Quarantine dual tank setup?

[Psustein]

I am getting ready to start my quarantine system. I have a 75g tank setup and ready to go. I know the most proactive quarantine setup involves medicating in the tank which also means keep it coral free. I would like to keep the 75g free of medications since I want to quarantine coral in there as well. My question is I have a 20g that I want to place the fish in first, medicate them for a week then place in the 75g for observation for another month to month and a half. The only reason I prefer this is with some of the larger fish I want to quarantine I would prefer to give them ample swimming space and not keep them in the 20g for a prolonged time.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I am getting ready to start my quarantine system. I have a 75g tank setup and ready to go. I know the most proactive quarantine setup involves medicating in the tank which also means keep it coral free. I would like to keep the 75g free of medications since I want to quarantine coral in there as well. My question is I have a 20g that I want to place the fish in first, medicate them for a week then place in the 75g for observation for another month to month and a half. The only reason I prefer this is with some of the larger fish I want to quarantine I would prefer to give them ample swimming space and not keep them in the 20g for a prolonged time.

That sounds like a good plan. Just make sure to give the fish a freshwater RO/DI dip before you add them into the 75 to wash off any meds

 

[lapin]

Anyone know where I can get a clear colander to catch fish in my 10 gal QT tanks? I dont want to use a net.

 

[don_chuwish]

IF the fish end up with Crypto (Ich) they won't necessarily be rid of it in a week, even with meds. Then could transfer it to the 75g where it could encyst and start the life cycle all over again. It's certainly a dilemma regarding providing a comfortable space that isn't too big to medicate. 29G is a nice compromise I think.

 

[Psustein]

I guess my hurdle is I want to use the 75g as a place to cure live rock quarantine corals. I guess what I am looking for is what you guys think the minimum time to medicate the fish would be to ensure the death of any parasites then I will transfer to the 75g for further observation to ensure the medication worked. I know you dont medicate the entire quarantine period so what is the minimum time you should medicate so then i can move the fish for observation to ensure the medication worked. Obviously if I mess up and something gets into the 75g I could simply run it fishless for 2 months and let the ich or whatever die off.

 

[saltyhog]

Medicating for most things simply can't be done in a week. If the 75 is at least 10 feet away from the other QT tank, I think you could consider a 10 day course of chloroquine phosphate which treats both Ich and Velvet. This wouldn't allow time to treat for flukes and internal parasites. I recommend getting our resident QT expert on this.... @Humblefish

 

[rockstarta78]

I guess my hurdle is I want to use the 75g as a place to cure live rock quarantine corals. I guess what I am looking for is what you guys think the minimum time to medicate the fish would be to ensure the death of any parasites then I will transfer to the 75g for further observation to ensure the medication worked. I know you dont medicate the entire quarantine period so what is the minimum time you should medicate so then i can move the fish for observation to ensure the medication worked. Obviously if I mess up and something gets into the 75g I could simply run it fishless for 2 months and let the ich or whatever die off.

If you are prophylactically treating for internal and external parasite you could use something like API GC. Even with that you'd do 2 seperate treatment 5 ~ 7 days apart. If you want to use Copper Safe or Cupramine you'd have to treat for 4 weeks to make sure you kill all crypto. A good average time for QT is somewhere between 6 ~ 8 weeks. You can just watch the fish last 2 weeks to observe it's behavior and see if the treatment worked. At least that's the philosophy I picked up from following @Humblefish @4FordFamily and @melypr1985 ...... and they know waaaaaaaaay more than I do.

 

[Humblefish]

Best bet for a 10 day all-inclusive treatment protocol is to time Prazipro dosages (in order to deworm) to coincide with 10 days in full therapeutic copper. But this approach doesn't account for bacterial infections, prazi resistant flukes, Brooklynella in clownfish, Uronema in chromis, etc. etc.

Dosing General Cure in conjunction with CP for 10-14 days is a bit more all-inclusive; but you are dumping 3 meds on a fish all at once which can cause appetite suppression and other side effects. And if a bacterial infection were to break out while all 3 meds were still active in the water and you needed to dose antibiotics on top of that, you are looking at a real possibility of liver/kidney damage.

IMO; the best QT protocol is using one medication at a time (e.g. CP or copper) and then transferring the fish into another QT for the next med (e.g. prazi). This approach gives you the flexibility to safely combine antibiotics if an infection flares up.

@Psustein Were you planning on transferring the fish into the 75 whilst also QTing corals in there? If so, that's a big no-no because corals/inverts can carry the tomont stage of most ectoparasites.

 

[Psustein]

I am trying to do everything right this time around so I originally set up the 75g as a coral quarantine system so I could put in some live rock and keep the nutrient levels low so I don't have to complicate filtration. At the same time I wanted to quarantine my first batch of fish which will mostly be small gentle types. So I could use the 20g I have to quarantine them, but when I go to get my tangs for the second round of quarantining I want to keep the fish happy so that is really where the 75g is something I want to bring into play. Especially since I'm looking at a naso tang so prolonged time in the small tank may stress it out more then I would like. I just don't want to have three or four separate tanks sitting around for different quarantine stages. I was hoping to utilize the 75g in some way for the larger fish, but it looks like maybe I don't have a choice.

 

[rockstarta78]

I am trying to do everything right this time around so I originally set up the 75g as a coral quarantine system so I could put in some live rock and keep the nutrient levels low so I don't have to complicate filtration. At the same time I wanted to quarantine my first batch of fish which will mostly be small gentle types. So I could use the 20g I have to quarantine them, but when I go to get my tangs for the second round of quarantining I want to keep the fish happy so that is really where the 75g is something I want to bring into play. Especially since I'm looking at a naso tang so prolonged time in the small tank may stress it out more then I would like. I just don't want to have three or four separate tanks sitting around for different quarantine stages. I was hoping to utilize the 75g in some way for the larger fish, but it looks like maybe I don't have a choice.

Could you possibly use the 20g for the corals and inverts and the 75 for the fish? For Coral QT you won't need that big of a tank. Also, if you are going to medicate any tank, I wouldn't put rock or sand in the QT tank. Your medication would bound to the substrate and rock and throw off your numbers.

 

[coweyes298]

20G for coral and 75 for fish. you can then use medication as long as possible in the 75g without stressing them from being too small.

Coral won't need 75g to QT in my opinion.

 

[Psustein]

Deffinetly have a point with the 20g for corals and inverts. The only problem I have which I didn't mention and point in fact is swaying my decision greatly is I was planning on creating a frag system in the future that I have catered to a larger tank. So the 75g is ideal for down the road. Though to be honest we all know in this hobby by the time I'm ready for the fragging stage of my reef keeping I could easily snag something like a 40g breeder or something that would work just fine. I won't have enough grow out in my display to concern myself with fragging any time soon. I think I will just cut the loss and do the 20g as an invert coral qt and the 75g just make it a medicated tank.

 

[Forsaken77]

I guess my hurdle is I want to use the 75g as a place to cure live rock quarantine corals. I guess what I am looking for is what you guys think the minimum time to medicate the fish would be to ensure the death of any parasites then I will transfer to the 75g for further observation to ensure the medication worked. I know you dont medicate the entire quarantine period so what is the minimum time you should medicate so then i can move the fish for observation to ensure the medication worked. Obviously if I mess up and something gets into the 75g I could simply run it fishless for 2 months and let the ich or whatever die off.

I would say a month of copper and a week of Prazi. Then observe for 2 weeks. I also use antibiotics for quarantine, but that's me.