SPS quarantine setup and log

[VJV]

Let me try...


It is in hi def but not sure how much the appatalk app will compress it.

 

[FarmerTy]

Hard to tell but hopefully the polyps are getting good movement.

 

[VJV]

Used YouTube upload at 720p. Let's see if it works.

 

[FarmerTy]

Personally, it wouldn't hurt for more flow from what I can see but I don't think you should base it on my judgment as I'm trying to determine that from a video that I can hardly see the polyps moving in detail.

 

[VJV]

Thanks. It is hard to see but live they do move a lot. I can always change the koralia to another place so that it blows directly into the Stylo but concerned that would be too much...?

 

[FarmerTy]

Probably a bit too much with direct blasting it. Yeah, that's why I said take my advice with a grain of salt. I think you're fine based on your observation.

 

[VJV]

So, here we are at the end of week 6. Milka has not been doing well. First it lost some color, than polyps receded and it is not looking good I'm afraid... This all started when I bumped up the light from 40% to 75%. Maybe a coincidence, I do not know. Parameters have been stable. In any event, I will be adding them to the main display today and continue to report.

These will be the last pics in the QT.

 

[anthonywesty]

Led from 40% to 75 % is a lot.

 

[reefwiser]

Yes a lot of corals don't handle big jumps like that too well. Forgot to ask earlier what brand of tank is that and what size it's a cute little nano tank and perfect for QT tank.

 

[VJV]

I also think that could have been it. Having said this, the coral was already loosing the amazing purple color and turning brown before changing the intensity. In fact that was why I changed it. But probably I did it too fast. Even though it was loosing color as I said, polyps were all extended and tissue was not bleached.

The tank is a TMC Microhabitat 30 acrylic tank. Total of 30 liters, or roughly 8 gallons. It is roughly 12inch by 12 inches. I believe they do not make these anymore. Alternatively I would use a Innovative Marine Fusion 10 gallon tank.

 

[FarmerTy]

That definitely doesn't look good. What are your phosphate and alk levels?

 

[VJV]

Phosphates are at zero. Remember this is a quarantine tank with zero fish and no feedings. Alk was at around 8.5dKH. I actually wondered if the problem could be the other way around: zero nutrients.

 

[FarmerTy]

Then I guess most importantly, what is your nitrate level? Perhaps you might want to look into nitrate dosing for the QT?

 

[VJV]

Nitrates show zero as well... I moved the corals to my main display and immediately they seem to be regaining tissue and polyp extension. I believe going forward I may use part of my main tank weekly water change and use it in the QT... Do you believe this makes sense?

 

[FarmerTy]

Nitrates show zero as well... I moved the corals to my main display and immediately they seem to be regaining tissue and polyp extension. I believe going forward I may use part of my main tank weekly water change and use it in the QT... Do you believe this makes sense?

I don't see why it wouldn't be beneficial. It eliminates variables due to water quality and narrows it down to lighting, flow, and temp at that point.

 

[eg8r210]

Hi, I just bought my first SPS corals online (should arrive next Wednesday) and have setup a small 8gallon quarantine tank where I will keep them under observation for the next 72 days. During this time I will also take the opportunity to dip the corals and observe them. I already have several LPS (elegance coral, hammer, euphylia, acans, lobo, and trachy in my main display that is running for more than 2y. I went for the so called "easy mode SPS" to begin with so I purchased a pink poccilopora, a super pink stylophora and a milka.

Here are the photos of the setup:

I have an air driven protein skimmer on the first compartment. I do not plan to feed the corals so it's more for aeration than anything else. On the second chamber (under that green filter floss) there is a large amount of Seachem's Matrix media fully cycled, a bag of Matrix carbon and another of Phosguard. The water than flows on to the last chamber where the return is.

I also have a ATO to keep salinity stable.

As far as the light is concerned I have a Maxspect Celestial (which I love and for the money I believe is absolutely great) and flow is provided by the return and a Koralia Nano which combined add up to 1200 liters per hour, or about 30x.

I also have a dosing pump to dose Tropic Marin Calcium and Alk additive.


Why 77 days? Simply because ich cysts may live up to 72 days and they tent to encyst on to hard surfaces such as the rocks where the corals are attached to. As such I ensure that any potential ich parasites, regardless of the life stage, will starve to death as the tank will have no fish.

I will dip the corals with coral RX before putting them into the tank and probably at least one more time to kill hitchhikers. I may also dip the base where the coral is attached to in h2o2 to kill pests as well as algae that may be attached.

Any comments from the experts on the setup or proposed routine will be most welcome [emoji4][emoji4][emoji4]

If you are going through all this to QT then I think you should cut the coral off of whatever it is on when you receive it (frag plug, rock, etc). Dip in Bayer. Every 6-7 days pull it and dip in Bayer again. After 4 weeks you won't have to worry about any pests like red bugs or AEFW and since you cut off the rock/plug and threw that away I think your concern with ick will also be resolved. 72 days just seems like over kill. Plus maintenance on that little tank COULD be a nightmare. I might have missed it but you will probably want to stay on top of water changes and do them regularly. If you do weekly water changes you probably won't even have to worry about doser because the corals probably will not be doing a whole lot of growing initially and the water change will replenish whatever is being used up.

 

[eg8r210]

Sorry for last post, I didn't read all the way through. Now that I have I had a couple questions..In one post your Alk was mid to high 6 and then later it was in the 8's. How quickly did that change happen? Was it over night or over 7-10 days? Also, jumping your LED from 40-75 was a very bad decision. There is a golden rule when keeping SPS and that is "Stability is KING". Alk rising and fluctuating light is the complete opposite of stability.

When you attempt this process again, I still recommend the process from my previous approach, and then keep everything rock solid. You don't have to match parameters from the previous tank the coral was in. When you buy it you are acclimating it to your tank. Get your QT tank to match your display and then don't change anything. If you want to increase photo intensity then do like 5% a week and gradually move it up.

I also don't understand using the display tank water as your water change water in QT. Why take dirty water that you don't want in your display anymore and give that to other corals you are trying to get healthy and grow? You are adding all kinds of nutrients to the tank and probably trace element deficient water. Mix up a gal of fresh saltwater, make sure parameters match the QT tank and do the water change with that water. I think the big issue why the corals are healing in your display is that it is probably MUCH more stable than your 8 gal QT. Too much work trying to keep 8 gal stable. You might be even be better off just setting up an AWC on the 8 gal and do 1 gal water change each day. You could get rid of your doser and get rid of the ATO.

 

[VJV]

Thanks for your input. Bayer is not an option for me as it is not available here. Also, the reason for QT the corals is as much to prevent Ich cysts that could come attached to the frag entering my display tank, as it is about preventing coral pests. The reason for adding "dirty" water is to add some nutrients to the water. You may have seen that I have zero phosphates and zero nitrates in this tank, as there are no fish and I do not feed it. The Alk increase happened during 7 days. However, I do believe that it may still have been too much as these corals come from tanks where Alk is a 7dKH.

Trace elements are added with the All in One three part solution from Tropic Marin.

 

[dbrewsky]

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

 

[eg8r210]

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?