Single Quaratine Tank Questions

[mynameisnick4]

I am one of the many that gambled with not quarantining and paid the price with a velvet outbreak last October that killed everything but a single clown. The surviving clown was moved to a tank in the basement and treated with copper for 30 days then kept there while the DT tank sat fallow. The DT tank sat fallow for 99 days before I added 3 tangs I ordered from Marine Collectors. The clown was moved out of QT a month after that.

Now I am at the stage where I will be QTing all new purchases myself. I'm trying to find out if my single tank QT plan will be feasible. After the major loss from velvet, I am planning to treat all new fish with Cupramine.
My questions would be:
Is the 14 days recommended from Seachem good enough to proactively treat for ich and velvet with Cupramine? I would be slowly raising levels to .6 to give a little room for error but still testing daily to ensure levels are correct.

Since I would only be using one tank, would it be smarter to take them straight from the copper treatment to the DT tank versus removing copper via a 100% water change and monitoring for another 14 days? The reason I ask this question is I've seen people explain that copper could clean the fish of the disease/parasite but it could still be in the tank and could reinfect the fish if the copper is removed, which is why people tank transfer.

The reason I want to go with a single tank QT method is it would allow me to maintain a biofilter in QT and not having to deal with multiple QT tanks in general, multiple tanks with little or no biofilter at all thus potential ammonia issues, cross contamination between tanks while doing TTM, etc.

 

[CuzzA]

I am one of the many that gambled with not quarantining and paid the price with a velvet outbreak last October that killed everything but a single clown. The surviving clown was moved to a tank in the basement and treated with copper for 30 days then kept there while the DT tank sat fallow. The DT tank sat fallow for 99 days before I added 3 tangs I ordered from Marine Collectors. The clown was moved out of QT a month after that.

Now I am at the stage where I will be QTing all new purchases myself. I'm trying to find out if my single tank QT plan will be feasible. After the major loss from velvet, I am planning to treat all new fish with Cupramine.
My questions would be:
Is the 14 days recommended from Seachem good enough to proactively treat for ich and velvet with Cupramine? I would be slowly raising levels to .6 to give a little room for error but still testing daily to ensure levels are correct.

Since I would only be using one tank, would it be smarter to take them straight from the copper treatment to the DT tank versus removing copper via a 100% water change and monitoring for another 14 days? The reason I ask this question is I've seen people explain that copper could clean the fish of the disease/parasite but it could still be in the tank and could reinfect the fish if the copper is removed, which is why people tank transfer.

The reason I want to go with a single tank QT method is it would allow me to maintain a biofilter in QT and not having to deal with multiple QT tanks in general, multiple tanks with little or no biofilter at all thus potential ammonia issues, cross contamination between tanks while doing TTM, etc.

Going from qt to display is risky, all it takes is one single survivor and you're back to qt and fallow. I would not be worried about the bio filter. Treat for two weeks. Transfer to sterile observation tank for two weeks. I fresh water dip between transfers. This could be the same tank if you sterilized it and let it completely dry while holding fish in an aerated container. Make a bunch of water and have some Bio Spira to add bacteria. That said, tanks are dirt cheap as well as filters so for the $30 it would cost in having an extra tank I think it's worth it considering what you would have to go through should you have to fallow and qt again. Not to mention I'm sure the tangs cost a heck of a lot more than a cheap tank and filter. You could be building the bio filter in the observation tank while the fish are being treated.