Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[Dr. Reef]

I have a 20 high QT set up. I will be a permanent QT.
I have an old Penguin 330 bio wheel hob with a Aqua20 hob and a bag of 500mg fluval ceramic rings. In the 330 I have Seachem's Martrix in the extra media area and in the Aqua20 I have 2 small bags of ceramic 60mg each and a sponge.
I purchased a new Penguin 350 bio wheel. It's for a 70gal tank so I would just like to use this and get rid of all the other stuff. What would you suggest I use for filter media in the 350 ? Should I fill it with little ceramic rings or just use filter floss of some king. I just want something that's functional yet pleasing to the eye. This QT looks like my DT sump right now, to much stuff...lol
I plan to house a fish in there when not QT fish for the DT.
As always thanks for you help, I have many happy fish do to your advise.

Thanks for ur nice words....
Regarding the filter. i always fill mine with ceramic rings or media and nothing more. i place ceramic rings in a media sock and place it in the HOB chamber. this acts as a filter for bigger debris and some small while also keeping the bacteria in it as well. once done with QT and there is no more fish in the tank then i take the media sock out and rinse it in the qt tank and then do a 100% water change.
Hope it helps...
Good Luck and Safe Reefing.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Hi folks, email question: (cut/pasting here for general/educational knowledge for everyone.)

Hi sir..I've read your blog re QT setup and I'm seeking you out for help..I'm pretty sure this question has been asked and explained. But here's the Issue. I'm noticing that my hippo and YT is developing ICH and I would like to handle this immediately. I've gathered all necessary equipment (20g, HOB, koralia 750, 100w heater, searchem ammonia badge) I've already filled the 20g with 50/50 of DT water and fresh salt mix. Ive inserted DT filter floss to HOB with ceramic blocks. I'm contemplating adding in a 16oz Dr. Tim's "one & only" instant cycle in a bottle. I've used this method when I setup my DT.... Also would it be a good idea to throw in a frozen shrimp while I got the fishes get transferred?

 

[Dr. Reef]

To answer the email question:
If i understand the question, i think what your asking is if it is ok to use Dr. Tim bacteria in bottle to start this QT along with some media you transferred from DT in your QT HOB.
If uptil now i am correct them there is no need to put a frozen shrimp in QT, just setup the tank like you said and add fish food and check for ammonia 24 hrs later. if there is no ammonia dose the food again and check after 24 hrs again. If no ammonia after second test then your tank has already go enough bacteria to support fish or 2.
In case something goes wrong (which in many cases does) keep enough freshly made saltwater ready (with temp, pH and salinity) at same level as QT for water changes.
Hope this helps.
Good Luck and Safe Reefing.

 

[iereefer]

To answer the email question:
If i understand the question, i think what your asking is if it is ok to use Dr. Tim bacteria in bottle to start this QT along with some media you transferred from DT in your QT HOB.
If uptil now i am correct them there is no need to put a frozen shrimp in QT, just setup the tank like you said and add fish food and check for ammonia 24 hrs later. if there is no ammonia dose the food again and check after 24 hrs again. If no ammonia after second test then your tank has already go enough bacteria to support fish or 2.
In case something goes wrong (which in many cases does) keep enough freshly made saltwater ready (with temp, pH and salinity) at same level as QT for water changes.
Hope this helps.
Good Luck and Safe Reefing.

Thank you for the prompted reply. Already had plans to check on ammonia. Last night, got the QT up ca8ght the YT with ease. The hippo was another, finally was able to catch him after 40 of cat and mouse. Acclimated them to the QT, an hour later dosed in 1ml of cupramine. Woke up to morning to see the hippo riding the rim of the tank and settled flat on its body with elevated breathing. Not sure if its my bdrm lighting or not, but the normally black bar on the hippo was yellow/orangish to it. So ill be posted up at home eye these guys...btw, the YT had no adverse affect with medications.

 

[WGT1014]

I've decided to set up a QT. I understand how to set one up but my question is what kind of medications should I keep on hand? Also what test kits? I know about Prazipro,Cuprimine,Copper test kit, basic ammonia,nitrite,nitrate kit. Thanks.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i personally carry prazipro and cupramine and sometimes formalin-ms. while on test kits you got to have decent kits and API is not a decent kit by my standards, Salifert Elos Red Sea Seachem etc are better brands. I keep ammonia, nitrates cal mag alk and phos kits mostly handy but i do have many others as well. i personally have some high dollar meters and spectrometers but for basic use you can get away with kits i mentioned.
Good Luck

 

[adamwheel]

You've probably weighed in on this somewhere but...

To QT or not to QT Acanthurus Tangs specifically Achilles and/or Powder Blue?

I have a 29 gal fully cycled QT that has been very successful to this point and would be getting juveniles (2-3") through LA. Is 29 gal too small for them? Display is DIY 178 gal but I hate the idea of avoiding QT.

Cheers and thanks for the help,

Adam

 

[adamwheel]

I will only be getting one and it will be my final addition months from now.

 

[Dr. Reef]

You've probably weighed in on this somewhere but...

To QT or not to QT Acanthurus Tangs specifically Achilles and/or Powder Blue?

I have a 29 gal fully cycled QT that has been very successful to this point and would be getting juveniles (2-3") through LA. Is 29 gal too small for them? Display is DIY 178 gal but I hate the idea of avoiding QT.

Cheers and thanks for the help,

Adam

Hi Adam,
I have qt'ed an achilles and blue hippo in a 20 gal with hyposalinty with no problem but that doesnt prove anything. every fish acts differently. You may wanna keep an eye on them at first in a 29 gal tank for aggression. if they do fight you may have to divide the tank in 2 halves with egg crate.
Regardless i would QT and treat ALL TANGS fir ich via copper or hypo or tank transfer.
i do have guides in my blog for step by step process bot both methods.
Good Luck and Safe Reefing.

 

[SFish]

How long do new fish need to stay in the QT? Also is it ok to put 3 new fish in a 10 gallon QT together?

 

[Dr. Reef]

How long do new fish need to stay in the QT? Also is it ok to put 3 new fish in a 10 gallon QT together?

all fish should remain in QT under observation for atleast 6-8 weeks.
This is just observation period not treatment time.
3 fish in a 10 gal qt may get away with it depending what fish are we talking about and what size.

 

[SFish]

Thanks

 

[jfeva0049]

could i get some advice on qt a gobie or a mandarin??? is it worth the risk? i mean i heard the the slime coat on a mandarin prevent most parasites anyways... thanks for the advice.

 

[Dr. Reef]

could i get some advice on qt a gobie or a mandarin??? is it worth the risk? i mean i heard the the slime coat on a mandarin prevent most parasites anyways... thanks for the advice.

Personally i dont qt mandarin due to the fact they have very thick slime coat and they usually dont get ich. Goby you can qt for few weeks with a bowl of sand in the tank. If you decide to do bowl of sand make sure its pure silica as if needed to medicate it wont absorb copper.
Good Luck

 

[KCFITZ78]

Back December 18th I picked up some "free" sick fish.... 1 coral beauty, a pair of clown fish and a red sea star. All three fish had ICH and the coral beauty had been picking at the both clownfish. The one clownfish had swollen eyes.

So two days prior to picking up the fish, I set up a 10 gallon quarantine tank with HOB filter, heater and grate divider length wise in the tank. I also setup a 3 gallon tank with a heater. I added ammonia lock to the saltwater, dialed in my salinity to 1.023~1.025 and temp to 78 degrees F.

I added the 3 fish to the 10 gallon quarantine tank and placed the red sea star in a 3 gallon tank. After 2 days of having the fish I added Mardel Coppersafe to the 10 gallon tank only. I tested the copper level to make sure the copper level was 1.5 to 2.0 and kept this level for 3 weeks. All the fish had looked great with no white spots and the clownfish eyes were back to normal. The day after the 3 week mark, I did a 3 gallon water change in the afternoon. That same day the coral beauty found a small break in the grate divider and now was on the same side as the clown fish. Needless to say they all fought and I did not notice what happened till that night. I moved the coral beauty back to other side of the divided tank and fixed the grate with a zip tie. The next day both clownfish had white spots and the one clownfish had swollen eyes again. That day I raised the copper level back up close to 2.0. It has now been 3 days since the coral beauty jail break and the clownfish look terrible.

I hope the clownfish will make it through another 6-8 weeks.

Also the sea star did not do well with the water change I made on the 3 gallon tank as it seems to only stay on the bottom now. I have been feeding it a small piece of an algae wafer every day, but it has not taken it the last 3 days.

Any suggestions on what I may be doing right, wrong or indifferent?

 

[Dr. Reef]

Hi KCFITZ78
i have never used the copper product mentioned but if ich came back then it only means that treatment was not successful. Generally in Cupramine treatment we last the treatment for 4-6 weeks at 0.5 mq/l strength. (seachem recommends 0.5 for 4 weeks) then observation for another 4-6 weeks (my recommendation).
I had another reefer use the same medicine you mentioned with failing results, its on this forum somewhere in the thousand plus comments lol.
If you could get cupramine i would use it as i know the effectiveness of that medicine.
Also keep the fish separated and in qt till you are 100% sure of the treatment effectiveness.
There is also hyposalinity method which is very effective on ich.
Here is a link to that guide:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2300497
Either way keep me posted and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Good Luck.

 

[jfeva0049]

bnumair, from your experience, what would you say would be the max fish limit you would put on a 20 long QT tank?

 

[ER_Doc]

Forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere as my searching hasn't answered my confusion yet.

I have set up a quarantine tank that i am not sure is set up correctly. I have done it per the sticky guide. The main ? Is how do I cycle the tank?

Set up is as follows:
¤20gal tank
¤HOB filter with carbon pack removed and replaced with floss material that had been in my DT for months
¤Heater
¤water 5gal from DT and 15gal new water

After couple of days the nitrates shot up to 40. Obviously can't put a fish in there. How do I get nitrates down? Do just have to wait? How do I "cycle" it?

I did this same method to quarantine a yellow tang I got after 2 days of the tank set up and had no problem. After a month it went to DT.

When I set it up again a cardinal died within 48h.

Thanks for the help.

 

[KCFITZ78]

Hi KCFITZ78
i have never used the copper product mentioned but if ich came back then it only means that treatment was not successful. Generally in Cupramine treatment we last the treatment for 4-6 weeks at 0.5 mq/l strength. (seachem recommends 0.5 for 4 weeks) then observation for another 4-6 weeks (my recommendation).
I had another reefer use the same medicine you mentioned with failing results, its on this forum somewhere in the thousand plus comments lol.
If you could get cupramine i would use it as i know the effectiveness of that medicine.
Also keep the fish separated and in qt till you are 100% sure of the treatment effectiveness.
There is also hyposalinity method which is very effective on ich.
Here is a link to that guide:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2300497
Either way keep me posted and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Good Luck.

thanks

 

[Dr. Reef]

bnumair, from your experience, what would you say would be the max fish limit you would put on a 20 long QT tank?

Hi
there is no a universal answer to this question. Honestly less the better but it all depends on size and type of fish.
If they are small fish (0.1-2in) about 4-6 if not aggressive or use dividers.
2-6" fish about 2-3
6"+ about 1 or 2 again all depending on aggressiveness or use dividers.