM to treat all parasites!

10/9/2022: Jay Hemdal and the current Fish Medic staff are suggesting that people find other treatments rather than TTM. It has some substantial drawbacks: “Tank chasing” method (Tank Transfer Method - TTM) A mostly theoretical method for treating Cryptocaryon infections takes advantage of...

www.reef2reef.com

With TTM you don't worry about cycles or media. The fish aren't usually in QT long enough to build up ammonia. If it's detected (ammonia alert badge), I will dose with Prime and do a partial water change. They're only in a tank for 72 hours at a time..


Coral/Invert QT (Do NOT keep fish in this tank):

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals & invertebrates. While unable to host ectoparasites the way fish do, corals/inverts are still able to “carry” fish diseases in one of two ways...

www.reef2reef.com

Seperate 35 gallon frag tank, with 20 gallon sump. AI Prime for light.
Corals are dipped before they go in if needed, then will spend xxx days, based off the above thread. This tank will need to be cycled, and can contain rock/sand as you aren't medicated the corals and inverts like you would fish. This tank is a permanent fixture and will stay set up, the fish QT is temporary and only up as needed.
Inverts are nice because once they molt, you can move them over to your display. Just rinse them off well with water from your display to get rid of any potential free-swimmers before dropping them in.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Would I be able to quarantine 2 clowns and a watchman goby in a 10 gal tank and maybe quarantine the pistol in a separate tank? Or could I just put them all together and separate out the pistol if I need to medicate? I'm still not sure about all the medicating stuff since cupramine and other stuff is banned here in canada and harder to get so I might just kinda let them be and only medicate if I notice anything

 

[kput]

Would I be able to quarantine 2 clowns and a watchman goby in a 10 gal tank and maybe quarantine the pistol in a separate tank? Or could I just put them all together and separate out the pistol if I need to medicate? I'm still not sure about all the medicating stuff since cupramine and other stuff is banned here in canada and harder to get so I might just kinda let them be and only medicate if I notice anything

Yes, that would be acceptible.

If you can't get your hands on copper, try something like this for the fish.

Hybrid TTM to treat all parasites!

10/9/2022: Jay Hemdal and the current Fish Medic staff are suggesting that people find other treatments rather than TTM. It has some substantial drawbacks: “Tank chasing” method (Tank Transfer Method - TTM) A mostly theoretical method for treating Cryptocaryon infections takes advantage of...

www.reef2reef.com

The pistol will still have to be QT'd for a full 76 days, or until it molts.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Could I put the 2 clowns, goby and pistol together in my 10 gal tank with a bowl of sand for the pistol to enjoy and wait and see what happens? If anything needs medicating I can take the pistol out and keep seperate and medicate the rest? I was told by my lfs that I should just wait and only medicate if i see anything (as i think they use copper in their tanks)

 

[kput]

Could I put the 2 clowns, goby and pistol together in my 10 gal tank with a bowl of sand for the pistol to enjoy and wait and see what happens? If anything needs medicating I can take the pistol out and keep seperate and medicate the rest? I was told by my lfs that I should just wait and only medicate if i see anything (as i think they use copper in their tanks)

Yes, you certainly can.
However I'd be skeptical about them using copper in their tanks. If there are invertebrates in the tanks they supposedly use copper in, they're either lying, or it's not a theraputic level of copper, so it does basically nothing (theraputic copper levels will kills inverts).

You'll need to decide if you want to be the guy that treats and medicates no matter what, or the type that only treats if there are symptoms. Keep in mind that not all diseases will actually show signs. Just because a fish isn't showing signs of ich, doesn't mean it can't have some hanging out on it's gills where you wouldn't know.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Sorry. Forgot to mention that they keep their inverts separate so they dont get trested with copper. I do think they keep their pistols with their watchman goby though so I don't think the goby gets the copper treatment