how do you quarentine pipefish?

[sensei]

I have a pair of dragon face pipefish that I would like to quarantine with Tank Transfer Method and prazipro .
I have this bonded pair in a tank that was infested with ich, them have been eating copepods for months. There are enough pods that I do not give them any other food since they are the two only fish in the tank.

can you please tell me how do you quarantine these pipe fish and what should I feed them??

thanks

 

[Dogshowgrl]

Mine eat frozen cyclops well. But really there is no way to know if they will take any frozen. Some eat reef nutrition roe. I would have a pod culture if possible. If not, you can hatch brine, but you HAVE to enrich, preferably with a fatty acid or DHA. This is not a great long term food but it could get you through quarantine. Good luck.

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[Seahorse NJRC]

Mine eat frozen cyclops well. But really there is no way to know if they will take any frozen. Some eat reef nutrition roe. I would have a pod culture if possible. If not, you can hatch brine, but you HAVE to enrich, preferably with a fatty acid or DHA. This is not a great long term food but it could get you through quarantine. Good luck.

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This really is a solid option. I would also get a solid pod culture going.

 

[ThRoewer]

I usually quarantine my bluestripe pipefish in 1/2 to 5 gallon containers or tanks. Right now I have a small one in a 1/2 gallon Lee's Specimen Container that is hanged into a larger tank. He is in there for a couple of weeks now (with no pump or airstone!) and doing well. I feed primarily live Tigger Pods and change the water every few days.
I've done this with a few small singles now and the results are better than when I had them in bigger tanks. TTM is also easy this way as you have only the containers to sterilize - I just put them over night in a bucket with bleach.

With dragon face pipefish I would go with a 5 gallon tank and maybe a small pump or HOB filter.

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[sensei]

Thanks you all for your answers.
I have another question
In the past I have tried to have my own culture of tiger pods but I had no luck
Any tips??

 

[ThRoewer]

Check my posts in this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2592312

 

[sensei]

Roewer,
Thanks a lot.

you said:¨Usually the culture peaks after about a month. At that point you can harvest all and use a part to start a new culture. I usually let them run until the culture starts slowing down. ¨

to start a new culture you use a different container?
If I understand correctly you just net a part of the cultine and put them in a different container??
shoud I put the GHA that I harvest in my ATS in the box so that they have algae to eat?
should you clean the detrietus in the culture box from culture to culture?


thanks again

 

[ThRoewer]

With Tigger Pods you want to start as many cultures as possible, so that one is always producing. So yes, ideally you start it in a new container and keep the old around until you have enough cultures going to ensure a steady supply.

I never tried GHA but it could work. I would just be worried that the algae start getting out of hand and make harvesting pods difficult.
Ulva or other simply and hardy macro algae may work, but are not required. I don't think these guys need algae. Their favorite food seem to be bacteria, flakes and detritus which pretty much answers the last question. The more polluted the water is with organics and bacteria the better the culture does.

In general I never clean the culture container while the culture is running.

One thing I plan to try next is to use watery skimmate as "fertilizer" for a culture.

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[sensei]

Thanks Roewer,

I guess you need some sort of seeded media( like ceramic rings seeded in a display tank or live rock) to have nitrifying bacteria in the culture and avoid amonia build up?

I see that in you videos you have some rocks inside?

are they sensible to amonia build up?

Thanks

 

[ThRoewer]

I took those rocks out of a tank that had ich and just put them in that bin with all the inverts that couldn't handle hyposalinity. The pods were just some survivors from a feeding before I took the rocks out. The pod explosion only happened after a shrimp died and spoiled the water.

For a normal culture I just take a container store shoe box, fill it with some old tank water, add a scoop of pods and feed with flake food - no need to worry about ammonia and all those things, these guys do best when treated badly.

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[sensei]

one last question:

would it be better to buy a bottle of tigger pods and start the culture or just take a rock from my display that would house some pods and start the culture with that?

I would not know which kind of pods are in the rock, may be different ones.
What do you think?

 

[ThRoewer]

Get a bottle of Tigger Pods - no other as the described method only works for Tigriopus species.

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[sensei]

Thanks a lot Roewer, I will do as you say

 

[CptnSaltystache]

Hey all, I'm new to the forums. Is it bad form to commandeer threads if the OP has been answered? I'll delete if so. I have similar questions to a different scenario.

I work in a lab/organization where we have a 65 gall tank with 4 CB H.erectus, 2 male 2 female. We also have a separate kreisel containing wild, locally caught juvenile pipefish, puffers, sculpins etc. Basically our hope was to put 2 of the larger pipefish into the seahorse tank as both are native species to our region.

Before my head gets bitten off, ( jk ) I want to say that I understand the risks involved with wild pathogens and CB organisms. That is why we haven't done this yet. I wanted to know if there was a quarantine method and chemical treatment that could kill these pathogens completely or greatly decrease the chances of any transmission. I certainly would not want to harm any organism so that is why I'm trying to find out all I can. I've done much research but I just can't find the pieces of information to piece this whole thing together one way or the other. Some people have success, some don't. Maybe it just comes down to a roll of the dice, if that's the case we likely wouldn't risk it.

 

[iluvmyfishes]

Two of my seahorses were really sick when I got them. I used different methods until I saw improvement. I tried Paraguard, Furan 2, general cure, adding Metroplex and kanaplex to their food, and finally Cupramine. (all separately of course) I also did a 5 minute fresh water dip. Just treat them for what you think they have. Mine had parasites and came from a tank that had ich at the LFS.

 

[ThRoewer]

I would definitely keep the pipefish isolated for at least 2 months. In that period eventually present parasites will usually show.
The worst parasites to get into your tank are Amyloodinium, Brooklynella, Uronema, Trematodes (flukes).

 

[vlangel]

I have also read that when mixing seahorses, WC with CB doing very large frequent water changes can help for the first year or so. I am guessing that it dilutes the pathogens as well as providing excellant water quality to keep the animals in a healthier state to fight off disease. I don't know if that would be the same with pipefish and seahorses.

 

[sensei]

Roewer,

I did the tigger pod cultire with your method and it worked great.
I want to add the pods to my DT but the water of the pods does not look clean.
how can I filter the pods to add the pods and not that water to my DT??
thanks

 

[ThRoewer]

A brine shrimp strainer works well.
I usually use a small, very fine fish net. I found them at PetSmart.
But at times I also pour some of the "green soup" that my cultures usually are into my tank as food for the filter feeders.

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[sensei]

Roewer,

What happens if I leave the tiger pod culture alone for 2-3 months in same container?
will they grow bigger?
I ask becuase although I see a lot of them , they are very tiny compared to the ones in the bottle I bough

Thanks