What's your QT set up?

Mussin · Jan 2, 2021

I have Never quarantined fish before and I've been in this hobby for a long time. Well they say it's bound to happen and it did to me.. I had a major set back with a velvet outbreak. Lost about 1/2 my fish stock and the others are in a rubbermaid 100g tank in my basement going through a copper treatment. I need to have a QT procedure in the future for livestock. What do you guys do and what is your QT set up?

So far this is what I have..
20l, heater, aquaclear 70 filter, pvc elbows, cupramine with a hanna copper test kit and lastly a seachem ammonia badge.

Couple questions.. If I put filter floss in the filter will that absorb the copper?

Does everyone dose copper with new fish just to be safe? (even without symptoms of ich or velvet)

Is just putting them in hypo good enough?

Uncle99 · Jan 2, 2021

Floss will not absorb copper, carbon will.
I only medicate if there’s a specific reason to do so.
Hypo only works on ick.

I also use a dim desk light and run QT at 1.020.

I’ve never cycled a QT ever, 10% water change daily is what I use.

Reeferman47 · Jan 2, 2021

I found a cheap 64$ 10 gallon aquarium set from a local Petco and used that for my quarantine, I have PVC and a clay pot. It is nothing fancy or special, but it sure does get the job done for me. I do dose copper in my tanks when a fish has ich, mostly my tangs because the are literal ich magnets. I also do it for other fish just to be safe from any parasites. Hope this helps you out my friend!

-Reeferman47

Tony616 · Jan 3, 2021

All my new fish go through 30 days copper treatment with or without symptoms.

mindme · Jan 3, 2021

I had a similiar thing happen a few months ago. I only managed to save 1 fish, a sailfin tang. So now I QT everything that's coming in. After that sailfin almost died and barely made it, to look extra healthy and happy today and having to go fallow for 6 weeks - it's pretty good motivation to not allow infected fish back into that tank.

I'm still developing my system and adjusting, but currently it consists of 3 tanks. 2 10g tanks and a 25g cube that is my old DT.

I originally planned on only treating with copper if needed. But then after seeing scratching after the fish spent 2 weeks and needing copper, I've changed it so all future fish will get cupramine and prazipro. I have not noticed bad affects on the nitrifying bacteria using these. I also have other medications like General Cure, Furan2, etc but I don't plan on always using these in the future unless needed.

In my 10g tanks they both have oversized sponge filters for bio and extra air for potential bacterial blooms from using prazipro and cupramine together(so far very light blooms). They also both have 2 really tiny powerheads that have an airline hooked up so they push extra air that way also. Some PVC pipes, heaters etc.

After 14-21 days at full strength copper and when it looks like treating with meds is done, I transfer them into the 25g cube. Then they spend 1-2 weeks observation. This tank is more like a DT, barebottom, but it has live rock in it etc, and a little more room. I run a UV and skimmer on the tank(mostly because I already have them since it was formerly a DT).

All of them have the seachem badge for ammonia. But I have learned that it can appear to be "Safe" when the aquarium light is going through it. It is best to turn the aquarium light off and let only the room light shine through for an accurate reading. It'll still be yellow without the bright light behind it when good, but greener when not.

I have an empty 40g and 20g if I ever needed more space for a bigger fish.

don_chuwish · Jan 3, 2021

Have a look at these stickies:

My Current QT Process

UPDATE, 10/9/22: For those looking for quarantine information, our current process is kept updated on the first page of this thread (post any questions at the end of the thread). https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/ Thanks, Jay Hemdal I am frequently...

www.reef2reef.com

Ratios for Dosing Copper Power

I have recently been getting a few requests for how to adjust dosing with all of my research on the hanna checker and copper power being used together. Figured I would throw this up as a point of reference. For anyone using Copper Power: Bottle concentration will bring you to a Cu level of...

www.reef2reef.com

One of the best tips I gleaned from them is to use Copper Power and the Hanna Checker for copper - glad you've got it! Accuracy is key.
I've settled on 20G Tall for QT tanks, big enough for most fish but small enough that it doesn't require a ton of meds. I always use bacteria in a bottle, usually BioSpira because it's easy to get.