Quarantine Tank Question

F

FunkeFish

New member
After losing almost all of my fish to Ich, I am setting up a quarantine tank. One fish survived and is in a hospital tank doing well.

My question is if I can set up a quarantine tank now and get a couple fish in it while I am letting my display tank sit fallow for 76 days.

I have an AquaClear filter and read that you are supposed to let the foam insert part of it sit in your display tank for a month to build up the proper bacteria. The problem is, my display tank had Ich so do I have to wait until the 76 days are over, then put the foam insert in the display tank for a month, then start to quarantine?

Any feedback is appreciated.
 
Going through this same issue now. You need to pull all the fish out of the DT and the sooner the better since the 78 days won't start until you do. As for the filter, it's best to have some sort of media (sponge, matrix, etc) that's already need seeded and has the bacteria. I keep a bag in my sump. Otherwise your QT tank will "œcycle" and the fish will not only be stressed by the ich and treatment but also the high levels of amonia/nitrite/nitrate as the cycle goes through. If you don't have that, maybe see if your LFS could help.

I have never used the transfer system but many say it works. I treated with copper and they all pulled through. I'm at day 63 of the fallow tank, looking forward to releasing them back in.


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What is the "transfer method" everyone keeps talking about? Thanks for the tip on the LFS helping out. Never thought of that.
 
Basically moving the fish to different tanks after 7-10 days. The idea being that when the ich on the fish gets to a point it drops off. So the idea is that after such period you move fish and leave the ich in the other one. Much more detail available on actual process. There is a great write up I think on another site that details the life cycle of marine ich. Walks you through the 4 stages so you better understand the process. Google "œmarine ich life cycle".

But with transfer, you need 2 tanks. The benefit is you then don't use copper which can be harmful to fish or at minimum stresses them out.

I just prefer copper because from what I've read it's a solid method to
Kill it. I would be afraid of the transfer method that something would stick and given its microscopic you wouldn't know. . But I don't see too many negative experiences online so it must work.


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FunkeFish said:
My question is if I can set up a quarantine tank now and get a couple fish in it while I am letting my display tank sit fallow for 76 days.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can set up a QT while your display remains fallow (fishless). You do NOT want any water, media, sponge, or whatever from you display to get into your QT tank. That would transfer ich. You also DO NOT want anything from your LFS in there either, as fish stores are petri dishes of disease.

A lot of folks don't keep a QT cycled. They just set it up as needed. You can either deal with with ammonia via water changes or Prime. You can't, however, use ammonia neutralizing chemicals (Prime) while using copper.

How are you treating for ich?
 
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2388428

This is the right way to perform TTM.

If your going to do this then you need to set up a Qt tank or (several) before hand and big enough to house all of your fish.

I used 2- 10 gallon tanks for TTM, the fish will be transferred every 72 hours from one tank to the next. Clean the dirty tank with bleach, rinse clean,dry and let sit dry for 24 hours or more. Always use freshly made water. Its best to do 1 fish at a time but I have done 2 clowns at once.

Never put your hands or any tools in the display tank then into the Qt. If possible try to set up the Qt tank and TTM tanks in a different room. Your going to need 2 heaters and small power heads for each tank which will need to be cleaned as well. A piece of pvc pipe will give them something to hide in or behind.

I used a 75 gallon tank that I already had for my Qt that I set up and cycled with new dry rock. Add a heater and couple of power heads and it worked just fine for the fallow period.

Hope this helps and good luck.
 
Last edited:
mike550 said:
Why can't you start your QT with new saltwater and use Fritz turbostart or something similar?
Click to expand...

You can but I've never noticed much of a time differential, still takes a solid month or so to cycle. I use the ol' school 'toss in a piece of shrimp' method, btw.
 
64Ivy said:
You can but I've never noticed much of a time differential, still takes a solid month or so to cycle. I use the ol' school 'toss in a piece of shrimp' method, btw.
Click to expand...

This is how I still do it as well. Toss in a piece of raw shrimp and wait.
 
mike550 said:
Why can't you start your QT with new saltwater and use Fritz turbostart or something similar?
Click to expand...

Use Startsmart by TLC products. It cycles tanks instantly, I setup my 625g with it and countless QT tanks. Stuff is the real deal. If you decide try it I have a discount code for 20% off
 
Marine Velvet in dt

Marine Velvet in dt

I have marine velvet in my 55 gallon dt tank. I have the fish (2 ocerellis clowns and a blue spotted puffer) in quarantine and treating with copper. Bristle Nose tang and a Bengei Cardinal died. This is the second time. When I first set up this tank I had not quarantined the fish and marine velvet came in on one of them. All the fish died. (5 of them). I have one anemone and several corals in the tank. I left the tank fish-less for 6 1/2 weeks while quarantining new fish. Within 3 weeks of adding the new fish, the velvet showed up again. I am wondering if I quarantine the corals and anemone and put "fresh" water in the tank (hypo salinity process), will this kill the marine velvet? And how long do I run the tank this way? I have two tanks. One I have had for 5 years. The one with velvet is a new tank I have set up at my children's school this year. It is a private school and we have been doing fresh water for several years. I inherited this tank from somebody else who could no longer manage it. The kids have wanted more colorful fish and since I am more familiar with salt water, I decided to change to a saltwater tank. I am not worried about the tank having to re-cycle again. That if fine. I just want to kill this velvet because this has been a real pain, especially when the tank is not even at my house. The quarantine tank is at my house. I would appreciate any advice on this matter.
 
micki3 said:
I have marine velvet in my 55 gallon dt tank. I have the fish (2 ocerellis clowns and a blue spotted puffer) in quarantine and treating with copper. Bristle Nose tang and a Bengei Cardinal died. This is the second time. When I first set up this tank I had not quarantined the fish and marine velvet came in on one of them. All the fish died. (5 of them). I have one anemone and several corals in the tank. I left the tank fish-less for 6 1/2 weeks while quarantining new fish. Within 3 weeks of adding the new fish, the velvet showed up again. I am wondering if I quarantine the corals and anemone and put "fresh" water in the tank (hypo salinity process), will this kill the marine velvet? And how long do I run the tank this way? I have two tanks. One I have had for 5 years. The one with velvet is a new tank I have set up at my children's school this year. It is a private school and we have been doing fresh water for several years. I inherited this tank from somebody else who could no longer manage it. The kids have wanted more colorful fish and since I am more familiar with salt water, I decided to change to a saltwater tank. I am not worried about the tank having to re-cycle again. That if fine. I just want to kill this velvet because this has been a real pain, especially when the tank is not even at my house. The quarantine tank is at my house. I would appreciate any advice on this matter.
Click to expand...

There is at least one study which demonstrated that Velvet can survive (and even reproduce) in a FW environment for a time. So, I wouldn't bank on that working.

If you don't want to go fallow again, this would be the fastest way to sterilize + reseed your DT:

  1. Dose 100ppm chlorine as per this guide: https://dec.vermont.gov/sites/dec/files/dwgwp/DW/chlorinedosageemergencydisinfection.pdf
  2. Circulate well for 48 hours, and then use sodium thiosulfate to neutralize the chlorine in the water. Most pool places sell a product called Chlor Out which contains sodium thiosulfate and is safe to use. You can use this website to determine how much sodium thiosulfate to dose: https://www.edspumps.com/water-treatment/documents/Antichlorination.pdf
  3. After you are all finished, your alkalinity might need to be raised. If so, use baking soda as per this calculator: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
  4. Dose nitrifying bacteria to reseed the DT.
The fish that were exposed to velvet will obviously still need to be treated, and any corals/inverts/rock taken from the infected aquarium should be housed in a fishless environment for at least 6 weeks.
 
Marine Velvet in dt

Marine Velvet in dt

Thank you for the info Humblefish! Can I do this chlorine treatment with the rock and sand still in the tank? I did do a bleach bath with the rock before I started the tank, but I'm more worried about the sand bed absorbing the chlorine deep down and it not getting neutralized. The 3 fish that survived are being treated and are doing very well. The corals will be put into quarantine if I decide to go this route also. The reason I am looking for an easier fix to this is because I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder and cannot remove all the water and tear this tank apart right now and start from scratch. No telling how long I am going to be suffering with this. I would just drain all the water, get new sand and rock (I already have in storage) and start over again with all quarantined sea critters. I'm in too much pain for that kind of work. I could just keep it a reef tank for the rest of the school year and add fish next September....that would be 9 months as a fallow tank, but I have 3 fish who are recovering from this who will need a "normal" home to go into in a month. I don't think my Golden Nugget clown would accept the other two clowns. He is huge and he is a bully!
 
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