Quarantine System a must?

[fishy408]

When I first started a few years back, I always thought that I can sneak around the idea of having a quarantine system for fish and corals. Always thought a careful eye and a dipping method would do the trick, but I guess that was not enough.

 

[max_nano]

I don’t know of a place for coral that claims to have pest free coral, but I recently tried out Dr. Reef who quarantines fish and inverts.

I had a nice experience, after placing the order he called and chatted with me about my selection and even proposed an alternative to try. Then I got a text when it was ready and picked my arrival day. After receiving the fish I got check in texts the next few days to ensure the transition went well.

Home - Quarantined Fish

About Us WELCOME TO DR. REEF We specialize in quarantined fish. All orders are by request. We may have a

drreefsquarantinedfish.com

 

[Srt4eric]

I don’t know of a place for coral that claims to have pest free coral, but I recently tried out Dr. Reef who quarantines fish and inverts.

I had a nice experience, after placing the order he called and chatted with me about my selection and even proposed an alternative to try. Then I got a text when it was ready and picked my arrival day. After receiving the fish I got check in texts the next few days to ensure the transition went well.

Home - Quarantined Fish

About Us WELCOME TO DR. REEF We specialize in quarantined fish. All orders are by request. We may have a

drreefsquarantinedfish.com

I've been thinking of buying some fish off him

 

[rygh]

There is an alternative.
Use the bucket-tank-tranfer-method.
Like a QT system, but temporary, just a couple of buckets.
Very effective against ich, which is the most common problem.
Allows observation time for other diseases.

 

[newfly]

I have very good experience with fish qt. I went with the 30-days copper route. Have not lost a fish if you exclude 1 carper surfer ( chromis). The fishes that have gone through qt include chromis, azure, clowns, neon dottyback and purple tang (14 days only). Have to cut short the purple qt short due to hlle . I figure some qt is better than none.

Qt coral especially sps is a different story. I find it very difficult for newbie like me. LPS and zoas are doing suprisingly well.

 

[Wlachnit]

I completely agree that fish QT is not that difficult espe...and the risk/reward is heavily skewed towards reward.

 

[TurboReef]

There is an alternative.
Use the bucket-tank-tranfer-method.
Like a QT system, but temporary, just a couple of buckets.
Very effective against ich, which is the most common problem.
Allows observation time for other diseases.

can you share how you would
Set this up? Things like how
Many buckets do I need? Heaters inassume
Required per bucket? What are the contents of each bucket? How long does the fish stay in each bucket? Things like that.

 

[rygh]

can you share how you would
Set this up? Things like how
Many buckets do I need? Heaters inassume
Required per bucket? What are the contents of each bucket? How long does the fish stay in each bucket? Things like that.

Could not find the original writup but here is an excerpt.
https://www.reef2rainforest.com/2017/02/10/bucket-transfer-qt-method/

 

[rygh]

Some notes:

Use salt water from your main tank to put in the buckets.
Replace that with fresh salt water poured in your main tank.
That way salinity/etc is all very stable on each change.

Practice first with no fish and a couple buckets.
In particular, with heaters. It is easy to get that wrong, since the setting on the heater can be pretty inaccurate.

I change buckets every 2 days.
That way no issues with ammonia or chemical drift.

On the second or third transfer, that is a good time to medicate if you want to.
Like for flukes.
Fish usually acclimated and fairly happy by then.

 

[Vincerama2]

I single molecule of Aiptasia can infest your entire tank.

 

[fishy408]

Thanks for all the comments/advice. I'll be researching some quarantine procedures and equipment for both fish and corals while my tank is starting up.

 

[CaseyP]

Admittedly I've taken a relaxed approach and not quarantining, but I made an effort to only buy fish that have been at the shop for at least 2 weeks. I never buy them on a whim, always come back later to see if they're still fat, active, and free of visible parasites. Once I got up to a decent population of fish of considerable value, my risk tolerance went down and only buy quarantined fish now instead of doing it on my own. Bay Bridge Aquarium in Oakland can do custom orders and do at least a 5-week quarantine by request. It costs a bit more but it's a cost I'm willing to pay.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

If you can...
Do it
Regardless of store
Longer is better

I also suggest a small system with 30%-50% daily water changes

 

[TurboReef]

Admittedly I've taken a relaxed approach and not quarantining, but I made an effort to only buy fish that have been at the shop for at least 2 weeks. I never buy them on a whim, always come back later to see if they're still fat, active, and free of visible parasites. Once I got up to a decent population of fish of considerable value, my risk tolerance went down and only buy quarantined fish now instead of doing it on my own. Bay Bridge Aquarium in Oakland can do custom orders and do at least a 5-week quarantine by request. It costs a bit more but it's a cost I'm willing to pay.

I put a hippo tang in my tank from aquatic collection. It wasn’t even 24 hours and it died. Also my sail fin tang yellow tang died as well.

These were fish that I was told were quarantined. We will never know if this is the cause but it seems coincidental.

So now after this expensive lesson I bought a 10 gallon breeder tank for quarantine.

 

[newfly]

Its all about the risk you're willing to take. QT fish is the easy part. In theory, we should QT everything wet including CUC, corals, etc. This is hard part. You're leaving the door wide open if you just QT fish.

I'm done with fish QT for now. Not planning to add anymore fish

QT 1 is currently holding 10+ coral frags and a cleaner shrimp.
QT 2 for snails

I don't have any snails in the DT, and i'm fighting the ugly stage now. Urg... Tempted to just throw the snails in the DT, but then months of work on fish qt will go down the drain

I'm pretty happy with Fluval 13.5 as a QT system. Just need a heater and you're all set. Often it will go on sale and i pick mine up for <$100.

 

[Afropenguin]

I put a hippo tang in my tank from aquatic collection. It wasn’t even 24 hours and it died. Also my sail fin tang yellow tang died as well.

These were fish that I was told were quarantined. We will never know if this is the cause but it seems coincidental.

View attachment 26273

So now after this expensive lesson I bought a 10 gallon breeder tank for quarantine.

bruh.

 

[fishy408]

I put a hippo tang in my tank from aquatic collection. It wasn’t even 24 hours and it died. Also my sail fin tang yellow tang died as well.

These were fish that I was told were quarantined. We will never know if this is the cause but it seems coincidental.

View attachment 26273

So now after this expensive lesson I bought a 10 gallon breeder tank for quarantine.

ouch.... :-(

 

[fishy408]

Its all about the risk you're willing to take. QT fish is the easy part. In theory, we should QT everything wet including CUC, corals, etc. This is hard part. You're leaving the door wide open if you just QT fish.

I'm done with fish QT for now. Not planning to add anymore fish

QT 1 is currently holding 10+ coral frags and a cleaner shrimp.
QT 2 for snails

I don't have any snails in the DT, and i'm fighting the ugly stage now. Urg... Tempted to just throw the snails in the DT, but then months of work on fish qt will go down the drain

I'm pretty happy with Fluval 13.5 as a QT system. Just need a heater and you're all set. Often it will go on sale and i pick mine up for <$100.

Would it be possible to do this with one QT. Say for example rotating the purpose. At one instance do fish and at another time do corals. I understand that it would take longer while waiting for one instance to complete. I'm planning on convincing the wife for one QT system in the house, two probably wouldn't fly.

 

[The_Lazy_Reefer]

I put a hippo tang in my tank from aquatic collection. It wasn’t even 24 hours and it died. Also my sail fin tang yellow tang died as well.

These were fish that I was told were quarantined. We will never know if this is the cause but it seems coincidental.

View attachment 26273

So now after this expensive lesson I bought a 10 gallon breeder tank for quarantine.

I’m fairly confident no amount of quarantine would have led to those fish not dying so don’t take this as a chance to do it all over again except with a quarantine as that was not your issue imo.

 

[newfly]

Would it be possible to do this with one QT. Say for example rotating the purpose. At one instance do fish and at another time do corals. I understand that it would take longer while waiting for one instance to complete. I'm planning on convincing the wife for one QT system in the house, two probably wouldn't fly.
absolutely. I started with 1 tank, cycle through my fish qt in multiple batch. Then repurpose the same setup for Coral qt. It takes a while since I was doing 30days copper for fish, and the tank is too small to have all the fish at one time.
Took me about 3 months to cycle through the fish qt.

invert and coral need about 45 days (ideally 72 but who have patient, haha) since we can’t add medication.