How to Quarantine

[sphelps]

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.

What size quarantine?
What equipment do you use?
What parameters do you monitor?
What treatments/chemicals/procedures do you use?
What do you quarantine? Fish, inverts, coral
How long do you quarantine?

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

[George]

Originally Posted by sphelps

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.

What size quarantine?

29 G x 2. yeah...I have 2 QT tanks because I am trying this tank transfer(TT) method of treating marine ich. Was using hypo for fish mainly before(don't try this for inverts ).

Originally Posted by sphelps

What equipment do you use?

For TT, a power head, a air pump, a heater, some pvc pipes and an ammonia indicator.

Originally Posted by sphelps

What parameters do you monitor?

only NH4 with a NH4 badge.

Originally Posted by sphelps

What treatments/chemicals/procedures do you use?

prazipro on every fish. Other meds(antibacterial, chloroquine phosphate for other parasites) case by case. prime for neutralizing NH4. dips for coral.

Originally Posted by sphelps

What do you quarantine? Fish, inverts(crab, snail, shrimp), coral

Fish and inverts in one QT system. coral in frag tank.

Originally Posted by sphelps

How long do you quarantine?

Fish, 6+ weeks. invert a couple weeks. coral no specific timeline. Whenever I feel it's safe to move the coral from the frag tank to the main tank I will do it.

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?

For coral, the best thing to do it to set up a frag tank. you can put your newly acquired corals there for observation. That eliminates a dedicated coral QT tank. of course you need to dip your coral before you put it into your frag tank. Invert (I assume you meant crab and snails and shrimp etc because coral is invert) is easy. a small QT tank with very basic equipments will do. Make sure no copper and other meds in invert QT tank though.
I understand that not everyone wants to set up a QT system like I do. But when you have a collection of rare fish (read expensive), you want to do what you can to make sure nothing bad getting into your DT.

[sphelps]

My apologies I should have said fish, coral and other inverts

Thanks for sharing George, I'm curious how you quarantine your inverts (everything except coral) as it wasn't specific. Separate from fish I'm guessing and just strictly for monitoring? No treatments? Also interesting idea regarding a frag tank, however I think most of us with frag tanks have it directly connected to the display so perhaps not a safe qt in this manor, I'm guessing yours is separate?

When I mentioned my interest in quarantining inverts I was speaking more along the lines of parasites live ich and velvet. It's my understanding that while these parasites do not effect inverts they can however be transported through their source water, how can one prevent this when coral skeleton or attached rock is porous. Is a dip sufficient? For those people who are serious about quarantine, what is your approach?

[emerald crab]

I don't add anymore fish (I'm maxed up), but I quarantine corals. I quarantine one coral/tank for six weeks, with weekly dips. I use small QTs 1.5-2 gal, heater, Red Sea Prism skimmer, ATO with float switch and aqualifter, DIY led light (10w hybrid with lens),Koralia 1 power head. If the frag is big enough I cut it off the base(plug) and remount it on a new plug. Discard the old base, dip the frag and start quarantine.

[christyf5]

Fish do 6+ Weeks in a 29 gal with a heater, powerheads and an airstone.. Waterchanges.weekly or according to the ammonia badge thingy (which never registered and I suspect is a POS). Corals get a dip in my flavor of the moment iodine based treatment (coral rx?)

[sphelps]

So in terms of preventing parasites that target strictly fish from introducing corals and other inverts I see four options

1. Use starvation approach - quarantine in separate system for 6 weeks
2. Dip corals - not really effective for parasites in question
3. Buy from known systems which have quarantine procedures or do not house fish
4. Do nothing - perhaps chances are slim to none for introducing such parasites through coral

I think a combination of 1-3 is probably the answer, using case by case bases. Using an isolated frag tank is probably the way to go for #1 as George suggested but it means you'll have to stick to a 6 week purchasing frequency if buying from questionable sources. It also means your frag tank can't have any fish which are handy for housekeeping. Emerald has an interesting approach that deserves more explanation and pictures but I can't imagine maintaining what is essentially multiple pico systems especially when it comes to more sensitive corals.

[Enigma]

I have a 30 gallon QT and a 33 gallon QT. Plus, I have a 12 gallon Nano Cube that I can use for a QT. The 30s are stacked one over the other on a metal stand in my laundry room. I use 36" two bulb T5 fixtures over both: one hangs from the ceiling and the other sits on the bottom tank.

For filtration, I have a Fluval 305 canister filter that is filled with Matrix, and I also have a Marineland Emperor 280 biowheel filter which gets filled with Matrix. The Matrix and the biowheel are stored in the sump of my display system when my QT isn't in use: to keep them seeded with bacteria.

I run an airstone, and whatever heaters and powerheads I find laying around. I generally keep the QT lower flow.

I dose prophylactically with ParaGuard (four weeks) and Prazi-Pro (two weeks). Also, depending on what medication I'm using, I dose Prime regularly. I check ammonia twice a day. That's all I check. I typically don't do any waterchanges during the Prazi-Pro treatment, but I do regular water changes when dosing the ParaGuard.

I have had an ammonia spike in my QT (nearly lost my Scooter) and I nearly lost my itty bitty Fox Face to too much flow. Worth noting is that both of these incidents occurred when I used the Nano Cube for the QT, and not one of the bigger tanks. Clearly, what I'm saving in reduced medication and Prime costs in the smaller tank are being offset by greater risk to the livestock. Not a good trade off, IMO. I have never had a close call of any sort in my 30s.

I have PVC pipes for the QTs, and I do use some rock in them. I may, depending on the species of fish, also use sand in the QT.

I don't QT inverts, though I feel quite strongly that I should. I'm confused about how to feed them. I'll be doing a big invert order from J&L in a month or so, so I need to figure that out.

I don't QT coral any more, as my QT lighting systems aren't enough to sustain most corals. When I do my LED build for my display system I'll move the display tank's T5 fixture over to a QT tank for corals (though the 33 gallon QT tank will be replaced by a 23 gallon long: 36x12x12).

[sphelps]

Hi Shelley, I see you don't use any copper treatments, do you find ParaGuard effective enough for all external parasites?

[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.

I haven't had any of my fish exhibit symptoms of Ich or Velvet. I may have it in my system, but I've never seen any sign of it. I have lost two clownfish to Brook, however. I've also had an issue with flukes.

One of the best treatments for Brook is Ich-X, which contains formaldehyde, methanol, and malachite green chloride. Ich-X is pretty aggressive though, and it requires big water changes. Paraguard is "a proprietary, synergistic blend of aldehydes, malachite green, and fish protective polymers," and it doesn't require big water changes. I'm hoping that the gentler, and lower risk, Paraguard (with its similar ingredients to Ich-X) will help keep Brook out of my system.

Brook strikes so fast that there isn't a whole lot of time to act. Brook horrifies me. The two clowns were dead within three hours of the obvious onset of symptoms.

I use the PraziPro for flukes and intestinal worms, as I've had very good success with it in eradicating flukes. I haven't had anything react negatively to it, and I don't feel it is detrimental to fishes' health. It seems like a very low risk prophylactic to me.

I'm not using copper as a prophylactic as it can be quite toxic, and I don't want to use it unless it is absolutely required for the treatment of an obvious parasite infestation. It seems very high risk to me. And, I would probably try hypo first. Being that Ich doesn't usually take down fish as quickly as Brook, there is usually time to try hypo fist.

Edit: I should add that the reason I don't do water changes through the PraziPro treatment is because one treatment lasts in the system for five days. I don't want to dilute it or mess up the concentration with a WC. I do very regular water changes (often daily) when treating with the Paraguard, as that only hangs around in the water for 24-hours.

[sphelps]

Thanks for sharing that. For copper treatment Cupramine is pretty safe provided you don't mix it with other treatments such as ParaGuard.

While I'm new to the whole QT process my setup/procedure is as follows

Dual 55 gallon separate QT tanks for Fish, allowing for some flexibility on purchasing rather than min set 6 week frequency. May also be used for different treatments if need be.

Heater, air pump and power-head for equipment. Filter is made from rubble rock which tank water is forced to flow through one direction while air from air pump flows the other way.

Just monitoring salinity and copper for now, not sure I see the need for monitoring NH4 given the tank size and what I would expect to be a fairly efficient biological filter.

Using Cupramine right now as my previous tank did has ich present although it didn't seem to cause any issues I want to prevent any issues going forward, butterflies also presented symptoms of gill flukes. I will consider other treatments going forward or treat on demand.

Quarantining just fish for now, contemplating separating my frag tank for use as coral and other invert QT system. New tank will all previous corals is going to run in parallel for 6 weeks without fish to insure fresh start.

Fish will be quarantined for 6 weeks.