QT Treatment plan

T

thompson2224

New member
I just purchased the following fish that I will be getting tomorrow morning:

2 clownfish
1 dragonface pipefish
1 mandarin goby
1 divided leopard wrasse
1 saddle valentini pufferfish
1 diamond goby
1 cleaner wrasse

I know that the mandarin and puffer are not good with copper so I am going to try not to use copper and I'm going to try to do the tank transfer method. I have a 20 gallon tank and a 5 gallon tank that I have free at the moment. I set the 20 gallon up last night.

What is your best recommendation for treating these fish and for how long?

Also can I use the 20 gallon tank for all these? And can I use the 20 gallon then transfer to the 5 gallon and then really quickly clean the 20 gallon and transfer them back?

Thanks
 
For TTM to be effective you need to let the tank and equipment air dry for at least 24 hours (more preferred) between uses. Even if you do a good job cleaning with bleach, it is not guaranteed that all the cysts die if you don't air dry as well. So you would need a 2nd dedicated tank and equipment (air tubing, air stone, heater, hiding places, etc).

IMO, that is way too many fish for a 20g. Especially considering you will be housing them in there for a month or two.

Make sure you have a plan for how to feed the Mandarin. They generally require pods, but there are some foods they will take, such as Nutra Ova (?? someone correct that name... doesn't look right to me...).

What is the status of your DT? Is it parasite free? How long has it been setup? If the tank hasn't run fallow for 10-12 weeks and/or if you already have un-QT'ed fish in it, then what you do now doesn't really matter all that much, as Ich and other nasties will transfer to the fish right away anyway. Just FYI, since I don't know what your practices are already.

My recommendation would be to split the fish up into 20g's and do TTM on them all. You will obviously need 4 20g tanks, 4 heaters, 4 airtubes, etc. If it weren't for the less-copper tolerant fish, I would say do copper on them in a much bigger QT (55g+).

Keep the questions coming so we can make sure you get off to the right start! You really should consider purchasing less fish at a time though; that is just too many, IMO.
 
The DT has been up for 12 weeks so the fallow period is now complete. Before this tank was set up I had a 20 gallon tank that was up for 5 months and I used everything from that tank. My DT literally crawls with pods and I have food for the mandarin and pipefish. I have the nutramar ova and I also have a 1 gallon bucket full of pods that I can grab some from to feed them. I ordered the fish from Bluezoo aquatics. For the TTM I was going to blow dry the crap out of the 20 gallon after I cleaned it to make sure it is completely dry. I can try and get a second 20 gallon to help out but as of right now I have the one 20 gallon setup right now and then I will have the 5 gallon if necessary, my second thought was to take the mandarin and puffer and put them in the 5 gallon and then use copper in the 20 gallon and the fish that can handle copper.
 
lets wait for snorvich or someone else to chime in as well (e.g. don't just take my word for it), but I just don't think even blow drying it will help. It isn't just being dry for a short period, I am pretty sure it actually needs to be dry for the 24 hours+. those cysts are pretty hardy.

another option, coupling with what you have already started to say, is to do the copper in 20g with fish that can tolerate, and use 2 (or 4 if you want to split up the fish) 5g buckets for the other two to do TTM. Once they are done with TTM, you could setup a 2nd 20g tank to house them in for the remainder of the QT/observation period (2-6 more weeks).

For the copper, make sure you are doing .5ppm for 4 weeks. and for any water changes you do, get the new water up to .5ppm before adding it to the tank. don't ever let it drop below .35ppm. with that many fish, you will need to do frequent large water changes and also monitor ammonia; however never use Amquel or Prime or anything like that when using copper; water changes are your only solution for ammonia build up.
 
Okay sounds good. So then as another possible option. Could I use the 20 gallon tank then transfer the fish amongst the gallon tank and 5 gallon buckets allow the 20 gallon to dry and then transfer the fish back to the 20 gallon? Which of the fish I listed are sensitive to copper?
 
problem with the 5g buckets is you are going to need separate equipment for each as well. so you will need several heaters, etc... but in theory, yes that plan would work. i still think the 20g is going to be over crowded though. just monitor ammonia well.

could also consider doing 20g's for TTM for all. then transfer them all into a 30g? for 4-8 weeks, this is doable. again, like a broken record, just monitor ammonia well. add BioSpira in the 30g when starting it up. It is good to have all these tanks on-hand anyway for emergencies, so you aren't looking at a sunk cost.

the leopard wrasse will prefer sand also. if you give it sand, just use a Tupperware container and use NEW sand each time. dump it out and treat the container like any other piece of equipment, clean and dry 24+ hours, etc, before re-use.

wrasses can be sensitive to copper and as you mentioned the puffer. i have no experience with pipefish, but they are quite sensitive to a lot of things, so would worry. do a few searches with the fish type + copper to see if anyone has already chimed in on it.
 
watch carefully for any aggression during the period and separate at first notice. also watch for out-competing of food. this is what I am dealing with right now with Hawkfish.
 
Okay great thank you. I do have extra heaters and filters as well as airstones. SO I could do the 5 gallon buckets until the 20 gallon has dried. So maybe I will just try and stay away from copper for the most part. I have extra sand so I will put a tuber ware in withs and for the leopard wrasse and diamond goby.
 
sounds like you are well prepared! my preference is definitely TTM over copper or hypo. there are very distinct camps on this forum for each option though. I have tried all 3 and have had significantly greater fish-living success with TTM. so if you skip the copper idea all-together, I would for sure back that option!

you will also want to do PraziPro to ensure no Flukes come over with the fish. You can start that after TTM though unless you start seeing any obvious signs of an already existing infestation.

keep us updated!
 
Great thank you! I will the fish should be coming in tomorrow by 10 so I will post some pictures to help see if any of them have immediate concerns. Is there anyway that if all the fish look healthy after a week with no signs that they can be put into the DT. I absolutely don't want to go through ich again, I lost 3 fish to some disease 12 weeks ago.
 
Also I ordered all the fish as small as possible. The largest one will be the cleaner wrasse and pipefish at 2.5" the rest are 1" or smaller
 
zero chance that 1 week is enough. if you want an Ich-free environment, the discussion above is the only option. even if you don't visibly see the Ich (which by the way, when you can actually 'see' them, it is actually the exit wounds from adult parasites dropping off), the chances of none of the 8 fish having Ich is extraordinarily low. they may have a strong enough immune system to battle off a large infestation, but a handful will still be on them without irritating the fish enough to see them flash, etc.

there are other diseases/parasites you need to be concerned about also, especially Velvet, Brook, Flukes, etc, to name the big ones. These are unlikely to show their ugly faces for even up to a few weeks after you get the fish. 4 weeks of observation at minimum is recommended for this reason alone. each of those will wipe out all your live stock. I had a fish come in with Velvet recently, and thank god I had a strict QT regimen in place, so only he died.
 
thompson2224 said:
Also I ordered all the fish as small as possible. The largest one will be the cleaner wrasse and pipefish at 2.5" the rest are 1" or smaller
Click to expand...

oh yes, i meant to ask this earlier and got side tracked. but good to get them small. hopefully will stem off aggression and will keep bioload down.

fish under 1" may not make it purely out of bad luck, so don't get too discouraged if you lose a couple. would be the same result if you put them straight into DT, likely.
 
Okay I really hope I don't lose any but yeah I got them all small so that it would make the QT easier and I could hold them in the 20 and so that they wouldn't be aggressive. I also wanted the puffer small because Im hoping for it to be reef safe
 
I will try. Ive got lots of food around for him. What is the best way to limit deaths in the QT? Ive heard that Bluezoo and live aquaria typically send really healthy fish and then 2 I am getting from my LFS and have gone to look at them twice and they looked good.
 
good steps already. and have already covered off on the steps to give the highest success: watch ammonia, observe aggression, ensure everyone eats, watch for other diseases/parasite signs.
 
Okay thanks. Im hoping they're all healthy and the QT process goes smoothly. Ill post pictures tomorrow once I have them all in their place
 
no, not safe. just a gamble. either they don't have Ich or they do, and if they do then your DT will have it also. remembering that Ich is not visible to the human eye, I wouldn't even know where to start looking during an 'inspection'. some people will claim to watch for flashing, but if the amount of Ich on the fish isn't enough to make them flash, then that method/theory is out the window. and the white spots may not ever show themselves, especially from ich in the gills.

the single creature / wet-thing I have ever gambled on was an anemone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
plumbing
Replies
3
Views
124
wvned
wvned
padi200
Which salt and 4 more things!
2
Replies
30
Views
697
Billfishbrsin
B
P
50 Gallon Stocking Help
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Urka
U
beckya
for a 40 gallon breeder
Replies
2
Views
154
griss
griss
A
Single drain Overflow System for a 55 gallón tank
Replies
5
Views
498
wvned
wvned
Back
Top