SPS quarantine setup and log

[VJV]

Adding dirty water to get nutrients isn't your best option. Zeo is completely built around feeding corals once you are truly ULNS (which I still am not sure you really are considering it looks like there is algae in that tank). They don't advertise adding dirty water (I am referring to water you no longer want in your display) but rather adding coral trace elements, aminos, and actual food.

Your Alk jump definitely could be a culprit for the corals decline and coupled with the lighting change tough to recover from in that environment. Too much fluctuation. Are you testing for any trace elements? Just because the bottle says they are in there, at what percentage are you replacing in order to keep them at acceptable levels? What is your potassium, iron, iodine, etc.

I have only been in the hobby for about 7 years and haven't heard of this fear of ich cysts issue with new corals. Do they stay on the skin of healthy coral?

Ich cysts will attach to any hard surface, including drag plugs, rock, dead coral skeleton, snail shells, etc. this is what create the myth that ich is in every tank. Even if you properly quarantine your fish you can introduce ich by adding a coral or a snail.

I agree that cutting off the base would be a very good solution. However, I am not skilled at that and very concerned about killing it right off.

I have absolutely no doubt that that tank is nutrient poorer than zeo tanks. It has absolutely zero nutrient inputs.

And no, I am not testing for trace elements. I use one of the best salt mixes (Tropic Marin Pro reef) and given the short time frame I am hoping that a couple of small frags will not consume all available.

Also, I would not call water from my main display dirty. I have non measurable nitrates or phosphates and rock stable parameters. So in fact I believe what these would achieve would be to provide some amino acids, fatty acids, and nutrients in general, to the frag tank.

 

[VJV]

Hope you are finding success with the corals after then transition to the display!

Here are my recommendations for the next batch of corals to be quarantined:

1- cut bases off the corals and any exposed coral skeleton. Re-mount to new frag plugs/ live rock rubble
This will eliminate the majority of pests and more importantly the eggs/bubble algae/who the hell knows which will not be affected during dipping and often will not appear till weeks or months after adding to the main display.

2- Understand that corals need nutrients, especially when conditions are not optimal

This tank is running practically sterile. There is hardly any algae to be seen especially when running those leds at high intensity. Having nutrients to fuel the corals zoox and foods for the coral to capture or absorb will be beneficial for the coral to maintain its health, even if alk or temp fluctuate a little more than optimal. Weekly, substantial water changes from your main display will certainly help provide nutrients and help to reset water chemistry. Careful use of supplemental food or amino acids can benefit the corals. Reef energy would be a good candidate. Algae growth in the qt is not a bad thing and indicates that nutrients are available to be utilized by your frags!

3- Your goal should be keeping the corals healthy- not coloration or growth

Lighting does not need to be maxed out to sustain a coral for 6-10 weeks, often corals survive this long with completely inadequate light. Further more, the shipping stress and the transition to a new tank is enough to brown out corals. Most SPS are quick to show there displeasure with these changes and will not "color up" for at least a couple months once introduced to a new environment. Your goal should be getting these frags introduced to your main display pest free and alive, they will color up and grow for you once in the display!

4- Don't rush the process

You will have corals deteriorate or die in QT. The majority of the time, following the above practices, the same fate will occur in the display tank. SPS corals in particular are notorious for deteriorating rapidly. The key of quarantine is to prevent any disease or parasite from harming your other corals. If a frag dies from an unknown reason, its best for it to do so in a QT which can be sterilized, than in your tank full of mature colonies. Its hard to think this way, but honestly reef keepers, let alone biologists know very little about these corals, and we don't often understand the cause and effects of why is my coral doing ______.

Good luck

Thank you for this amazingly helpful and encouraging post! I completely agree and relate with your comments. Regarding cutting the base of the coral, I have never done it so am really afraid I would just kill the entire thing. I am not the handiest person out there...

I try to achieve the same goal by dipping the base in pure H2O2 for 5-10minutes. Not sure if will work 100% but we'll see.

Thanks!

 

[dbrewsky]

The key here is ZEO is a UlNS ( ultra low nutrient system) which is great for maintaining already low levels of nutrients in a established reef. A small volume QT that is barren of life other than a few frags is practically sterile and does not have any any/sufficient organisms to break down foods/waste into nutrients available for coral uptake. The OP is also not actively adding a significant food source to support this process in the absence of these organisms.

I do agree that fluctuations, especially in ALK and lighting can be a culprit and most likely had an impact in the frags documented in this post. However, many time SPS will appear fine for a couple weeks following this changes and then suddenly start to show stn or other issues making it difficult to correlate cause and effect. For the number of corals and there relative size, trace elements should be replenished by doing weekly water changes alone and not need addition supplementation. Furthermore, dosing trace elements is tricky enough in a 200 gallon system, let alone a nano sized one.

Ich can certainly be introduced into a system on a frag that was in a aquarium that a ich carrier resided in. It is rare, but ich can certainly hitch a ride on a frag plug and be introduced into a display.

 

[dbrewsky]

Dont sweat cutting frags off the frag plugs, i totally get it- we have all been there. Even if it has encrusted the plug, its still best to clip them with a pair of bone cutters or sturdy scissors and re-mount them. They will almost always bounce back without issue and start encrusting shortly after. In addition, alot of sps frags have been recently cut and mounted making it relatively easy to cut without worry of removing significant tissue.

 

[eg8r210]

Ich cysts will attach to any hard surface, including drag plugs, rock, dead coral skeleton, snail shells, etc. this is what create the myth that ich is in every tank. Even if you properly quarantine your fish you can introduce ich by adding a coral or a snail.

I agree that cutting off the base would be a very good solution. However, I am not skilled at that and very concerned about killing it right off.

I have absolutely no doubt that that tank is nutrient poorer than zeo tanks. It has absolutely zero nutrient inputs.

And no, I am not testing for trace elements. I use one of the best salt mixes (Tropic Marin Pro reef) and given the short time frame I am hoping that a couple of small frags will not consume all available.

Also, I would not call water from my main display dirty. I have non measurable nitrates or phosphates and rock stable parameters. So in fact I believe what these would achieve would be to provide some amino acids, fatty acids, and nutrients in general, to the frag tank.

So I am confused then, if you have non-measurable nitrate or phosphate in your water change water, then why do you think you can use those non-existent nitrate/phosphate as nutrients in your QT? Either way, seems like you have everything figured out except how to keep the SPS healthy in the frag tank.

As far as having the skill to separate the coral from the frag plug it takes no more than using an implement to pop up the glue that is attached to the plug. Practice with dead coral and you can skip the long QT process and get these corals into the display where they belong.

 

[VJV]

So I am confused then, if you have non-measurable nitrate or phosphate in your water change water, then why do you think you can use those non-existent nitrate/phosphate as nutrients in your QT? Either way, seems like you have everything figured out except how to keep the SPS healthy in the frag tank.

As far as having the skill to separate the coral from the frag plug it takes no more than using an implement to pop up the glue that is attached to the plug. Practice with dead coral and you can skip the long QT process and get these corals into the display where they belong.

[emoji1]. I may have mom measurable nitrates and phosphates but I guess the water will still have amino acids, fatty acids and other elements that may be missing in the QT. maybe I am wrong but that is my rationale.

Still have no dead skeleton yet. Hopping it will remain that way .

 

[VJV]

One week in the display tank and tissue is coming back, slowly but surely. I still have it on the sand bed. Should I leave it there until fully recovered and than start to bring it up closer to the light to tweet color? What would you recommend?

 

[reefwiser]

Move it up a little at a time.

 

[Ariton]

Nice thread

 

[ps2cho]

What tank is that?

 

[VJV]

What tank is that?

Hi! Sorry I have not checked this thread in a while. Not sure if still useful but this tank is an acrylic TMC Microhabitat 30l. It is a 8 gallon tank. TMC is a UK company so not sure if available in the US. It would be the equivalent to the Innovative Marine Nuvo 8.