Should I quarantine?

[Rot26]

I also look at it as risk:reward

I have about $100 invested in QT systems. I have hundreds, if not thousands worth of fish in my display. The last thing I want to do is have a $50 fish take out all of my livestock.

Exactly. He has $0 in fish currently and is buying a pair of clownfish. There is no risk to his current fish, since there are none.

For him, in the specific situation asked about in the OP, I would personally skip it, but if there were fish worth protecting, then totally quarantine.

 

[Nina51]

Exactly. He has $0 in fish currently and is buying a pair of clownfish. There is no risk to his current fish, since there are none.

For him, in the specific situation asked about in the OP, I would personally skip it, but if there were fish worth protecting, then totally quarantine.

you are missing the point entirely. the OP has a new tank that is currently fishless. he wants to buy 2 clown fish. the fish still need to be quarantined for the proper time/treatment (if any) so that when he does put them into his dt, he will not have to worry about them carrying a disease into his dt.

pretty simple.

 

[Deinonych]

I suggest you do some reading here. The problem is that treatments are somewhat disease or parasite specific. I suggest tank transfer to eliminate ich from the possibilities then observing for at least 4 weeks (especially if your LFS runs a low level of copper) to observe.

you are missing the point entirely. the OP has a new tank that is currently fishless. he wants to buy 2 clown fish. the fish still need to be quarantined for the proper time/treatment (if any) so that when he does put them into his dt, he will not have to worry about them carrying a disease into his dt.

pretty simple.

+1 on both of the above. Tank transfer is 100% effective against crypto (ich) if you follow the guidelines in the link Steve provided.

 

[Curt Boswelll]

Thanks everyone. I'll try the tank transfer method. If they have ich that is. I'm going to use everything Snorvich wrote as a guide for quarantining my fish!

Thanks a lot!

 

[Nina51]

good for you! fyi, i do tank transfer on every new fish. you don't need to wait to see IF a fish has ich. done right, the tt method is not terribly stressful and will eliminate every possibility of ich.

i have 2 ten gallon tanks i use for tt. they are exactly alike...bare bottom, pvc pieces of hidey holes, heater, air stone. when i do a transfer, the fish isn't out of water for more than 10 seconds, probably even less. when it goes into the next tank, i'm not so sure it even knows the difference! LOL

 

[Curt Boswelll]

good for you! fyi, i do tank transfer on every new fish. you don't need to wait to see IF a fish has ich. done right, the tt method is not terribly stressful and will eliminate every possibility of ich.

i have 2 ten gallon tanks i use for tt. they are exactly alike...bare bottom, pvc pieces of hidey holes, heater, air stone. when i do a transfer, the fish isn't out of water for more than 10 seconds, probably even less. when it goes into the next tank, i'm not so sure it even knows the difference! LOL

Lol! I only have one air pump and air stone. How do you suggest I clean this? Just bleach and water?

 

[Nina51]

you will want to use a new air stone and tubing with each transfer. i assume the pump will stay out of the water so cleaning it isn't necessary. one of the most important things about ttm is to make sure EVERYTHING (pvc pieces, heater, etc.) you put into the next tank is COMPLETELY dry (except the fish, of course!).

ich cannot live where there is no moisture so drying everything is critical.

 

[shesacharmer]

I got Ich in my DT because I was not listening to all the great advice I was being given. Having to displace all my corals and remove nearly 30 pieces of dripping live rock covered with creatures (what a mess) and then trying to catch all my fully stocked fish...only to commence Tank Transfer when I could have done tank transfer to begin with? So not worth it! Now I'm stuck keeping all of my fish in a 28 gallon bare bottom tank for 72 days while waiting for my DT to be Ich free. Keeping up with the water changes is a pain that I will feel for many days to come although my new aquascape actually looks better than the old...again...not worth it! Just quarantine the fish and be done with it.

 

[Curt Boswelll]

you will want to use a new air stone and tubing with each transfer. i assume the pump will stay out of the water so cleaning it isn't necessary. one of the most important things about ttm is to make sure EVERYTHING (pvc pieces, heater, etc.) you put into the next tank is COMPLETELY dry (except the fish, of course!).

ich cannot live where there is no moisture so drying everything is critical.

How long should I wait after everything is dry to put it in the next tank?

 

[Deinonych]

How long should I wait after everything is dry to put it in the next tank?

24 hours after everything has completely dried will kill any parasites/cysts.

 

[Tvarr]

This is a great thread for newbies like me. This may be a silly question but what air stones do you guys use in your QTs during the tank transfers?

 

[Curt Boswelll]

What about keeping small amounts of chaeto in the QT to keep nitrates downs? Would this help at all?

One other thing, could I keep a plain kitchen scrubber in my sump for a couple weeks to grow bacteria so I have it for my QT? Will this be safe? What should I look for to make sure it is safe?

 

[DDon]

This is a great thread for newbies like me. This may be a silly question but what air stones do you guys use in your QTs during the tank transfers?

Sorry this wasn't answered before.
I just use whatever cheap ones I find at the local stores. Doesn't need to be anything special since I'm throwing them away after 3 days use.

 

[muttley000]

To do that I would basically dip them in fresh ro/di water? Is that safe for the fish?

I didn't see that this question was ever addressed. Freshwater baths must be PH adjusted, if you just use some fresh RODI which usually has a very low PH it will be likely a very bad result! I use freshwater dips often on the way into QT, and use baking soda to get the ph where I want it.

 

[Curt Boswelll]

I didn't see that this question was ever addressed. Freshwater baths must be PH adjusted, if you just use some fresh RODI which usually has a very low PH it will be likely a very bad result! I use freshwater dips often on the way into QT, and use baking soda to get the ph where I want it.

So just bring the ph up to 8.2? How much baking soda do you suggest per gallon?

 

[dkeller_nc]

What about keeping small amounts of chaeto in the QT to keep nitrates downs? Would this help at all?

One other thing, could I keep a plain kitchen scrubber in my sump for a couple weeks to grow bacteria so I have it for my QT? Will this be safe? What should I look for to make sure it is safe?

If you're going to use the TT method to eliminate the possibility of ich, the only way you could use the chaeto would be to have a good bit of it growing elsewhere (a tank, bucket, etc...), since you'll be killing the chaeto in the QT in use each time you change tanks.

And no, definitely, absolutely don't use a kitchen sponge as a substrate for nitrogen cycle bacteria. Many of them contain slow-release antibacterial compounds that could be quite toxic to your fish.

If you wish to use a seeded sponge filter to control ammonia levels during QT in a bare-bottom tank, you could purchase a handful of these. You would need to run 5-6 of them in a 5 gal bucket of saltwater for a couple of weeks with either a dose of bottled denitrification bacteria, or with a piece or two of live rock from a system that is known to be ich-free.

I don't personally use TT, I use hyposalinity in a QT with an established biological filter. But as I understand it, most that use TT don't bother with denitrification since the all of the water will be discarded every 4 days. With careful control of feeding and ratio of size/number of fish to the size of the QT, ammonia build-up should be manageable.

 

[Curt Boswelll]

Okay. So I don't really need a filter. Thanks.

 

[muttley000]

So just bring the ph up to 8.2? How much baking soda do you suggest per gallon?

Depends on many things assuming the trip from the LFS is short and the ph doesn't drop in the bag too far, I would just split the bag water PH and the qt water PH. If there is more than a couple tenths of a point difference I lower my qt PH so I can slowly bring it up. There are many opinions on this, so best to read up and decide for yourself.

 

[kentwo]

I have ich in my DT, but after a few white spots during the first few days, my fish are doing well and have been living with it for a while now. But, if I was starting over I would try using a QT. For me, having the space and effort in maintaining two tanks were reasons for me not using one to begin with. Also, my fish are all free straight from the ocean, so I did not have as much monetary pressure as some did to avoid disease in my tank. But if I were spending a lot of money on the livestock, I'd do things slowly and set up a QT.