QT tank question..

[LordClownFish]

Hey guys, first post so go easy on me. I want to setup a QT tank but I want to set it up for coral AND fish. Is this possible? I'd like to keep it running with something like a clown fish so I can detect if corals have any fish diseases such as ich. Seems like keeping a fish would also be a good way to test new fish coming in? Any ideas? I don't have a lot of space and it is a 20g long QT tank.

 

[AmazingYocool]

Hey guys, first post so go easy on me. I want to setup a QT tank but I want to set it up for coral AND fish. Is this possible? I'd like to keep it running with something like a clown fish so I can detect if corals have any fish diseases such as ich. Seems like keeping a fish would also be a good way to test new fish coming in? Any ideas? I don't have a lot of space and it is a 20g long QT tank.

This is possible. However, you wouldnt be able to use popular medication that is more effective for certian treatment such as copper. You would have to use reefsafe medication which at that point, you could treat in your main tank. I want to put coral and rocks and sand in my qt so bad, but it would just make it incredibly more hard to treat sick fish.

Now there is a popular reef safe ich treatment by polylab, its around 50$ but its incredibly good I hear. This would allow you to have rocks and coral in your QT but if you wanted to treat something such as velvet or more serious illnesses, then i'd keep it empty.

I plan on keeping mine run with a pipefish, or atleast untill he gets big enough to go in my main tank lol.

welcome to r2r : - ]

also: for keeping a fish in there to see illnesses, a good idea would be a black molly since they can be acclimated to saltwater very slowly (Or you could buy one thats already acclimated). Black is best specifically because its much easier to see ich and other popular disesases (which are mostly white).

kind of unethical but it works well

 

[RV Reefs]

It’s possible, but it limits the medications you can use for treatment in the future. Honestly, I wouldn’t, but that’s entirely up to you.

What corals are you planning to put in your tank, and where are you planning to get your fish from? LFS tend to have huge aquarium tank systems, which may share water and increase the risk of ich for your fish. As long as you are quarantining the corals, you should be ok.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey guys, first post so go easy on me. I want to setup a QT tank but I want to set it up for coral AND fish. Is this possible? I'd like to keep it running with something like a clown fish so I can detect if corals have any fish diseases such as ich. Seems like keeping a fish would also be a good way to test new fish coming in? Any ideas? I don't have a lot of space and it is a 20g long QT tank.

Quarantining is a great measure to assure no diseases are introduced into your display tank. It also allows you to observe fish more easily and requires less use of medication opposed to medicating a large tank, access to the fish and less water needed for water changes. It does NOT limit medications but rather use of less medications. I recommend no smaller than a 20 gal long tank and 40 breeder as ideal.
Petco currently has a 50% tank sale right now.
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a tank from a second hand store or a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

 

[RV Reefs]

Quarantining is a great measure to assure no diseases are introduced into your display tank. It also allows you to observe fish more easily and requires less use of medication opposed to medicating a large tank, access to the fish and less water needed for water changes. It does NOT limit medications but rather use of less medications. I recommend no smaller than a 20 gal long tank and 40 breeder as ideal.
Petco currently has a 50% tank sale right now.
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a tank from a second hand store or a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

When I said it limited medications, I meant if the OP ran a fish and coral QT. Out of curiosity, am I mistaken?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I'd like to keep it running with something like a clown fish so I can detect if corals have any fish diseases such as ich.

Just to put this out there - if the corals have ich tomonts on them, then having a fish in the tank will give the ich a host to feed on and enable it to reproduce, and you won't be able to treat the ich infection without killing the coral.

Personally, I'd just QT the corals without a fish for 60-76 days to allow time for any fish diseases like ich to die off (no fish to parasitize = no more ich).

Seems like keeping a fish would also be a good way to test new fish coming in?

Not necessarily - it largely depends on the stress levels of the infected fish. Many infected fish don't show symptoms until they get stressed, then have an outbreak; this is part of why fish can be seemingly healthy for months or even years, then suddenly have an outbreak.

Anyway, if the new fish are stressed or stress out the original fish (and are in the tank long enough for a disease to reproduce to visible levels on that original fish), then you may see the disease symptoms, but if they don't get too stressed, you likely wouldn't see any symptoms.

This is one of the potential flaws of observational quarantine, and it's part of why the recommended QT protocol involves prophylactic treatment (i.e. treating for disease before we see any symptoms).

As long as the QT doesn't have corals or inverts in it, though, you could treat any diseases that show up in it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

When I said it limited medications, I meant if the OP ran a fish and coral QT. Out of curiosity, am I mistaken?

Many medications can be mixed but carefully or with precautions. One will not QT fish and coral together and should not for obvious reasons. Quarantining corals are becoming more common for reduction of risk of disease and is often asked with our MEDIC team although of low level risk. I dont quarantine coral but do dip and yet to have a disease breakout over a few decades now.
Last disease I had was introduction of an achilles tang in 2018 in which I got velvet and had it knocked down in 5 days and was the one fish I added directly to display tank. Being a 660 gallon system, was an expensive battle with medication and conformed the easier measure of treating a 40 breeder tank