Quarantine Tank thoughts

[Aquattro]

Based on our recent poll, roughly 44% of us QT new fish.

How do you do that? I mean as far as setup goes.

Reason I ask is this. My newly acquired Anthias (1 male, 4 female) are doing great, eating like pigs, nearly jumping out of the tank when I go near it with food. All in all, doing better than I had hoped
Another reefer locally also bought some of these fish, 1 male, 3 female. So far, it being one week today, his still have not touched a bite of food, and he's tried everything including all the things mine are eating.

My tank is a 50g breeder, about 30 pounds live rock, dual T5 on 12 hours/day. Large aquaclear and a tunze 6080 for flow.

His tank is a tall 26g bow front, no rock, some decorative pipe or vase or something, lights on 1 hour day, or during feeding attempts. Flow is unknown, but claims to have good flow, but that's too subjective so I really have no idea what the flow is

So here's my thoughts. All things being equal, it appears that the QT environment has a role in the success of the fish. Oddly, he has a Regal Angel in there doing quite well.

Do we need to "tune" the tank based on what fish are going in, or is there a standard that works vs others that work less well?

Thoughts? What is your QT setup like?

[Myka]

Do we need to "tune" the tank based on what fish are going in

Yup.

I have a 40-gallon breeder that is set up with sand, shells, rubble, all sorts of rock junk, an AquaClear power filter (used to use a MaxiJet, but like the filter better). It's always set up - been running for years. Sometimes it gets reef-safe-ish meds like various wormers and it goes into hyposalinity too. If something yucky pops up, the tank just runs fallow for some weeks.

I also have 20-gallon BB tanks for medicating and tank transfers that just have pipe pieces in them. They dry out between uses, and are only used if a fish needs to be medicated with something I don't want in the 40.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k43/Myka82/IMG_2425.jpg

[Aquattro]

It's tough to set that up tho, unless you have a fish room or a really awesome spouse. My QT has to go outside after this batch, as my spouse has reached the end of her awesomeness on the subject :)
Not thinking, I added some good rock from my DT that I now have to medicate, and that makes it garbage now. The rock will all have to go in a bucket or the garden or something.

[corpusse]

My main QT tank is a 55 gallon. I use this for most fish and for long term holds. My Achilles spent his first 100 days in here and my Naso also spent a lot of time since Ich was not present initially but later he got it thus he still needed 30 days at full copper + some observational time to confirm it was eliminated.

Currently I have 6 anthias in there. All 6 are eating well and have been for 3 weeks. I feed them mysis and brine both PE and smaller mysis. The brine is the enhanced kind which is mostly just for variety and in case they won't eat mysis initially. No point feeding them differently then what they will get in the display unless they are not eating, if that's the case I can go to live brine or pellets, but I rarely bother with pellets.

When I had the Achilles in the 55 I had a jeabo pump blasting a wave for him to ensure he was happy, however with all other fish I have a tunze 6065 (1700gph) in addition I have an AC 70 hob filter on the other side for slight additional flow and for the extra sponge filtration. The main filtration is the sponge filter. I usually change this after copper treatment seeded from my display's sump. Surprisingly this seems to work fine while I don't test nitrates but I'm sure they are there. I do however monitor ammonia with ammonia alert badge and it seems to remain at safe levels throughout. Looking at the sponge I sometimes see a few pods that somehow survive in it. Even after copper there usually still is one or 2.

I always keep a spare one in the sump so it's ready to go. I was actually going to use this in my second QT tank but since that tank is much smaller (20g) I can typically get away without filtration and use prime / large water changes.

Other equipment is a heater and some pvc pipe. I have large ones and small ones in there. I leave the light in the room on during the day as well as a tiny led light on the tank. Later I put other lights over the tank to help acclimate the fish to light but this is not really needed imo. There is eggcrate over the tank it would help stop but not completely prevent jumpers. So far so good but one of these days I need to make a mesh top.

Second tank is just a 20 gallon with an airpump a heater and pvc. I use this when I already have fish in the first tank. No other equipment. I keep meaning to pick up another tank so I can do tank transfer but somehow it always gets put off. I like to at least treat fish with prazipro too to ensure no internal parasites and flukes. My Achilles really had bad flukes and took several prazi treatments to eliminate them. Something that never would have been noticed at first since they are nearly invisible and the scratching only got worse in time.

I don't always fill the tanks up all the way. Especially if there are few fish in them there's no point wasting water / medications. I typically do 50 gallon water changes on my display and this is where most of the water comes from however I also use new salt water too. Typically I will start with 1 week observation followed by prazi pro. By this time Ich or anything worse will show and they can be treated with copper at this time. Of course this means longer then 30 days qt but avoids putting them straight in copper, although I suspect most (all) LFS use copper in there systems to mask diseases but not treat them. Once I get one more tank I will be happy with my fish QT but still trying to work out the coral and other invert QT procedures.

http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/180-gallon-reef-build/i-sPB8skx/0/L/IMG_0586-L.jpg

http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/180-gallon-reef-build/i-qQB6MSp/0/L/IMG_0589-L.jpg

http://andrewastro.smugmug.com/Other/180-gallon-reef-build/i-PGBWZtB/0/M/IMG_0587-M.jpg

[Myka]

It's tough to set that up tho, unless you have a fish room or a really awesome spouse.

It's in a spare room, the 40 is on a stand and the two 20-gallon tanks are in the stand under the 40. If there's fish in the 20's I open the doors of the stand so light can get in.

[Aquattro]

It's in a spare room, the 40 is on a stand and the two 20-gallon tanks are in the stand under the 40. If there's fish in the 20's I open the doors of the stand so light can get in.

Mine is in the dining area of my kitchen. Just moved my 90g QT out to the garage, wife is happy(er) :)

[Myka]

Mine is in the dining area of my kitchen. Just moved my 90g QT out to the garage, wife is happy(er) :)

That sir, is your problem. Number one rule - keep fish stuff out of the kitchen and bathroom. That is wife territory (don't tell her that!). :p

[Reef Pilot]

I just have a 30g QT running all the time in a downstairs storage room. It has a canister filter with foam and some live rock rubble. Every once in a while I do a 90% water change with DT water after a DT water change. Have used it many, many times both for fish and corals. For fish, always did the hypo routine. Have never had any issues. Only drawback is the length of time it takes for fish.

Brad, if you don't have the room, why don't you try the tank transfer method. I have been toying with the idea of using some of my many IO empty buckets for this. Maybe a little small, but for just one or two small new fish, might be OK. I would use PVC pieces to make the fish feel secure, an airstone, heater and a piece of lexan for a lid (with lots of airholes). I think they only have to be in there for about 3 days at a time before a transfer, so shouldn't be too hard to keep the water good (with prime or whatever). The final transfer might be to a small glass tank, just so you can observe them better before moving them to the DT.

Just a thought... I might give this TT method a try myself sometime.

[Aquattro]

That sir, is your problem. Number one rule - keep fish stuff out of the kitchen and bathroom. That is wife territory (don't tell her that!). :p

Only place I have. She's good about it, but it's getting a bit much, even for me

[Aquattro]

That sir, is your problem. Number one rule - keep fish stuff out of the kitchen and bathroom. That is wife territory (don't tell her that!). :p

Oh, and no, kitchen is my area :)

[hillegom]

The TT system is what I use. I only have a 50 gal DT at this time, so only keep small fish. The small fish I transfer between two pails. with one black pvc pipe in each. separate heaters and air hose. This method takes 15 days.
On the eve of a transfer I feed more than normal.
Before bed, I put a heavy black plastic bag over the pail. This prevents light entering in the morning. When I transfer the fish that morning, it usually is still asleep in the pvc after I take the bag off. So I put a net under one side of the pipe and raise it up. The fish usually ends up in the net, and wakes up when he's in the air. He's in the new pail before he knows it and quickly hides in the new pvc
I will use prazipro in the first two pails, 3 days each. And in the last transfer (3 days) before placing in the DT
Walter I really like the idea of the glass tank for observing the fish the last 3 days. I will incorporate this in my next TT

[Reef Pilot]

Dietmar, do you use any water conditioning, for ammonia or anything? I was thinking of just storing up a few pails from my DT water changes. That would already be well conditioned naturally. I would just make sure it is well aerated before putting in the fish. They are in there for such a short time, so would hope the water wouldn't go bad that fast.

[hillegom]

I have an ammonia badge. I feed them in the pail, but sparingly. On the last night before transfer, I feed a lot, usually mysis. If I see any still floating around later, I will net anything I see uneaten out.
I read somewhere that the ick will hatch from the cysts in early morning. Even though, it is not supposed to hatch at the three day interval, I don't take a chance. Thats the main reason why the heavy garbage bag is placed around the pail till morning transfer, as early as I can manage. Keeps the fish and ick (if any present) in nightime mode
I use DT water in the pails. The heater and aeration (with air pump) is started around supper time the night before transfer. This way by bedtime, I can make sure the temp is correct, checking a few times during the evening. I use one air pump split in two with two valves. Both are constantly open, but only one is in use till the night before transfer when one airline is in each pail. When one airline is out of the pail, then you have to adjust the other valve to keep air moving in the water.

[Reef Pilot]

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks, Dietmar.

[sdeschutter]

I have a 33 gallon qt tank that I've had running since my display tank got infected with ich about 10 months ago. What a pain! I will always quarantine fish from now on. I left my 90g DT fallow for three months ( had to set a trap to catch the fiish) and did the tank transfer method for all the fish for 2 weeks. Then set up a quarantine tank. The tank transfer was easy just a lot of hassle. It worked perfect my fish are now disease free and have been in the DT for 6 months with no issues. Never thought of doing tank transfer for new fish but I guess it makes sense.

I have a question? How long do you suggest leaving new fish in a QT tank?

[rsisvixen]

I run TT then Qt, I use Large rubbermaid storage containers for the TT and once I'm done they stack and store pretty easily.
I then have a 20G long QT system that I keep running with live sand, red macro algae and some pvc tubes, also have a cerith and astrea snail in there.

I've run all my fish through the system, Dartfish, Cardinals, Mandarin etc
My Atlantic blue tang just finished QT today ( I added him to the DT while the rest were getting breakfast ) he swam straight over and munched on the mysis.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

For all my tanks (unfortunately, don't usually have a QT tank always setup and only set up as needed), I now use Hydroton, clay ball media imported from Germany as my biological filter media. What I can do using Hydroton is keep some in my sump and throw it into a HOB filter or media reactor or even an old stocking to hang in my QT tank as needed. Then if you have to use copper or other medication, you can leave dead rock in the QT for your new fish to hide in and add the Hydroton for biological filtration. If you medicate, toss out the old Hydroton and add more in your sump for future QT purposes.

For those who've never heard of or used Hydroton, Paul at Oceanic Corals was the one who first started using it as a very effective, efficient biological media. I love the stuff and swear by it. I always try to keep some extra on hand and its much more effective than live rock IME, including eliminating my nitrates. Feeding 4+ times daily, my nitrates used to be high (think HOT PINK on the test kits), but now they are way low.

[Reef Pilot]

I actually haven't tried the TT method yet, as I have not bought any new fish for years. But since I lost a few during our summer outage, might just get a few replacements in the not too distant future.

I would do the TT first with buckets, and then transfer them to my QT tank. The length of the stay there would depend on the type of fish. Some (like butterfly fish) need longer acclimatization to get trained on new foods, etc. Also may want to give them a prazi treatment to get rid of any internal pests.

[sdeschutter]

What is a prazi treatment? I have a little cherub angel and goby in the qt tank right now. They have been in there for two weeks. I'm thinking a month would be a good length before I put them in the DT

[Reef Pilot]

What is a prazi treatment? I have a little cherub angel and goby in the qt tank right now. They have been in there for two weeks. I'm thinking a month would be a good length before I put them in the DT
http://www.hikariusa.com/solutions/healthaid/prazipro/

[Animal-Chin]

I had a horrible QT experience. About a year and a half ago my tank got velvet. WIPED out my entire livestock in 5 days, brutal. I let my display go fallow for 2 months and while doing that I set up a 20 gallon long QT. Had a HOB filter, live rock and a Hydor pump for flow. Put in a clay pot for hiding. Pretty much followed every instruction on line I could find. Let the QT cycle and bought my first fish, a baby regal tang.

Regal tang hated the QT. Never got it to eat and it died.

Bought a schooling banner fish. It came in with ich, great so I medicated with some stuff I got at oceanic and got rid of the ich. Fish never made it though, died shortly after the ich was gone.

Did a 100% water change and let the tank cycle again although never saw ammonia as the live rock was already established.

Bought a Naso tang. It hid in the pot, never took food and died.

Bought another small regal, it would pick on algae a bit but basically hid and died.

Took down the QT and started just adding fish back to the display, havn't had an issue since.

I think my QT tank was just the wrong environment for the fish I was buying. Online, in many many articles they say a 20 gallon long is plenty of QT but man did I have issues...

[Ian]

Could someone give a link to a full description of tank transfer method....sounds like something I need to learn more about

[hillegom]

I have posted this before and here it is again. This is where I first read about the tank transfer method as an alternative to quarantine

http://atj.net.au/marineaquaria/3daytransfer.html

There is a lot on google to read, just put tank transfer method in search

[Fin2you]

That sir, is your problem. Number one rule - keep fish stuff out of the kitchen and bathroom. That is wife territory (don't tell her that!). :p

Let's throw a monkey wrench into this just b/c I can. What if the wife is the fish keeper & the husband has the problem with the fish stuff everywhere??? I have a 10gal fish tank on my kitchen counter & over my dead body does it go anywere. I love interacting with my betta while I'm stuck in the kitchen god only knows how many hours out of the day cooking for these legged family members (both 2 & 4), plus my basement spare kitchen right now is a disaster zone of Extra fish stuff I don't know what to do with & there are 2 5gal tanks in the garage hubby doesn't want there.......
Hubby put a shelf in the bottom of the metal stand for my 40gal but it's open (just got a tablecloth covering it & the damn cats keep getting under there knocking everything over.

[rsisvixen]

I run my TT's with a home made sponge filter ( some small starbucks plastic cups, made holes around the bottom third of the sides, stuff in some filter floss, airstone, some ceramic media for weight, drill the lid with holes and run an airtube through and voila a sponge filter )
During my TT and QT I always mix in some fish eggs to the food mix, I've yet to find any fish that will refuse it. I also add live bbs and tiggerpods in the morning for the shy fish.


Let's throw a monkey wrench into this just b/c I can. What if the wife is the fish keeper & the husband has the problem with the fish stuff everywhere???

Lol, I hear you, I also breed birds so I have bird stuff and fish stuff everywhere.

[sdeschutter]

Bought a Naso tang. It hid in the pot, never took food and died.

Bought another small regal, it would pick on algae a bit but basically hid and died.

Funny you say that about the tangs! I've tried to keep two yellow tangs and both died. I think some tangs are just so finicky. I say that cause I have a blue tang that went through the whole fallow TT and then QT thing for three months and he is just fine. Anyway the first Yellow Tang I put directly in my DT before it got infected with ich(I think the Blue Tang was responsible) and he lasted a week.. I just lost the second one last week. He ate for the first 5 days then just stopped. He however was in the QT tank.

I like the idea of TT for new fish then QT. I'm going to do that for my next addition.

[SylvanZoaReefer]

My baby Naso tang got Ich in QT treated with ich cure and the next day he was eating!


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