sillygoose
New member
I've been a trusting but lucky soul with fish so far, but ich horror stories got the best of me and I'm quarantining some new green chromis. How long do you recommend?
how long do you QT?
- Thread starter sillygoose
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Tucson Reef
New member
I have never QT'ed
I have never QT'ed
I check fish/system in LFS, only buy from a honest dealer. First how long they had it, do they treat meds. , run copper, is system isolated or water run thru sterilizer, how are other fish on system(not just that tank). Do they eat well, poop look good, normal activity, eyes and so forth.
Now if you do QT, it is additional stress as most time tank/water quality well be less the your show tank. I would QT longer then most pest life cycles, including egg cycle, probably 2 weeks. Why 2 weeks? Well fish could have one cyst, hard/impossible to see, water cold(Slows developement), falls off, goes free swimming, some attach and still hard impossible to see, the longer you QT the better your chance of seeing. But then theres the stress of the QT tank so you should not go much past what is neccesary to see if fish is healthy.
I have never QT'ed
I check fish/system in LFS, only buy from a honest dealer. First how long they had it, do they treat meds. , run copper, is system isolated or water run thru sterilizer, how are other fish on system(not just that tank). Do they eat well, poop look good, normal activity, eyes and so forth.
Now if you do QT, it is additional stress as most time tank/water quality well be less the your show tank. I would QT longer then most pest life cycles, including egg cycle, probably 2 weeks. Why 2 weeks? Well fish could have one cyst, hard/impossible to see, water cold(Slows developement), falls off, goes free swimming, some attach and still hard impossible to see, the longer you QT the better your chance of seeing. But then theres the stress of the QT tank so you should not go much past what is neccesary to see if fish is healthy.
I have qt'ed dozens of fish with no losses to qt.
To define, I don't QT, I hospital. I start with metronidazole for 5-7 days. Then I do coppersafe for 4 weeks. Then it's praziquantinel for 1 week. After drip acclimation into the DT, I do a 30-40 min formalin bath. I usually change 50% of the water every 4-7 days and have one of those ammonia meter suction thingies on the tank to watch it.
I do it all in a 10g tank with 2 pieces (10lb?) of live rock that I "sacrificed" to copper, so it can't be used for any tank with inverts. I had some sort of disease kill about 2/3 of my tank or ~$2,000 of fish after some poor qt procedures, so I won't take that risk again. I just started qting corals and inverts in another 10g.
QT sucks now, but you will love it later.
To define, I don't QT, I hospital. I start with metronidazole for 5-7 days. Then I do coppersafe for 4 weeks. Then it's praziquantinel for 1 week. After drip acclimation into the DT, I do a 30-40 min formalin bath. I usually change 50% of the water every 4-7 days and have one of those ammonia meter suction thingies on the tank to watch it.
I do it all in a 10g tank with 2 pieces (10lb?) of live rock that I "sacrificed" to copper, so it can't be used for any tank with inverts. I had some sort of disease kill about 2/3 of my tank or ~$2,000 of fish after some poor qt procedures, so I won't take that risk again. I just started qting corals and inverts in another 10g.
QT sucks now, but you will love it later.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
If your worried about Ich, go 6 to 8 weeks. 8 weeks being safer. I usually go ahead and treat incoming fish with copper for 4 weeks followed by another 2 weeks of observation. After going through Ich and having to catch all my fish in the display I set up a QT and its not so bad. Just be careful and do your research cause some fish don't tollerate copper.
sillygoose
New member
So just isolating them is not enough? Do I have to treat? Right now I have them in the same tank that I have some frags growing but I figured I'd make a separate hospital tank if I noticed problems. Otherwise I was just hoping to observe...
jjk_reef00
New member
I use to observe for 8 weeks and didn't have any problems. Now I just don't want to put any of my fish at risk so I treat with cupramine because it is suppose to be the copper treatment that is easiest on the fish.
Tucson Reef
New member
I agree, Observe first
I agree, Observe first
Thats why I said at least 2 weeks, then longer and med if you suspect something. And the 2 weeks starts over if you add a fish, coral or rock to the QT tank, you could have introduced a new pest with the new item. I like copper in LFS tank because percentages say they will bring in pests at times. The high stress level at the LFS makes outbreaks and spreading likely. But Copper is evil and should be avoided if not needed, it does permenent damage to fish and is a deadly toxin. Some tolerate it better then others but it effects them all to some extent.
I agree, Observe first
Thats why I said at least 2 weeks, then longer and med if you suspect something. And the 2 weeks starts over if you add a fish, coral or rock to the QT tank, you could have introduced a new pest with the new item. I like copper in LFS tank because percentages say they will bring in pests at times. The high stress level at the LFS makes outbreaks and spreading likely. But Copper is evil and should be avoided if not needed, it does permenent damage to fish and is a deadly toxin. Some tolerate it better then others but it effects them all to some extent.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
I started treating cause the fish that plagued me looked perfectly healthy for weeks before it showed any signs of problems. Maybe it came from a fish I already had, but they have all be treated now and I'm not taking any chances now. If you don't like copper, you can always use hypo and avoid meds altogether.
sillygoose
New member
What is hypo?
jjk_reef00
New member
That is exactly why I monitor for 8 weeks in qt. I also just treat now. I usually fatten the fish up for at least a week before I treat.
You gradually drop salinity from 1.025 1.009 by increments of 1.002 each day. Leave it for 30 days, and then gradually bring it back up.
