Quoyi Parrotfish QT Protocol

[Singspot]

All quoyi must be fully treated for internal worms. If you do not then they will perish in the near future.

Please ONLY acquire this fish if you intend to do so, otherwise more quoyi will be killed in this hobby.

Are you recommending General Cure treatment in water or in food 9r some other med?

Remember this fish is not eating yet

 

[mfollen]

The metronidazole will need to be bound to the food with focus. 10 days of treated feeding I believe. You should treat your other new fish too so they don’t bring worms in.

 

[mfollen]

The internal worms are why so many of these fish mysteriously die

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I cliped a piece of nori and a dried krill in tank ... he swam around it several timea but did not try either. I do not think he ate anything with me in last 2.5 days.

Should I start the General cure 1 full doze and wait for 6 days and repeat and wait for 5 days.

I do 20% water change every 2 days

General Cure is one of the only medications out there for internal parasites, but be aware that it only works on cestodes, and flukes and cestodes typically do not keep a fish from feeding. In fact, only internal protozoans tend to do that to fish, all worm parasites initially make the fish even more hungry. I think the lack of feeding response here is unrelated to internal parasites....the fish could just be settling in, or it could have other issues. Cyanide collection often causes this in fish, but that is unlikely as my understanding is that since parrotfish don't hile up when chased, cyanide isn't often used to collect them.

jay

 

[Singspot]

Got it Jay, the question is - shoudl I get started with General cure in water (without waiting for fish to start eating)? Guessing fhat the med will clean up external parasites, not atretch the QT time. Or will meds make eating worse, i shud add carbon and clean QT water to help the fish start eating and then I add any meds?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Got it Jay, the question is - shoudl I get started with General cure in water (without waiting for fish to start eating)? Guessing fhat the med will clean up external parasites, not atretch the QT time. Or will meds make eating worse, i shud add carbon and clean QT water to help the fish start eating and then I add any meds?

Marine fish drink water, so medications added to the water are injected by the fish, but usually not at full strength.
Using carbon and cleaning the QT can help, but you also need to ensure your water tests o.k., especially for ammonia.
Jay

 

[Singspot]

Amonia 0

 

[mfollen]

Get the quoyi eating first. Without its strength it won’t make it thru QT and it needs to eat to get the internal worm treatment.

My friend local here imports lots of sensitive fish, quoyi included. He said:
“ Yes, weirdly quoyi love certain pellets, I also have some a special blend of food that all these regal angels and quoyis fell in love with. It’s 1 cube of each of the following: Hakari Mega Marine Algae, Mega Marine Angel, SF Fish Eggs, spirulina mysis, and SF Butterfly and Angel. That mixture got everyone excited and eating. Eggs, algae, shrimp, sponge, mussels, and worms.”

 

[Singspot]

I have almost al of the stuff u called out. Will try

 

[mfollen]

Good luck

 

[Singspot]

Get the quoyi eating first. Without its strength it won’t make it thru QT and it needs to eat to get the internal worm treatment.

My friend local here imports lots of sensitive fish, quoyi included. He said:
“ Yes, weirdly quoyi love certain pellets, I also have some a special blend of food that all these regal angels and quoyis fell in love with. It’s 1 cube of each of the following: Hakari Mega Marine Algae, Mega Marine Angel, SF Fish Eggs, spirulina mysis, and SF Butterfly and Angel. That mixture got everyone excited and eating. Eggs, algae, shrimp, sponge, mussels, and worms.”

I do not have Selcon or Garlic card at hand, has anyone used "Fresh Garlic Juice" to appetize the food?

Does garlic really work or is it just a myth?

 

[NEFFx]

I just had one and the LFS said he was eating well after they had him for a few days. I put him in my tank (should have quarantined), he was breathing really heavy from the first second and he died in 5 hours. Sad. Read a bit on them but I didnt have much time to respond and that LFS is now on my sh** list because of that and a poor blonde Naso that shortly diminished.

I wish you the best. it does seem they have a hard time in captivity after 6 months so agreed parasite treatment is worthwhle.

 

[Singspot]

I do not have Selcon or Garlic card at hand, has anyone used "Fresh Garlic Juice" to appetize the food?

Does garlic really work or is it just a myth?

Any one has had experience with fresh Garlic juice instead of "Garlic Guard" commercial product?

 

[mfollen]

If a fish died that quick it’s not due to the prior care by the lfs, it likely was an error on acclimation or not properly executed transport and acclimation.

No experience with fresh garlic juice here, but garlic is effective for appetite stimulant. Not proven effective for ich.

 

[Singspot]

Success! My Quoyi is eating, swimming and happy!

Here is what all worked (IMHO)
1. Kept him in QT (had moved to DT for 2 days and he was **** stressed, did not eat)
2. Had a lot of established nitrifying bacteria bio cube,buo balls, 2 big sponge and 1 big dead coral skeleton from my 3 yr old DT. Those prevented amonia spike.
3. Kept QT water good. Changed 50% every 2 days. Kept Nitrate and PO4 in check.
4. He was alone for 1 week, then I added 2 clown from my DT, but to no avail ... after a week, I added a goatfish (and 2 other peaceful fish - yes a bit much for 30G). Goatfish is GREAT distraction, not aggressive, swims all day, eats everything that falls (keeps tank leftover free). In future I will try goat fish again for enticing finicky/ shy fishes.
5. Had a mini skimmer run 80% of time. Shut off inly for 12 hours after medicine addition.
6. Kept a powerhead running, facing water surface to keep O2 level high.
7. Added a good temperature controlled new heater (last one had thermostat failure and temperature shot up to 86!!)
8. Fed multiple different frozen and nori 2x to 3x daily but 0 pellets, to keep nutrient spike in control (I had 2 good eating and swimming angel (Flame and annularis) die in QT suddenly in QT, I fed them pellets).
9. For 3 weeks Quoyi dd not seem to eat (i did not see her eat), since 2 days she started eaeatingshe first started "eating small stuff" floating near her mouth. Probably small parts of brine shrimp... then floating pieces of algae sheet and today she is scraping the rocks and swimming and even chasing away goatfish when he swims in-the-face!! Lol!
10. I did 1 round of General cure, 2 rounds of Sufaplex and 1 round of kanaplex. Tonight I will change 60% of water and add no more meds. Watch until Friday.

I will keep Quoyi and rest of QT as is for 5 more days and then on Friday move the fishes to DT.

 

[jduong916]

What about trying some nori attached to a rock?

The trouble with not medicating in a preventive fashion, means that protozoan parasites could break out months later.

Jay

I never understood this. Doesn’t ich and velvelt only stay on the fish for a week or so? If you don’t see symptoms after to weeks how do could there be an outbreak months later?

 

[blaxsun]

Despite arriving to the party late, here are a few observations I can offer.

1. Quoys love seaweed. As @Jay Hemdal mentioned, seaweed rubberbanded to a rock is a surefire hit (mine loves TLF SeaVeggiea red).
2. They can and will eat anything once they get comfortable. Popular frozen food includes LRS Reef Frenzy, mysis and brine. Algae pellets and Nyos Goji are also great for autofeeding.
3. They need a cave to sleep in. If one isn't readily available, they'll most likely dig a burrow (and they're not shy about this either).
4. For whatever reason, they just love mirrors. So if you're trying to get them to pose for a picture - hang one on the side of the tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I never understood this. Doesn’t ich and velvelt only stay on the fish for a week or so? If you don’t see symptoms after to weeks how do could there be an outbreak months later?

Both ich and velvet have a resting stage, called a tomont. For ich, the ability for a tomont to remain infective has been shown to reach as much as 75 days. Velvet is less known. That extreme amount of time is only under very specific conditions - lower temperatures and few bacteria. A more typical amount of time is around 45 days. Here is a discussion about that:

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Singspot]

In my recent experience, i had 2 additional observations

1. Quoyis (or any parrotfish) like scraping rocks. Get them old algae covered rock. This was 1st thing my quoyi started eating.

2. Use of "Dither fish" - the perfect is healthy bicolor goatfish. It is not aggressive at all, eats any frozen food (no pellets or nori) and swims all over. Best - eats any leftover frozen meats.

3. Settle Quoyi in QT first and then when adding to DT, get portion of tank separated with eggcrate so you can ease the quoyii well on tye side Quoyi has a cave (that other fishes do not own)

Quoyi does not fight back and thus it needs above (took me 5 weeks QT and 3 weeks in in segregated DT. But now it eats everything, swims all day, does not hurt any fishes (mine does not touch my few corals either but some folks say it scraps SPS) is THE best algae cleaner from rocks and its my tye fav fish.

 

[mfollen]

Yes quoyi need caves and without competition to have one otherwise they get so stressed out they will die. It is essential.

Yes, they eat algae on rock all day. Algae and greens are essential part of their diet.

No they do not love their reflection. They are trying to battle a perceived rival.

Quoyi need full internal worm quarantine or they will slowly wither and die. As unfortunately another reason why most of them do.

Please do not try to keep this fish unless you are able to provide what it needs. Otherwise you will kill it in 8-10 months.