https://exoticreefcreations.com/ looks good. Anyone ever order fish from here?
Quarantine Protocol:
we get more and more emails and calls on our qt protocols for fish and coral. you also see a lot of posts nowadays on folks working together with legitimate and accurate information on how to get through a situation with a pest or parasite, what are best practices, folks setting up coral quarantine tanks, etc.
it’s one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk. as the reefer becomes knowledgeable and aware more than ever of what a proper quarantine protocol looks and sounds like we are able to make educated decisions about where the coral and fish for our tanks will come from.
at ERC we separate ourselves from the herd by being one of the very few outfits, if not the only, offering only prophylactically treated (symptomatic or not) and properly quarantined fish. we don’t expect anything less for our personal tanks and won’t deliver any less to our clients.
no matter the source of our fish, whether it be a collection station in Hawaii or Vanuatu or from wholesalers who quarantine and treat their fish, all fish are taken through our own protocol to ensure what we sell our customers are truly the healthiest specimens. we don’t take short-cuts relying on some other wholesaler’s work, we do it ourselves! we have had our fish for 6-8 weeks, know they are eating well, what they are eating, how they get along with other species, have them acclimated to reef lighting, and even sing them lullabies a few times a week
for fish this means:
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minimizing the chain of custody and obtaining the healthiest specimens possible from the get-go from as direct a source from country of origin exporter to our door as possible by leveraging negotiated relationships with divers and collection site managers
– fish are brought into and un-packaged in a dimly lit room. they are pH, salinity, and temperature acclimated.
– assuming they are asymptomatic for brookynella, amyloodinium ocellatum, or any other quick-killer they are allowed to de-stress and continue acclimating over the course of 7-10 days while they are fed several times a day LRS food blends and if needed live BBS, clams on the half shell, etc. whatever it takes to get them eating very well
– once they are eating and adjusted very well we wait another week before beginning prophylaxis. this is done with cupramine or chloroquine phosphate, furan-2, and praziquantel/FW dips. if symptoms are shown for any parasite, malady, or bacterial infection unaffected by above prophylactic treatment, then they are dealt with individually with appropriate treatment.
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we do not rely on outside vendors/wholesalers to quarantine our livestock. we’ve worked with most of them and there are often issues that arise or shortcuts taken. the only people and protocols we can trust are our own to ensure 100% confidence in what we provide our customers.
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treatment continues for 4 weeks.
– during those four weeks customer food choices are introduced if any in particular and fish continue to thrive on LRS food selections.
– after four weeks of therapeutic levels of treatment, all rounds of praziquantel and/or furan-2, metronidazole, and kanamycin are completed, medications are removed via activated carbon, skimming, and water changes.
– fish are given at least one more week to continue eating frequent meals and regain any lost vigor without treatment and observed multiple times a day
for coral this means:
– most of our coral is
hand-selected in person ensuring the very best, healthiest, and most colorful coral.
– all coral is carefully and closely inspected for unwanted pests
– coral is dipped in bayer and/or coral rx pro
– if AEFW/eggs or red bugs are found on a coral colony or frag,
it is immediately discarded. it will not enter quarantine.
– all acropora is quarantined for at least 4 weeks and most commonly 8-10 weeks to ensure the color of the acropora holds in a captive environment, the health of the specimen, there were multiple opportunities to find any potential pests via daily inspections or weekly dips
– all acropora is dipped in bayer once a week for at least four weeks while undergoing daily inspections
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we never offer fresh cuts. even of all the aqua-cultured colonies. everything we frag and sell has had at least three weeks to heal and encrust which offers the healthiest coral and highest chance of livelihood in our customer’s tanks.
we hope that if you haven’t experienced everything ERC has to offer that you’ll soon allow us to exceed your expectations with a truly superb piece of goodness for your reef!
