Quarantine /water parameters for a QT

[moondoggy4]

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[Holyhands22]

This thread has been awesome and so helpful. So let me ask this i understand when you guys say that everything needs quarantine and i absolutely agree with that. But what I'm trying to figure out is why use these dangerous chemicals. Its kind of like the flu shot. They give you the flu so you don't get it but your going to get the flu if they keep injecting you with it. So why put your fish under this stressful environment of dosing with harmful chemicals when it may not be necessary. Why not just put in qt for observation and then see if it gets sick or if they have ick. Wouldn't a stressful environment be the opposite of what your trying to do. Thats why i asked about hypo salinity and i know some kinds of disease can survive in suck low salinity but if the fish has the sickness the. I would treat for it. So here is where my confusion and starting for this thread. I guess i just have to get a sick fish and then i will understand why

 

[Holyhands22]

Reading along

Any suggestions or experience you have is quite welcomed and would be appreciated.

 

[plasmacon]

Using the canine as an example, I'm not going to wait until the animal gets sick, rabbies or parvo. Typically once an animal contracts the diseease, it's too late. Then, your other animals start showing signs of the disease.

You will eventually have a situation where your tank is kicking butt. Looking great, lionfish, puffer fish, grouper, larger beautiful angelfish. You've spent $350 so far.... Then you see this great looking tang you think is big enough to be in the tank. A week later, the only thing left alive is an upside down puffer that isn't going to make it. How many times will you let this happen before you start a quarantine procedure.

Most people don't show strong signs or symptoms of Mononucleosis and it spreads to the point where a small outbreak has occurred in a local population. It's a disease that can damage the body and spread before its detected.

Cupramine for fish doesn't damage their organs or shorten their lifespan remarkably. Some of my fish that are only supposed to make it 2.5 years made it to 4 years, and they only got hit with copper once. It's your call but I believe and many others believe that it is possible to have an ich free system. Don't take my word for it, just follow the SOP above and see for yourself.

 

[Holyhands22]

I hear and appreciate everyone's input I think the biggest thing is that I don't want sick fish but I don't want to put them in jeopardy for getting sick because I'm trying to prevent them from being sick. I guess that's why it is a debated issue. I'm definitely going to do QT and I think that fish that are more susceptible to ick like tangs. I will dose with copper. I think all other fish will just get hypo salinity and I will see how that works. I think this is the best solution I know some people won't agree but I think this is the best after all. We have to be sensitive to the fish after all we are taking them from there habitat and trying to fit them into our living rooms.

 

[Chappy]

QT is an absolute must in this hobby. Especially when your fish stock in one tank costs $500.00 or more. Some people, including myself take it much more seriously than a hobby, and for some it's their occupation. I've haven't seen one LFS ever that hasn't had at least one sick, dying, or dead fish when I arrived.

My fish setup starts off with a 20L which fits most fishes needs for a couple of months. For a biofilter, I use a 2 RODI canisters filled with bio balls or other high surface area plastic media. I can add/remove activated carbon as needed. Basic lighting and heater. If the tank has been offline for a while, I add ammonium hydroxide to water to make a 10% ammonia and water solution to add to the tank to jack the bacterial load up for fish. Basic household ammonia will work fine as long as its free of soaps, scents, and color. You would be surprised how toxic a couple of drops of ammonia can be in a 20L tank. I put a foam intake filter on the biofilter. The foam filter has been in my sump for a while to provide the starter culture.

I also add a couple of ceramic decorations that won't absorb any chemicals you add to the system. They provide hiding spots for your fish.

As someone said earlier, I use cupramine prophoactically to make sure ich doesn't make it to any displays. If you have copper sensitive fish, use only 3/4 of the full dose, and take twice the time to raise the level to 3/4 strength. I run lower strengths for longer as well, 3 weeks if everyone is doing well. If you have to do an emergency water change. Just add the proper amount of cupramine to the make up water and then do your water change. Test kits are good tools, use them.

After the cupramine, I do a 50% water change and add activated carbon to my BRS dual canisters, and leave that for 3 days. Remove the carbon, then I hit them with prazipro, for the recommended duration, or a little long depending on the need. I do another water change, and carbon, they rest again for a few days and then the head to the display.

I typically feed frozen enriched foods to keep their appetites up, and no treatment happens until they are eating. Unless special circumstances apply. I always remove the excess food with a brine shrimp net.

This setup has worked for me for years, and I can honestly say, I haven't had an ich outbreak in any display tanks since 1997. It is tedious, but very successful. Some fish require different approaches, and the setup is for the majority of fish the can handle at least 3/4 doses of cupramine.

Some people say that prophoactic treatments aren't necessary, and possibly harmful. My argument to that statement is simple. In the united states, it is against the law to skip prophoactic treatments for our pets for communicable and deadly diseases. I see cryptocaryon irritans as it is, a disease that spreads to our other pets and quite possibly will kill them. I see no differences between canine rabies, distemper, parvo, or crono viruses as examples. Not all pet diseases are communicable to humans, but for the safety of our pet populations at large, they are treated. Fish are the same way. They get treated for the well being of the population as a whole. If our fish could climb out of our systems and get the neighborhood fish sick or dead on their own, you can bet your salary that laws would be past to destroy these disease before they have a chance to do damage.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info...everyone should read this.