[Myka]

For both fish and corals I am VERY sure that not a drop of bag water will make it into my tank. The corals are always rinsed with tank water, and fish are dripped so they get a rinse off too.

After a recent brush with Red Bugs on an Acro frag I have changed my procedure. All frags get floated in the tank for 30-45 mins for temperature. Then I use the bag water in a bowl, add the dip chemicals, dip the coral. Then I use a turkey baster, and baster the show with tank water after the dip to remove the TMCC. Then I place the coral in the tank in an area of low flow and low light, and slowly move the coral to where I want it. There is no acclimation to the water, just the temperature.

All Acros - Tropic Marin Coral Cure (as per label) and Interceptor dip for 15-20 mins.

All other SPS - TMCC as above. Although I have found Montis to be sensitive to the TMCC, so they only get dipped for about 5-10 mins.

LPS - I find to be sensitive to TMCC, so they get dipped only for a few swooshes, so they are in there for less than 1 minute, but still at full dosage.



Fish get a different approach. All are inspected. All fish are floated for 20-30 mins to warm up the bags (if needed) and drip acclimated for 1-2 hours into either the quarantine tank or the display tank. Some species won't do well in QT, so they are never put there no matter how bad they look. If fish are in the QT they will either be watched or medicated depending on what's going on. In both cases (display or QT), once the fish are done dripping they will be floated in the tank again for 30 mins to match the temp since the temp in the drip container usually falls by a few degrees. Inverts get the same treatment as fish except they never go into QT, and they are dripped for 2-4 hours depending on how sensitive they are.

Ime, I have come to the conclusion that most clownfish have "something". So all clowns get QTed with PraziPro treatment for a week as per the label.

I have been looking to find a reliable dip for fish mainly for parasites including internal ones, but I haven't been able to find much. So my search continues. Any suspect fish will get QT with a week's PraziPro treatment as per the label.

My drip procedure for both corals and fish is to use the smallest container needed, and pour only enough bag water in the container to cover the specimen. Drip 2 drops per second (inverts are 1 drip per second). Let it drip until the water volume has doubled or close to, then pour off the excess water until the specimen is just covered again. Do that 2-4 times. Inverts take twice as long because the drip rate is half. To drip I use airline tubing and a matching ball valve (TLF makes them).