Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[BPReefer]

QT Question

QT Question

I was thinking of leaving a couple (or more) of those sponge filters on one of those air driven sponge filter units in my DT sump. When it comes time for new arrivals in QT, all I would need to do is retrieve the sponges and put back on the filter unit and place in QT tank.
I could keep numerous replacement sponge filters on hand, just putting a fresh one in the sump to load up on bacteria when needed.

Another question: how hard is cupramine product on the biological filter compared to other kinds of copper treatment products? Does it destroy the nitrifying bacteria immediately? Degrade it over time?

 

[Dr. Reef]

I bought a Nuvo fusion10 gallon tank kit for my quarantine tank and it came with a skkye 3x6 watt led light. Is that enough time to keep coral for 2 weeks?

Is 2 weeks enough time for coral? I am worried it will not get enough flow rate or light in the small tank....

Seems to be a balance to figure out between being safe with respect to hitchhikers and putting the coral in the appropriate environment to survive.

The KS for advise...so many different things I read that make it confusing

honestly i never qt corals, i use coral dip like coralRx or revive and place the corals straight into main tank on the sand to acclimate. maybe someone else may chime in.

 

[Dr. Reef]

I was thinking of leaving a couple (or more) of those sponge filters on one of those air driven sponge filter units in my DT sump. When it comes time for new arrivals in QT, all I would need to do is retrieve the sponges and put back on the filter unit and place in QT tank.
I could keep numerous replacement sponge filters on hand, just putting a fresh one in the sump to load up on bacteria when needed.

Another question: how hard is cupramine product on the biological filter compared to other kinds of copper treatment products? Does it destroy the nitrifying bacteria immediately? Degrade it over time?

cupramine is very safe form of copper (ionic). it does not bother beneficial bacteria much. i would distribute the dose recommended on the bottle over 4 days unlike the bottle suggestion to dose in 1 shot. if dosed over several days, it will be easy on fish along with bacteria to regrow.
Cupramine can wipe 25% beneficial bacteria.

 

[sensei]

Hello professor,

I had an issue with Uronema in a batch of 5 lyretail anthias that I got.
Only 1 survived, so I figured he was inmune to the disease but that did not mean he was not a carrier so I treated him with the full formalin protocol described bellow:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2388437

the protocol describes the following:

"Chemical Treatments - Formalin

While formalin is toxic, carcinogenic and an irritant, it is, however, one of the best treatments for Brooklynella hostilis and Uronema marinum. It can be purchased readily from your chemist and some off-the-shelf cures contain it or a related chemical (paraformaldehyde or gluteraldehyde) so a read of the labels or data sheets of some products is essential if you want to use it.

The best way to use this chemical for Brooklynella hostilis and Uronema marinum is as a formalin dip followed by a long term formalin bath (see environmental treatments).

To use it as a short dip in seawater, make up a bath in seawater at 200 to 250ppm for 1 hour. The dip component of this treatment regime should be carried out on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 & 11 after each dip the fish should be returned to a quarantine tank to which formalin has been added (see below).

For the long term bath component of this treatment, add 25ppm of formalin to your quarantine tank (it’s toxic to some invertebrates and algae, including most coralline algae species, so cannot be used in a reef situation)

Remember liquid formalin (which is how you will get it from the chemists) is 37 to 40% formaldehyde and you want 25ppm so you need to add 0.0625ml formalin per liter rather than 0.02ml to get the correct dose."


the fish survived, and after the teatment he had no tail fin, but after 2 weeks in a cycled hospital tank with no medication the tail has grown back. He is eating well. the only thing is that he has a dark spot in one of the side fins. this dark spot has been there after the formalin treatment.

what can this black spot be?
I am not sure if the dissolved tail was because of the prolonged formalin dips and also the permanent 25ppm formalin component of the treatment

how can I know for sure that fish is cured and healthy before moving to dt?
I ask because if he is inmune and survived the Uronema outbreat, he will never show signs of that deasease even if he has it.

thanks a lot for your answer

 

[Dr. Reef]

Not sure without looking at it. But for now I would keep it in qt with no meds. Watch it over time to see if things improve or show signs of disease again. Time is probably the only way to know if cured.

 

[sensei]

the thing is that the fish never showed signs of illness before; I assumed he was immune to the disease because all other fish in the same qt tank died of Uronema.

fish is treated now, but if he was immune, he will never show any signs even if I observe him 6 months??

I was thinking of putting a healthy fish in the same tant after 2 or 3 months of obervation and if new fish does not die that will tell that the qt tank is clean thus the treated fish is also clean.
any thoughts??

 

[Dr. Reef]

Most fish if healthy can fight off disease in most cases not all. If this fish survived the outbreak and went through treatment just fine. I would safely assume it will be fine and not be a carrier. Over time and with addition of more tank mates will bring more stress and less freedom of space and put pressure on this fish. All those stresses can weaken the fish immune system and may be then you might see disease show up again. But your plan is right. I wouldn't wait 2 to 3 months to find out if he's cured or not. I would add more fish to that qt now and observe for a while for symptoms.

 

[sensei]

Thanks professor!

 

[sensei]

I bought a Nuvo fusion10 gallon tank kit for my quarantine tank and it came with a skkye 3x6 watt led light. Is that enough time to keep coral for 2 weeks?

Is 2 weeks enough time for coral? I am worried it will not get enough flow rate or light in the small tank....

Seems to be a balance to figure out between being safe with respect to hitchhikers and putting the coral in the appropriate environment to survive.

The KS for advise...so many different things I read that make it confusing

depends on the coral you plan to keep in there.
I quarentine mostly sps thus I keep ecotech radium Xr15 in the qt coral tank
It is recomended to qt for 72 days to allow time for any ich cyst that may be incrusted in coral plugs or any hard substrate to die.
in my experince 45 days is a good time to observe for hitchhikers

good luck

 

[sensei]

Bnumair,

can you do formalin baths to any kind of marine fish?
I am quarentining the following fish
blueface angel
poters angel
leopard wrasse
cleaner wrasse
marine betta
hawk fish
barlet anthias

I am planing of doing formalin bath after each of the 4 TTM.
what do you think??

 

[Dr. Reef]

Bnumair,

can you do formalin baths to any kind of marine fish?
I am quarentining the following fish
blueface angel
poters angel
leopard wrasse
cleaner wrasse
marine betta
hawk fish
barlet anthias

I am planing of doing formalin bath after each of the 4 TTM.
what do you think??

i honestly think formalin is a bit tricky and is toxic and i have face many casualties using it. i take it you are doing TTM and QT due to ich outbreak and personally i dont think formalin bath is effective for ich. reason for that is that all ich in not attached to fish at any time.

 

[scuzy]

Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

I've dipped my bandit and gem tang recently and they went through it fine. Aerate the water well and do 1ml per gallon of water.

 

[sensei]

No, I do not have an ich outbreak, I am just quarentining new fish before they go into main dt. I know, I am doing a lot of fish at the same time, but they are small and I have all of them in 4 different tank transffer tanks.

I am a bit paranoic now, last time I was Quarentining new fish I experience Uronema in some anthias and I did not use formalin dips then, four died. One happened to be inmune so I did the full protocol for Uronema with the formalin dips and this one is still alive.

I have around 30 fish in my 600g system and I do not want to risk it.
My plan is to include formalin dips as a regular routine along with TTM and Prazi for all new fish but since I have only done formalin with anthias I was wondering if there was a restriction of fish that would not resist the formalin dip of 45min??

thanks again

 

[Dr. Reef]

I see. 20 min formalin bath should be fine. Like mentioned above keep water aerated and follow directions on bottle on dosage.

 

[scuzy]

I do 45 min formalin baths before going into ttm. Usually works for me.

 

[sensei]

I did 45min today and all fish seem fine.

scuzy,

why do you do it before TTM?
is not it easier just to put the formaline at the end of each Tank Transffer Method using same tank?
thanks a lot

 

[scuzy]

I just dip them on arrival easier and less formalin us. I know for sure I put 3 gallons of water for 3 ml formalin

 

[nycjwi]

I am new to this and just set up a Red Sea Max Nano 20 gallon tank with live Rock, Live sand and Ocean Water. On Setup I added 5 snails and 5 Hermit Crabs and a Damsel. On day 2, I added two clownfish. I am now 5 days in and so far so good. Everything in the tank seems happy and are eating. My PH is at 8.2. My Ammonia & Nitrite are both at zero but my Nitrates are at around 30ppm which i know is ok but still high. I measured the nitrate level of the Ocean water from the LFS and Nitrate level was at around 20ppm. I would think that my ocean water from LFS should be at 0. Any thoughts??

Also after reading this threat about quarantine which I clearly have not done, is there anything i should be doing preemptively in this tank to treat the fish of any potential dieses??

thx

 

[sensei]

I have another question:

lets suppose you get new fish with Uronema but fish looks healthy the fist couple of days.
if you do a formalin dip upon arrival or at last day of 1st TTM, is there any chance to cure the fish from Uronema with the first preventive dip?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Reefpuck]

After thank is cycled you can keep a cheap fish like a green chromis or cardinal in there or simply ghost feed tank once or twice a week to keep bacteria fed.

Are you saying you leave a fish in your QT 24/7? Like I could cycle my QT, add a green chromis to stay in there permanently, and then add new residents as they come for observation/treatment?