Quarantine system will be empty soon

[Frey]

Hello,

I set up a fairly large quarantine system consisting of three 20 longs and a 40 breeder as well as a sump and skimmer for my fish while i went fallow to hopefully eradicate "ich" from my display tanks for good.
I only lost 2 fish during the process. A diamond gobie that managed to find the one hole a screen didn't cover and an 8 year old yellow tang whom contracted some sort of bacteria that ate away at the flesh around his gill plate.
This is fairly good i guess seeing that i have around 22 fish in quarenteen. Obviously 0 losses would have been better but following humblefish's advice on this platform as well as others from various other platforms has made qt process easier and more effective.
Now to my point. So i have this system.... would it be beneficial for anyone near me that may not have the space or funds to create something of this sort to pay me to qt their fish? Or would anyone like to purchased pre quarantined fish in the area?
I live in NE Pa. I would like to replace my yellow tang so that will mean running through qt all over again as i dont want to set the clock over so i have all these tanks if anyone is interested.

 

[naterealbig]

Hello,

I set up a fairly large quarantine system consisting of three 20 longs and a 40 breeder as well as a sump and skimmer for my fish while i went fallow to hopefully eradicate "ich" from my display tanks for good.
I only lost 2 fish during the process. A diamond gobie that managed to find the one hole a screen didn't cover and an 8 year old yellow tang whom contracted some sort of bacteria that ate away at the flesh around his gill plate.
This is fairly good i guess seeing that i have around 22 fish in quarenteen. Obviously 0 losses would have been better but following humblefish's advice on this platform as well as others from various other platforms has made qt process easier and more effective.
Now to my point. So i have this system.... would it be beneficial for anyone near me that may not have the space or funds to create something of this sort to pay me to qt their fish? Or would anyone like to purchased pre quarantined fish in the area?
I live in NE Pa. I would like to replace my yellow tang so that will mean running through qt all over again as i dont want to set the clock over so i have all these tanks if anyone is interested.

This is a great idea, and I have thought about offering this service locally as well. If I were you, I might try to post locally. I would do a little research to understand what it will actually cost to QT the fish (water changes, food, medication), so that you can put an appropriate markup on livestock.

Also, be clear on what exactly you are offering in QT, which diseases are targeted, and which/qty/frequency medication you will be using.

 

[mike550]

@Frey this is an interesting idea, and I’m guessing that many reefers would be willing to pay someone to do a proper quarantine. Personally, I quarantine for observation but don’t medicate — partly from inexperience and not finding a process that I’m comfortable with. I’ve asked for recommendations on LFS that would do legit quarantine and really no responses. So my next purchases will probably be AquaLocker.

I guess a couple of questions I‘d have if I were a customer would be:
1 Really good understanding of your expertise and your QT process
2 What happens if one of “my“ fish dies or gets sick while in your care

good luck!

 

[Frey]

Yeah so this is why i am putting this out there just to get a feel for if anyones is interested. What's a fair price etc..

As far as my process...

Fish go into the system non medicated. Treatment with metro & focus or general cure per the customers request.
Then to copper or not to copper. I am now all for profolcatically treating because you can't see ich in the fishes gills and certain species hide it better than others so once again up to the customer....
Once copper is completed parazipro treatment and another 14 days of observation.

The medicines are all not that expensive, its the time and the feed. I use selcon every day, and use a variety of fry flake, pellet and frozen foods.
As far as a fish passing in care.....i had thought about sending a photo each day of the fish individually. And if one passes i couldn't charge full price for the treatment but i dont see how somone with the understanding of how getting new fish in and going through qt wouldn't understand that there are going to be some fish that just don't make it.

I just put some less hardy fish through this exact qt and only lost one truly to the process (yellow tang i had for 8 years). Powder blue, powder brown, 2 hippos, potter angel, multi color angel, flame angel, tenniti tang and two wrasses. Not a single issue. Just slowly ramped up copper over 4- 5 days. The hippo was absolutely covered after moving it qt and i did think i was going to lose it, but i just kept true to the process and it pulled through.

Thoughts?

I have been in saltwater since i was 17 and worked for 2 different shops one that specialized in reef aquariums the other had everyrhing but was manager over the fish wish is my passion. Now i had to go get a real job as i got older but sure do miss those days.

 

[Frey]

The other option i have been tossing around in my head is i just order a batch of fish, do the treatment and offer them for a certain price after everything is done and they are disease and pest free....the only issue i can see with this is what if there is a fish no one is wanting to purchase in a certain time period them i am stuck with it.... i do have each tank individually able to separate from the system in case something crazy pops up or i want to start a new batch with a few removed from what the majority are getting.
I just have all the equipment now thought maybe it would be cool to use it for some good. When i first started my displays i was able to qt easily in a small tank but when i got lazy and just put some fish right in the display a few years ago that's where my trouble began. The fish i had for ever were able to keep the ich at bay but i basically couldn't add anything new as the older fish would harass it and it would get ich and eventually parish, thus why i set up such a large system to begin with. I wanted to go fallow and treat everything and when you have 400 gallon system inevitably you have a lot of fish.
I live in a decent size area population wise but unfortunately there are no mom and pop shops left (last one is currently shutting its doors now) Only big box stores and their fish keeping skills or what they are allowed to do as far as taking care of the fish is minimal. So people walk in there get talked into setting up a system go back purchase their fish, they all die in a matter of days or a few weeks and people leave the hobby.

 

[Jeeperz]

If you were near me I'd pay a hefty sum to get pre qt fish. Like triple or more but I only need a few more fish and the peace of mind of someone who knows what they are doing with the equipment.

 

[Frey]

See and thats it, how many people can you reach in a set area....? How many people are knowledgeable enough to want to qt, or how many have been bit in the butt before and just won't put a fish in without qt, but don't have the time, space or extra funds. i am not trying to over charge and be rediculous about it, but i paid for all the tanks etc, i built a stand, and i am someone who just enjoys the hobby and the oppertunity to view and take care of fish that i have not had the oppertunity to have in my care before is cool.
I was thinking 1$ or 1.25 a day for a 45 day qt per fish. Something in that ball park. Obviously that would need to be tweaked for cheaper fish, i don't see someone buying a 15 dollar gobie and paying 50 bucks to have it in qt. But buying an achilies and only paying 50 extra dollars would be a benefit to someone. The most expensive thing about it is the salt for water changes. The rest is just the time. But i am already down there taking care of my own systems anyways so... i was thinking about trying it out and even if i could just get it to pay for itself and maybe make a few extra dollars to buy my next coral or something after a year or so....

 

[ReefLab]

I would pay $45 to QT a $15 goby.. QT not only ensure that that fish comes out healthy and parasite free, but also protects the loss of potentially much more expensive fish in my display. A QT set up is going to cost at least $50 to set up myself, not to mention the labor and time cost expense so $45 a fish is very reasonable.
Problem you would run into is sensitive fish that may not make it through some treatments..

 

[mike550]

I would try and get a sense of what AquaLocker and others charge for their services. @Frey, with your background and what you said, this is more a side hustle but you should definitely make money at it. If you were local, I’d gladly pay $45-$60 for a 21+ day quarantine. As @ReefLab points out it’s more than just protecting the fish it’s about protecting the health of the DT.

If I could find someone local that could order / source the fish I want and then put it through QT. I’d pay good $$ for that.

 

[Frey]

Mike550 you and i are on the same page. I have 20 fish average cost 50$ or more. Spending the extra money to ensure no future losses makes sense. Maybe some people only have 2 or 3 fish in a small nano type tank and don't care or just have been lucky and haven't gotten ich or any kind of ailment.
I purchase 98% of my fish online due to lack of other options and even getting from reputable places i find it very low percentage don't get something while in qt. Ich being the main thing i see almost always. Oh well. When these fish come out and its cleaned up and ready to go i may post and see if there are any takers. If not i will just replace my yellow tang and when done take the system down and store everything away for future use.