QT Length question

jim.ranger

New member
I have a Kole tang that I got from a small local supplier. He got in 15 fish all at once. He lost all but 3 in the first few days. Combination of things like a bad refractometer and not following some basic procedures ended up in a disaster. The fish had been shipped at 1.018 and he thought he had his tank the same way but discovered after the fish started dying that it was actually at 1.029! Could not see any visible signs of any issues like velvet etc so he does not know for sure what killed the other fish although a raise in salinity of that much so fast would not be good for them!

I got it 2 weeks after the last fish had died. I checked the water he came in and my water he was going into to ensure temp and salinity was identical. He has now been through the tank transfer and is in my 33 gal QT tank. He has been eating like a pig ever since I got him and showing absolutely no signs of any issues.

Question is how long do you think I should leave him in the QT tank prior to moving him to the 220 gal DT and should I treat him with anything "just in case"?

Thanks for any input you can give!
 
I have a Kole tang that I got from a small local supplier. He got in 15 fish all at once. He lost all but 3 in the first few days. Combination of things like a bad refractometer and not following some basic procedures ended up in a disaster. The fish had been shipped at 1.018 and he thought he had his tank the same way but discovered after the fish started dying that it was actually at 1.029! Could not see any visible signs of any issues like velvet etc so he does not know for sure what killed the other fish although a raise in salinity of that much so fast would not be good for them!

I got it 2 weeks after the last fish had died. I checked the water he came in and my water he was going into to ensure temp and salinity was identical. He has now been through the tank transfer and is in my 33 gal QT tank. He has been eating like a pig ever since I got him and showing absolutely no signs of any issues.

Question is how long do you think I should leave him in the QT tank prior to moving him to the 220 gal DT and should I treat him with anything "just in case"?

Thanks for any input you can give!

Tank transfer will eliminate ich from the equation. However there are other parasites, I would give it 3 weeks minimum after tank transfer in QT
 
6 weeks total observation time in QT is a good rule of thumb. Longer than that can't do any harm

Yes. To clarify, when obtaining a fish kept in a non therapeutic level of copper, any parasite masked by the environment will exhibit behavior symptoms within that time frame.
 
Well the Kole tang is still in QT. Has been through Prazi treatment....just in case but no signs of anything. I have to go out of town for a week but am hoping to move him to the DT before I go next week. That will be 5 1/2 wks in QT if you include the Tank Transfer time. I am hoping that is enough time to have seen anything that "might" be there!
 
Well the Kole tang is still in QT. Has been through Prazi treatment....just in case but no signs of anything. I have to go out of town for a week but am hoping to move him to the DT before I go next week. That will be 5 1/2 wks in QT if you include the Tank Transfer time. I am hoping that is enough time to have seen anything that "might" be there!

If he was put through TT, you should be fine. If he was not put through TT you may still have ich.
 
Thanks. First thing I did was put him through the tank transfer. Then moved him to the main QT tank for Prazi and he will have been in there just over 3 1/2 weeks after the TT.
Has been eating everything I put in with him the whole time and no sign of any issues. I have never seen him rub against anything or show any other signs of anything I can see.

The local supplier I got him from had him in a tank with the other 2 survivors for almost 3 weeks before I got him and the other 2 are still doing well. We figure the huge salinity change is likely what killed the others but I am not taking any chances!
 
I really like the 2 month timeframe. I've had best success with it. Feeding issues, flukes, weird stuff I've never seen before, have all shown up well into the 2nd month. My experience, anyway....
 
My QT session typically is at least 12 weeks, often 14 weeks.

There is an array of diseases to treat or just to deal with.

Fluke, internal parasites. external bacterial infection. Eradication of ich is only part and parcel. Targeting ich with a lot of work is like rushing toward a red light.

A large part of QT is also enhancement of adaptation with the best possible nutrition.

QT should be rather leisurely most of the time for the aquarist with little work, when there is enough preparation.
 
^I'm with this guy. 12 weeks, including TT and sometimes when disease turns up that time frame goes quite quickly and they end up in QT for longer.
 
Im as anal as they come about disease now and QT and treat every fish with signs of disease or not and i keep them out of my DT for 12 weeks after Prazipro and CP are done
 
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