Guide to setup a Quarantine Tank (QT).

[Dr. Reef]

Well thank you very much for the advice i did treat it with copper already with the live rock in it..... i hope thats not a problem the gobbie seems to be doing fine i recently added a naso tang to the QT tank i had to i got a great deal on him ... now im using copper safe brand it says to treat the water once a month is that true ..?? also after the 2 weeks of copper how much of a water change should i do before adding prozi pro ..?? Thank you in advance

problem with treating your tank with rock in it is that there is no guarantee that you are holding 0.5 mg/L or 1.5-2 ppm like copper safe states. some or most of the copper will be absorbed in sand/rocks thus making copper treatment useless.
I have personally never used copper safe brand and i am not sure how they maintain 1.5-2 ppm free copper in water which under normal conditions will be deadly. so i cant really comment on it until i find one of the chemists to look into it and tell me something precise.
Without a proper copper test kit you wont know what strength you are suppose to be holding and id rock is absorbing some of the copper then really your treatment is waste of time.
I would get a test kit and according to the Coppersafe recommendations try to hold the strength.
Regarding the length of the treatment for 1 month on single dose that stands true in coppersafe and cupramine both. Once required amount is dosed both meds recommend 4 weeks treatment without any changes or additional dosing unless performing water changes.
If QT is cycled properly a 4 week treatment without any water change should happen flawlessly.
Treatment term is 4 weeks on both meds so after 4 weeks i would do 4x 25% or 2x 50% either way try to get a 100% water change or do as many as you can and run carbon or cuprisorb to get all copper out of the system.
if i missed something please feel free to ask.

 

[Jetersyanks]

problem with treating your tank with rock in it is that there is no guarantee that you are holding 0.5 mg/L or 1.5-2 ppm like copper safe states. some or most of the copper will be absorbed in sand/rocks thus making copper treatment useless.
I have personally never used copper safe brand and i am not sure how they maintain 1.5-2 ppm free copper in water which under normal conditions will be deadly. so i cant really comment on it until i find one of the chemists to look into it and tell me something precise.
Without a proper copper test kit you wont know what strength you are suppose to be holding and id rock is absorbing some of the copper then really your treatment is waste of time.
I would get a test kit and according to the Coppersafe recommendations try to hold the strength.
Regarding the length of the treatment for 1 month on single dose that stands true in coppersafe and cupramine both. Once required amount is dosed both meds recommend 4 weeks treatment without any changes or additional dosing unless performing water changes.
If QT is cycled properly a 4 week treatment without any water change should happen flawlessly.
Treatment term is 4 weeks on both meds so after 4 weeks i would do 4x 25% or 2x 50% either way try to get a 100% water change or do as many as you can and run carbon or cuprisorb to get all copper out of the system.
if i missed something please feel free to ask.

With the prozi does it matter if i have live rock in the tank with that.?? also whats the difference between prozi and copper ..?? again honestly cant thank you enough for the info

 

[Dr. Reef]

With the prozi does it matter if i have live rock in the tank with that.?? also whats the difference between prozi and copper ..?? again honestly cant thank you enough for the info

your welcome.
Prazi is medicine for flukes and some external and internal prasites. It dosnt work on ich. prazipro does not have any copper in it and is 100% reef safe.
Copper is copper and is very lethal to reef even in small quantity.
We use copper to kill ich

 

[Jetersyanks]

your welcome.
Prazi is medicine for flukes and some external and internal prasites. It dosnt work on ich. prazipro does not have any copper in it and is 100% reef safe.
Copper is copper and is very lethal to reef even in small quantity.
We use copper to kill ich

well now im a little nervous because I don't know the amount of copper in my system .. I think I should take the live rock out 50% water change then retreat the water ..?? with copper ..?/

 

[Dr. Reef]

remember when u pull the rock out of qt it might through the tank in a mini cycle so do ammonia testing before and after removing rock for comparison. if after 24 hrs ammonia remains 0 then you are good to go. if ammonia starts to creep up then be ready to do water changes, due to copper in system you CANNOT use products like prime/amquel/ammolock etc as they will react with copper and make it toxic.
I would leave things the way they are for now and get a copper test kit and monitor the right strength of copper advised according to manufacturer.
i have no personal experience with coppersafe brand and not sure how its works on testing kits.
if you wanna go the safe route i would take the rock out and observe for ammonia and make sure you dont have ammonia issues and qt is stable. once after rock been out and 24 hrs later no ammonia then i would start doing some water changes and get 100% new water in there.
then order cupramine (also copper) and a copper test kit (not API). then you can follow along with this guide.
what all do you have in qt? you can also go hypo salinity...

 

[Jetersyanks]

remember when u pull the rock out of qt it might through the tank in a mini cycle so do ammonia testing before and after removing rock for comparison. if after 24 hrs ammonia remains 0 then you are good to go. if ammonia starts to creep up then be ready to do water changes, due to copper in system you CANNOT use products like prime/amquel/ammolock etc as they will react with copper and make it toxic.
I would leave things the way they are for now and get a copper test kit and monitor the right strength of copper advised according to manufacturer.
i have no personal experience with coppersafe brand and not sure how its works on testing kits.
if you wanna go the safe route i would take the rock out and observe for ammonia and make sure you dont have ammonia issues and qt is stable. once after rock been out and 24 hrs later no ammonia then i would start doing some water changes and get 100% new water in there.
then order cupramine (also copper) and a copper test kit (not API). then you can follow along with this guide.
what all do you have in qt? you can also go hypo salinity...

I have a sail fin tang naso tang and watchmen gobbie

 

[Dr. Reef]

Ok I would suggest either cupramine or hypo as tangs are ich magnets.
Because you have copper already I would do large water changes and then remove rock. Watch for ammonia and if everything is stable get cupramine and copper test kit. Dose accordingly and wait 4 weeks out.
Good luck and feel free to ask anything.

 

[Jetersyanks]

Ok I would suggest either cupramine or hypo as tangs are ich magnets.
Because you have copper already I would do large water changes and then remove rock. Watch for ammonia and if everything is stable get cupramine and copper test kit. Dose accordingly and wait 4 weeks out.
Good luck and feel free to ask anything.

I had high ammonia with the live rock .. so I did about a 40% water change I wanted to wait for the parameters to be more stable before adding more copper

 

[Dr. Reef]

medicines containing copper will show up as ammonia on test kits... if you buy a badge from petstore (ammonia stick on glass badge) that will not be fooled into thinking its ammonia.
did u test high on ammonia before adding copper?

 

[shabbir.aquatic]

Nice write up!!!!

 

[Mudbeaver]

I started my permanent QT

I started my permanent QT

Well i did it a permanent Qt a 20 g . For two reason. I'm going to get my custom made tanks in only 2 months. My system will have a collection of macro algae in the display refugium and in mix reef tank. In order to have a good diversity of algae i have to get it during the summer months. So i'm starting the tank now so i can buy those macro now and transfer them into the fuge later with the rock and sand that i have in the Qt tank now to help jump start the big system in october. Then ill have a clean tank to use as a QT later. In the mean time one month before my big tanks arrive i can qt some new fish before releasing them into the new reef tank. I did one Boo Boo though, i thought it was a new product, i said on the package do not rince this live sand before use.....i didn't, dahhhhhhhhhhh, i feel like such a newb....

 

[Jetersyanks]

medicines containing copper will show up as ammonia on test kits... if you buy a badge from petstore (ammonia stick on glass badge) that will not be fooled into thinking its ammonia.
did u test high on ammonia before adding copper?

yes parameters were fine before adding the copper ... the naso tang changes colors a lot with every little movement in the tank even when feeding him .. is that normal ..??

 

[Dr. Reef]

yes darker color or spot pigments are very normal in angry tang.

 

[Jetersyanks]

yes darker color or spot pigments are very normal in angry tang.

I also seen that he's not moving his left fin that much and his color is fading what should I do ..?

 

[Dr. Reef]

Keep up with water chemistry and make sure there isnt any ammonia in water so it will be fine. How big is the qt tank and what other tankmates?
Turn lights off for few days and keep tank dark.

 

[Jetersyanks]

Keep up with water chemistry and make sure there isnt any ammonia in water so it will be fine. How big is the qt tank and what other tankmates?
Turn lights off for few days and keep tank dark.

ok im gonna keep the light off the white spots have doubled and he's still not moving his right fin tomorrow in the AM i will do a water change and copper test strips i hope he makes the night also its a 10 gallon and it's just the naso tang in there now

 

[hogfanreefer]

Does Amquel have any effect on testing for ammonia?

 

[Dr. Reef]

yes most test kits that use Nessler or Rochelle reagents will have false readings on ammonia test kits. Salicylate method is what you need to have no false readings. I am quite sure Instant Ocean ammonia kit is salicylate based.

 

[hogfanreefer]

yes most test kits that use Nessler or Rochelle reagents will have false readings on ammonia test kits. Salicylate method is what you need to have no false readings. I am quite sure Instant Ocean ammonia kit is salicylate based.

Thanks bnumair. I know API is salicylate based but can't find the ingredients for my Salifert test. I also have the API so I'll use it for now.

In the last 18 hours or so I've done three water changes totaling 20 gallons in the 20 gallon QT. The badge and the API test show zero ammonia and both fish ate well today. The Pyramid butterfly ate the best he's eaten since arriving.

I think the extra ceramic media bag from the sump has turned the tide.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Thanks bnumair. I know API is salicylate based but can't find the ingredients for my Salifert test. I also have the API so I'll use it for now.

In the last 18 hours or so I've done three water changes totaling 20 gallons in the 20 gallon QT. The badge and the API test show zero ammonia and both fish ate well today. The Pyramid butterfly ate the best he's eaten since arriving.

I think the extra ceramic media bag from the sump has turned the tide.

Good, i am glad everything is doing fine. i bet you imported enough bacteria in the ceramic media from sump to qt to avoid the spike. instead of having a mini spike added bacteria neutralized the ammonia keeping ur tank and fish safe.
good luck and keep posting.