Quarantine Setup Ideas

[nuxx]

Hey everyone... seems like I'm spinning in circles with my quarantine setups...

For the last few years I've don't he following:
- 40 Gallon breeder with a little bit of live rock, HOB Skimmer, HOB Filter, powerhead and heater. Then monitor the fish and treat 3 times with PraziPro. Never had ich, velvet, brook, etc.. pop up. Never lost a fish.

I had some spots pop up on my YB Blue Tang I've had for 3 years. I had never seen spots on him until I moved him to the new big tank with more stress (i.e. more tangs).

That tank is now in the final days of 6 weeks of hypo. Lost two tangs in that period due to aggression. Have been fine for months before hypo. Guessing lowered feeding and algae die off caused it.

Now after all the effort of hypoing the DT (650 +/- gallons and 550 gallons of RODI changed out), I'm looking to really step my quarantine game up...

I got the following fish in Large Lineatus Wrasse, Large Common Cleaner Wrasse and 5 Female Lyretail Anthias.

My idea was to try the tank transfer method with 2 20 gallon longs, then go to a 40 gallon breeder for prazi, observation, etc...

After three transfers the fish look horrible minus 3 Anthias. When the fish first went in, everything was fine and they were active. After each transfer they would basically become catatonic, then on day 3 they'd be fine again. After 3 transfers they are just almost on death's door.

Parameters look good, and tanks are close in all readings.

I just feel this method is too stressful on the fish now...

So now I'm looking for a new means of quarantine...

The known quarantine methods:
- Observation plus preventative meds (Prazi) = Easy on the fish, but has a high chance of letting something through.

- Tank Transfer Method = Stressful on the fish with all the moves and new tanks. Also high chance of ammonia causing damage.

- Hyposalinity = Easier on fish. Hard to do correctly on smaller tanks and some strains of ich will not be killed by it.

- Copper/Cupramine = Can be hard on certain fish (Wrasse, Puffers, Angels). Treats other diseases besides ich.

Here's what I'm thinking now...

- Setup a "permanent" 40 gallon breeder quarantine system.
- Use a large HOB Filter, HOB Skimmer, Two Powerheads, Airstone and Heater.
- Use nitrifying bacteria and as many MarinePure Ceramic Biomedia in the HOB as I can to keep the biological filtration up.
- Put filter pads in output of HOB Skimmer and HOB Filter.
- I've read that Cupramine will not kill off biological filtration, so the seeded MarinePure Ceramic Biomedia should be an excellent substitute for live rock.

When new fish come in, let them get used to the tank and me. Get them eating and slowly dose Cupramine after a week or so. Bring up the Cupramine slowly and run for 3 to 4 weeks.

Then run 3 treatments of prazi after the Cupramine is over.

Watch for a few more weeks and then into the DT.

Some questions:
- Does this sound like a good method?
- What's the best way to remove the Cupramine after the 3 to 4 weeks of treatment.
- For sensitive fish like Wrasses, what's the lowest effective level of Cupramine? .35, .4 ppm?

Thanks guys

 

[wooden_reefer]

LR is not a good medium in QT.

LR has balance of nitrification and denitrification, but for QT a medium that excels at nitrification is better.

LR is also too bulky and hard to remove from QT, if ever a drug that harms nitrification bacteria has to be used.

When I don't mind calcerous material, I use crushed coral bagged in well-stretched nylon. This needs to be placed into the chamber of a power filter.

 

[nuxx]

LR is not a good medium in QT...

Sure thanks, just what I've used in the past. Never had any serious disease pop up.

After seeing spots in my DT, I've decided I needed to be more aggressive.

Right now TTM is not working well with me/my fish.

 

[wooden_reefer]

It is a good idea to maintain highly active nitrification medium in little space for extended period. LR is not good at this.

This is not critical at once but is a long term factor in terms of ease and efficiency of QT.

 

[nuxx]

It is a good idea to maintain highly active nitrification medium in little space for extended period...

Sort of what I was thinking with the MarinePure Ceramic media. I was able to get 240 SQFT of media in the HOB filter.

Now if Cupramine doesn't kill off the bacteria, wouldn't this be a great way to maintain good parameters in QT?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=27933

The amount I bought says treats up to 250 gallons. So having all that in a 40 gallon breeder should do a pretty good job...

 

[wooden_reefer]

"I've read that Cupramine will not kill off biological filtration, so the seeded MarinePure Ceramic Biomedia should be an excellent substitute for live rock."

Copper to treat ich in fish does not harm nitrification to any significant extent.

Cheleated copper is more stable but UV can break the cheleation.

I view UV as necessary against potential external bacterial infection esp during the first six or so weeks, so I do not use cheleated copper at least during this time. I use straight copper.

You do not need to buy any artifical medium for nitrification bacteria. Nitrification is very easy and simple. Crushed coral in sacks of well-stretched nylon works very well. Or if you don't want calcerous material (both cc and LR are calcerous), you can use a large sponge.