Qt before transfer?

[Ericwm]

I am working through the details of my tank transfer and am thinking I want to treat my fish in a qt before moving them to my 90 gal reef. I will be moving a midas blenny and two clowns. I am thinking I may want to transfer all 3 to my 20gal qt and treat with either copper or hypo while my new tank cycles. Would a month or so at hypo be sufficient to ensure I don't move ick to my new tank, I don't think I have it now but don't want to risk it as I would like a kole tang and would rather not have to pull all of my fish from a 90 to treat them later. Is hypo less maintenance than copper since I can use some established LR for biological filtration? A this just going to expose my fish to unnecessary risk or does it sound like a good idea?

Thanks,

 

[tonedogz]

You have these fish already in another tank and if so how long have you had them

 

[Ingy]

Fundamental difference between a Quarantine Tank and a Hospital tank, is one is for observation, the other for treatment. Consider your current tank as the QT tank and the 20G as the HT. But, if your're concerned that you may have missed Ick in the QT (I guess thats possible) and want to treat, the LR will not only NOT help, it will hinder Hyposalinity. As much of the BB die on the rocks during hypo, they will add to the ammonia spikes you will see.
Simply use a bare bottom tank with a few pieces of PVC pipe for hidey holes. Watch for ammonia spikes and PWC as required to keep that in check. Ammo lock can be used I've heard to lessen the effects of ammonia.

 

[Ericwm]

Thanks, I have a lot to learn as far as the whole qt and hospital tank aspect of this hobby goes. I just added my fish directly to my 29 and didn't worry much. I have had all of my fish for at least 6 months. I suppose I would know by now. My only concern is that they are all rather hardy and my carry ick and not show it. Would I know by now? I do suppose you are right in that I have far exceeded any normal qt session that a fish usually goes through before entering a dt, would they have shown a disease by now even it they weren't stressed? I may just cycle my new tank and make the transfer. I guess from what I read unless I move my rock and coral to the new tank and let it go fish less for 6 weeks I could potentially bring something over without a host. I don't think I have that kind of patience.

This brings up a new question. Is it better to treat all new fish with a hospital tank or just observe them in a qt? My guess is this answer may be split between two points of view.

 

[Ericwm]

I am still trying to decide if I want to treat my fish with hypo before transferring them to my 90. One main concern is a small white spot on my black clown. It is hard to see in general and even harder in this pic. It is on the black bar behind the middle white bar.

Is this any cause for concern or would I know if I had ick in my tank?

 

[Hondatek]

I treat all fish with 4 -6 weeks of hypo before they go in the display. Hypo will not kill bacteria in the rock but make it go into a dormant state . Doing a pwc with freshly mixed sw at your hyposalinity will wake it up if you experience ammo or trite spike. If you have pods ,bristle worms or anything like that in your lr that will affect things more once they start dying in hypo which is why lr should be avoided in a hypo tank.

 

[Ericwm]

Ok, I finally got a descent picture...

Whatever it is I don't want it in my 90.

Here is my plan, please correct me on any little detail.

Week 1.
Fill my new 90 gallon with water and add half of the live rock from my 29. I will replace that rock with dry rock.

Move all fish( coral beauty, midas blenny and 2 clowns) into my 20 high hospital tank and begin lowering salinity to 1.009 over two or 3 days.

Move some of my hermit crabs to the 90 to keep a small ammonia source for the bacteria on my established rock.

Week 2-4.
Treat all fish with hypo.

Week 5.
Begin raising salinity over the course of 2 weeks.

End of week 6.
Treat all coral with coral RX dip and transfer to 90 gallon.

Week 7.
Move the coral beauty back to my 29 (fowlr) and the 2 clowns to the 90 (reef).

Week 8.
Move my shrimp to the 90 from the 29 and my midas from HT to my 90.

After that I can get some new fish in my QT and start it all over.

Does that sound like it will work?

 

[Ingy]

So your 29 and 90 will both be fallow for 7 weeks - Good. Moving inverts between display tanks shouldn't be a concern even if they can physically carry ick cycsts between the tank (as can the rocks you move about) because there is still no fish hosts for the larval and adult stage.
Changing salinity - recommended (everything I've read anyhoo) rate of change, up or down, is 0.003 per day. Slower is fine, faster can be extra stressful. so 5 days to/from 1.009 and 1.025.

Good luck.

 

[Ingy]

WC Calculator

Here's a website I use for all my salinity calulations. It has a great water change schedule calculator designed for lowering SG from a deternined point to a new level. You can adjust everything from tank volume to water change volume.
For a 20 gal tank at 1.025, changing 2 gals per day with RODI water will take 8 days to lower the SG to 1.009. But using 3 gals per day can do it in 6 days I think. But the first couple days will need some salt added so you don't go too fast. It's a wonderful calculator. Fiddling with the rate one would find 2 days at 2.5 gal/day and the rest at 3 gal/day should not require additional salt added to the changed water (money saving).

Target Salinity Calculator

I have even used the top off calculator to tweak (up) my DT salinity by adding a bit of salt to the ATO resevoir. Goochy.

 

[Ericwm]

One more thing with inverts. I really want a pistol shrimp goby pair. I will probably get that as my first new addition to the tank. I will treat my fish but what should I do about the shrimp, I know it can't go in hypo. I could add it to the 90 before I let it go fallow and that would remove all risk for ich but I would be worried about a shrimp in a tank that is mostly not established. I think if I add it to my 29 I will never get it out. What should I do?

 

[Ingy]

Inverts can only carry the ick in the cycst stage, the same as sand. It would be possible if an egg landed on their shell and hardened there. After a couple weeks, when the cycst pops and the larva emerges looking for a host, the shrimp won't suffice and it will die. Putting it in the 90 during the fallow stage, preferrably early in the fallow period, will work.

 

[Ericwm]

It is now near the time to decide if I am going to treat my fish with hypo before I transfer them. Part of me thinks it is a waste of effort since I have had all of my fish for around 8 months. Should I have any reason to treat them? I think I may just be paranoid. I will be treating all new fish but should I consider my current fish to be healthy and not be carrying any disease?

Thanks,

 

[tonedogz]

Why would you treat fish that aren't sick. Just treat any new additions

 

[Bray84]

It is now near the time to decide if I am going to treat my fish with hypo before I transfer them. Part of me thinks it is a waste of effort since I have had all of my fish for around 8 months. Should I have any reason to treat them? I think I may just be paranoid. I will be treating all new fish but should I consider my current fish to be healthy and not be carrying any disease? Thanks,

well there's always a risk, I've had my fish for nearly 18 month and never qt and they started to show signs of ich not that long ago and going through hypo now, some are lucky and some ain't so lucky

 

[Ericwm]

well there's always a risk, I've had my fish for nearly 18 month and never qt and they started to show signs of ich not that long ago and going through hypo now, some are lucky and some ain't so lucky

Thank you for replying, that is the exact situation I was looking for. I will be treating with hypo-salinity. I plan on adding a cole tang and know if ich is there it will show. Then I won't be paranoid either.

Thanks again,

 

[Ericwm]

I am still struggling at making up my mind on this, i have been back and forth on this all month. A lot of people seem to quarantine new fish and not treat unless they see something. I have observed my fish for 8 months, this is far more than most. I should be fine, I don't want my first hypo treatment to be the learn by mistake type scenario with $200 worth of fish at risk. And all 4 would be a pretty large bio load on the 20 gallon tank. I may transfer them and learn how to treat with hypo with a new addition.