Quarantine Questions

[anthony.grimes]

Unfortunately when I started this hobby I did not know about the importance of quarantining livestock. Lucky I have not experienced many deaths but I feel that this is mainly because I stick with hardy species. However I want to start getting into some more difficult to keep species and want to ensure a healthy environment for them. I would like to set up a permanent quarantine tank to solve this problem. I have actually already set one up and am curious as to what the best possible setup could be.

My current setup is a 55gal with about 50-60 lbs of live sand and about 20lbs of live rock. I realize that many people set up there tanks periodically and use a bare bottom. I do realize that this rock and sand will not be able to be able to be used in my display. There is a emperor 400 with just bio wheels, mainly for added circulation, and a coralife 125 super skimmer for skimming. any suggestions on my setup would be appreciated.

I am going to be quarantining all of the fish in my display for about 10 weeks and let my display run with no fish in it to kill off any parasites that may be present.

Now to some of my questions... Can fish host diseases while not showing any symptoms? All of my fish appear healthy right now but I would like to treat them for any diseases that they may be hosting. I know of some nice lfs's that quarantine all of there live stock before it is available for purchase and they add all of there fish new fish to tanks with copper in them. Is this the best way to do it? will this kill most if not all of the common fish parasites?

any info will be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Yes... a fish can host a disease (like ich) and show no signs of it.

I hear what you're saying, but I'm not sure if you're going to end up ahead in the end. Yes... if you remove all your fish and let your main go fallow (fishless) for that long, it will kill off most of the parasites, like ich. But, if your fish DO have ich, and they're not treated, then you're just going to reintroduce it when the fish go back into the tank.

Treating fish for ich is either going to be by copper or hyposalinity, and either one stresses the fish. If you have what appear to be perfectly healthy fish, then I think I'd personally not be apt to purposely stress them. They will be stressed from the new environment of the QT anyway, let alone any meds or treatment. They could develop bacterial infections, in what were perfectly fine (ich-free) fish.

Also... if you treat with meds, you're not going to want any rocks or substrate in your tank - it will react with many meds badly, and just plain suck all the copper out of your water if you treat with copper. That's why people go with bare QTs. Also, I don't think LFSs that QT with copper do it with the full blown dose - you might ask your fish store what levels they dose at. As far as ich goes, I think it needs the full dose to truly kill it off.

I'm not sure I'd treat healthy fish "just in case", as I'm guessing I'd lose one in the process. But that's just me.

 

[lando]

Good advice. I agree that "preventative" Tx in fish with no sympotms is not a good idea. Personally, I do not care for copper. Hypo Tx for fish sympomatic fish is a very good alternative. Allowing your main to go fallow for 8 weeks is a very good way to kill of parasites. Above all...ALWAYS keep medication far away from the main.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I am going to be quarantining all of the fish in my display for about 10 weeks and let my display run with no fish in it to kill off any parasites that may be present.

Another thing I just noticed...

In your info area, you say your main is a 180g (I'm jealous!) but you don't say what fish you have in it. Depending on how many fish you have and how much room they want to start with, then quarantining them all in a 55g might cause fighting and other issues that you didn't see before.

If you're bound and determined to do this, you might list what fish you have so that folks with experience with those particular fish can maybe give you some insight.

 

[anthony.grimes]

Thanks for all of your input guys, it is definitely very interesting stuff. Yeah all of my info on my tank is up to date, as far as fish I am fairly moderately stocked. I have a 4" regal blue tang, a 3" yellow tang, a 3.5" vlamingi tang, and a 4" checkerboard wrasse. I am worried with putting all those tangs in such a small tank, but they seem to be well tempered and never had a problem before. I have other tanks sitting around so I can always set up another quarantine worst case scenario.

So just to review on a game plan...

remove substrate and rock from Qt in case treatment is needed due to absorption issues.

Then only treat fish in quarantine if necessary (no preemptive treatment)

And as always keep all of the meds away from the main.

And I am actually getting ready to redo my setup, so if you guys want to see pictures or would like to offer some advice on ways I can improve feel free to check it out.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=100567

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I have a 4" regal blue tang, a 3" yellow tang, a 3.5" vlamingi tang, and a 4" checkerboard wrasse. I am worried with putting all those tangs in such a small tank, but they seem to be well tempered and never had a problem before.

Yowsa... I'd be worried too. They're probably all well tempered now because they're living in a 180g. I'd get a bit cranky if I went from a 1500 square foot apartment to a 500 square foot studio overnight, like you're thinking about with your fish.

I can understand why you wanted substrate and rock in the QT - to make it more like "home" for their extended stay. But it really will cause an issue if you medicate it. Do throw in some PVC elbows and "Y"s though... that will give the fish some places to hide and feel secure.

Personally... I wouldn't move everything and medicate for no reason. What's done is done. But I WOULD quarantine everything else from now on. And if somebody does look like they're having a problem, then be ready with plan.

[Edit: Looked at your other post - nice setup! Only thing I was going to comment on, you already commented on yourself - your lighting. That's the only thing I thought when I looked at the pics - "That light seems really narrow". But I understand what you mean about the center MH with the center brace. Not familiar with acrylic tanks or MH, so maybe someone else can comment!]

 

[anthony.grimes]

That sounds like a plan, I will get a quarantine setup and then just have it ready if I need it. Thanks for all the input.

 

[melosu58]

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php