First time quarantiner, need advice

[marleesan]

I am stocking my 37 gallon tank and will be quarantining my fish myself this time. I have a 10 gallon tank with a HOB filter, piping, heater, ammonia reader, light, test kit and hydrometer that is cycled.
Is 30 days of quarantine enough? And what should my method be?
Do I need to use medication from the start or just moniter? And does Seachem Paraguard work?
Also, I am getting a royal gramma, chromis, pajama cardinal and purple firefish, how many can I qt at a time?

Thanks

 

[fernalfer]

I am stocking my 37 gallon tank and will be quarantining my fish myself this time. I have a 10 gallon tank with a HOB filter, piping, heater, ammonia reader, light, test kit and hydrometer that is cycled.
Is 30 days of quarantine enough? And what should my method be?
Do I need to use medication from the start or just moniter? And does Seachem Paraguard work?
Also, I am getting a royal gramma, chromis, pajama cardinal and purple firefish, how many can I qt at a time?

Thanks

I have a 20 gallon. HOB filter, heater, Ammonia Badge, and PVC for hiding. I do this:

Bring home from LFS and observe for a week, let fish unwind get used to new surroundings and get him eating. Then I dose Prazipro Twice. first dose 5-7 days then run carbon and perform water change. Then second round of 5-7 days, run carbon and perform water change. I then make sure the fish is eating again and then start copper (Cupramine) at proper dosage to your tank. I usually run 4ppm for 30 days. 3 weeks is ok but i just prefer 30 days. Once 30 days is up. Run Carbon to remove copper and perform a large water change. Then i observe for another week or two and then into the Main Display he goes.

Some people prefer TTM but i just don't have the room or the patience of my wife to see me buying even more equipment to be able to do it properly.

 

[cougareyes]

I do mine for 4 weeks, I dose prazi pro. If ick is not present dosing cupramine is usless it will not effect if in a dormant stage. If I got the fish from the system I kept 2 together.

 

[thegrun]

Because it is relatively easy on the fish I put all new fish though the tank transfer method. During the 2nd and third transfers I also treat with Prazipro to remove flukes and kill any internal parasites. After the TT I put the fish in my quarantine tank for 6 weeks of observation.

 

[marleesan]

Can I do ttm without prazipro? I would ideally like to not use any medicines if not necessary. Also, how many tanks do I need for ttm? And how many fish can I do at once?

 

[thegrun]

You do not need to use Prazipro but it is very gentle on your fish. Flukes are difficult to see and internal parasites impossible, hence my recommendation to use Prazipro. You need two tanks for the TTM, for smaller fish I simply use two 5 gallon buckets. Here is a link to the TTM: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2388428
I've done up to 4 fish at a time with the TTM, but you only want to place fish that will be compatible with each other in the tanks together unless you are using large tanks.

 

[cougareyes]

You do not need to use Prazipro but it is very gentle on your fish. Flukes are difficult to see and internal parasites impossible, hence my recommendation to use Prazipro. You need two tanks for the TTM, for smaller fish I simply use two 5 gallon buckets. Here is a link to the TTM: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2388428
I've done up to 4 fish at a time with the TTM, but you only want to place fish that will be compatible with each other in the tanks together unless you are using large tanks.

I was an adamant no meds unless sick and flukes got through my qt into my display. I had to treat my display and found it to be a safe and effective treatment. So i now do use the prazi in my qt.

 

[marleesan]

Here is my updated plans, feedback is appreciated

1 week observation
1 week prazipro
1 week observation
1 week prazipro
1 week seachem paraguard

Is this ok?

 

[cougareyes]

I would stick with the prazipro dosing recommendations, 1 week then water change then redose to catch any eggs that may hatch. then another water change.

 

[marleesan]

so two weeks straight of prazipro?

 

[snorvich]

Because it is relatively easy on the fish I put all new fish though the tank transfer method. During the 2nd and third transfers I also treat with Prazipro to remove flukes and kill any internal parasites. After the TT I put the fish in my quarantine tank for 6 weeks of observation.

Excellent. I would precede TTM with a formalin dip.

 

[snorvich]

Here is my updated plans, feedback is appreciated

1 week observation
1 week prazipro
1 week observation
1 week prazipro
1 week seachem paraguard

Is this ok?

You need a minimum of five weeks. I strongly recommend tank transfer.

 

[cougareyes]

That's how I do it, go to prazipro website, I think you can do it for 5 days, water change, redose for 5 days, water change. I do it for a week because it works better for my schedule.

 

[fernalfer]

I do mine for 4 weeks, I dose prazi pro. If ick is not present dosing cupramine is usless it will not effect if in a dormant stage. If I got the fish from the system I kept 2 together.

Ick is not always present on fish. It is sometimes unnoticeable in the gills so treating for ick is a must for me. And copper will be effective if dosed for 30 days.

 

[cougareyes]

Personally I don't risk treating with copper prophylactically, it's hard on the fish, you have to be good at monitoring the level. It can also cause long term organ damage that shorten or end a fish life. Many people lose fish medicating with copper, my friend that works at a lfs does necropsies. She tells me of organ damage and liquidfied organs from countless fish from people's quarantines medicating with copper and other needless prophylactic medications.

 

[DavidGraves]

TTM is so much easier. With these small fish you could do two at time in 5 gallon buckets.


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[ScottPA]

I just brought home my first 3 fish and put them into a 20 gallon QT Tank. Starry Blenny, Citron Goby and a Strawberry Dottyback. All are getting along fine. Just fed them mysis shrimp soaked in Garlic. They are happy happy happy. My LFS did not have Prazipro, which ticks me off because the LFS is 40 miles away and is HUGE!. Just ordered it on Amazon. Will run that for 2 weeks. I'm not sure I want to put these little fish through copper. I'm thinking no, unless they develop Ich.

 

[marleesan]

I just brought home my first 3 fish and put them into a 20 gallon QT Tank. Starry Blenny, Citron Goby and a Strawberry Dottyback. All are getting along fine. Just fed them mysis shrimp soaked in Garlic. They are happy happy happy. My LFS did not have Prazipro, which ticks me off because the LFS is 40 miles away and is HUGE!. Just ordered it on Amazon. Will run that for 2 weeks. I'm not sure I want to put these little fish through copper. I'm thinking no, unless they develop Ich.

What do you plan on doing besides prazipro?

 

[bbillyc]

I have battled Flukes and Ich over the years with a variety of treatments, all of course in a QT. Most success was always with hypsalinity. Very recently, I've had fish in QT (55 gal) for over six weeks now at 1.026, and I thought I was done, having treated with CP, Cupramine, and Prazi....not!!! Interestlingly only angels are being affected with some form of infestation of more than 1 type of very hardy fluke as well as a really aggressive crypt. All angels dead within 1 day from the LFS. They arrive fine and then a loss of fins and tails within 6 hours or less. That was in a QT with full doses of cupramine, Prazipro, Chloroquine Phosphate. All other fish CBB, Fairy Wrasse, FoxFace are fine. This is only affecting the angels and it kills them within a day. Today I increased the recommended dose of CP from 10mg/L to 15mg/L and 1.5x the dose of Prazipro. In 6 hours a marked improvement in angel behaviour with fluke and crypt reduction. I use more than 1 QT tank all matured and cycled.

Over the past month I have lost, 2 juvenile imperator angels, 3 bicolor, 2 dwarf pygmy, 2 flame, 1 mature coral beauty, 2 iblie, 1 juvenile regal, 1 yellow tang, 1 mature hippo tang. Whatever this infestation is it is extremely aggessive. I've dealt with ich, flukes, velvet, in the past and have always been successful in treating it and never lost a fish...now losing fish is a daily occurance.

I will post update tomorrow to see if they survive the night,

 

[ca1ore]

Personally I don't risk treating with copper prophylactically, it's hard on the fish, you have to be good at monitoring the level. It can also cause long term organ damage that shorten or end a fish life. Many people lose fish medicating with copper, my friend that works at a lfs does necropsies. She tells me of organ damage and liquidfied organs from countless fish from people's quarantines medicating with copper and other needless prophylactic medications.

I've learned from long personal experience that observation is not always sufficient to catch ich. Once one gets a sizable established population of fish, it's just not an acceptable risk IMO. I've moved on to using CP which appears to be easier on the fish. TTM is the best option, though that's not going to catch things like velvet.