How to Quarantine

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Enigma

From what I understand, ParaGuard is not guaranteed to work against Ich. However, I chose ParaGuard for prophylactic treatment as Brad (I'm sure it was him) mentioned that since starting a strict QT regime that includes ParaGuard's use that he hasn't had any loses.
.

nope, not me. I use chloroquine phosphate.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

nope, not me. I use chloroquine phosphate.

Care to elaborate Brad? I've heard good things about it but never really looked into it before.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Care to elaborate Brad? I've heard good things about it but never really looked into it before.

It's an anti-malarial med that apparently treats ich, velvet and brook. Hard to find but easy to use. Not toxic to fish like copper is (AFAIK) and doesn't need to be tested for like copper.
It also kills algae really well, so absolutely not coral safe, so for QT tanks only. Does not affect bacterial filters, is light sensitive.
Overall, it's worked well in that some fish I had affected with MV were treated with this and survived. I haven't had ich or brook to deal with, so can only go on what I've read from the experts.

[molotov]

I'm new to the whole quarantine thing as well.

I have a 30G tank with a heater and PVC pipes/elbows for hiding places. I'm also using a Fluval canister filter 105 for filtration and flow. That's it. no additional power heads or air stones.

I seeded the foam for the canister in my sump for 3 weeks before using it in the filter.

I only test for ammonia of which I've never had a trace. I also do weekly water changes.

I don't dose any med treatments.

Because I'm new to this I'm by no means an expert or claim I'm doing it right. Although I hope I am.

Good Luck.

[asylumdown]

[quote=sphelps;751359]Been lots of discussion on quarantine tanks lately so I wanted to start a thread to allow people that quarantine their livestock to explain their quarantine procedures.

Originally Posted by sphelps

What size quarantine?

40 gallon breeder and 5 gallon pico

Originally Posted by sphelps

What equipment do you use?

small internal canister in the pico, heater, and over-powered LED lights
External Marineland canister and a dinky little HOB filter in the 40, an overpowered heater (tank is in a cold garage), and basic lights on a timer

Originally Posted by sphelps

What parameters do you monitor?

In the pico, only temp and salinity
In the 40, ammonia, nitrite, copper levels, salinity, and temperature

Originally Posted by sphelps

What treatments/chemicals/procedures do you use?

Well I didn't have a rigorous QT process, and so now my 40 is filled with all of my fish being treated for the inevitable ich outbreak that took out half my tank. So I'll mention what I'm going to do in the future to prevent it from happening again:
All new fish - FW dip, then a 2 week prophylactic treatment with cupramine if they're eating well enough to handle it right away. Then a minimum 2 weeks of observation, and treatment with further medications as required. No one will go in to my tank without getting a round of prohpylactic treatment, then demonstrating themselves to be pathogen free for at least 2 weeks

Corals and inverts - All future corals will be dipped (I'm looking in to the best method going forward), then broken off their base rock, trimmed, then re-attached to new, never been wet bases. If I can get all the exposed rock off a coral (ie, dead skeleton sections, base rock, frag plugs, etc) It will stay in the 5 gallon pico for 3 weeks. If I can't get all the rock off (LPS skeletons, for example), they'll stay in QT for a full 9 weeks. I used to run the pico as an actual stand alone tank following the 'ecoreef one' philosophy from reef-builders, and had great success (even with SPS), so I'll basically just do that again. Too keep the water quality up, it will receive 100% weekly water changes using the water from my DT to replace what I drain.

Originally Posted by sphelps

What do you quarantine? Fish, inverts, coral

Everything.

Originally Posted by sphelps

How long do you quarantine?

3-9 weeks depending on what it is.

Originally Posted by sphelps

Interested to see what people suggest when adding corals and inverts, how do you insure you don't introduce any parasites?

I know coral tissues aren't supposed to be vectors for ich, but any rock or dead skeletion lengths can hypothetically be a substrate for the encysted tomonts to attach to, and any water that clings to them from their last tank can harbour the free swimming stages. If I have another outbreak like I did this time, I'm gonna throw in the towel, so this is going to be rigorous.

[Pansy-Paws]

Here is our QT routine (don't have inverts or corals):

• QT tank is a 72 gallon bowfront, QT period is 8 weeks
• proprophylactic treatment with chloroquine phosphate, followed by Prazi-Pro (sometimes I use a Prazi-Pro dip rather than treating the whole QT)
• monitoring of ammonia (test strips and badge), temperature
• addition of Amquel-Plus as required if I don't have a water change ready to lower ammonia (generally, 30% water change twice a week)
• Aquaclear HOB filter (pre-seeded sponge from DT), heater, CF lights on timer, assorted PVC tubes

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

nope, not me. I use chloroquine phosphate.

I wonder who it is then.

Let's just say "Someone I consider a sound authority."

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

nope, not me. I use chloroquine phosphate.

Where do you get it? I thought you could only get chloroquine with a prescription?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Where do you get it? I thought you could only get chloroquine with a prescription?

For pharmaceutical you do, not technical grade. The difference in purity is something like 0.9%
I bought it bulk, but there are some supply houses in Canada that sell it.