QT Question

[Steelslinger75]

I have the following fish in my 210g and my purple tang has developed the dredded tiny white spots.
-Purple Tang
-Hybrid Powder Blue Tang
-Yellow Tang
-Kole Tang
-Hippo Tang
-Sailfin Tang
-Bi-Colored Blenny
-Jawfish
-4 Cardinal Fish

I am planning on monitoring his progress and he is the only fish in the tank that appears to have the spots at this time. I want to get a QT setup ready and i was wondering if someone could please tell me the ideal setup for a QT for the inhabitants that I have? Size of tank, type and brand of skimmer, ect...

After reading the information in this forumn I will never put a fish in my system again without QT.

Thanks,
John

[oama]

Wow, watch out for the Tang Police!

Here is what I would do, if you want to be thurough...
Set up the fish QT tank as large as possible, do to the tangs.
Start by getting filter material placed in your main tank sump to seed it. A simple airlift sponge filter works well.
What kind of treatment are you going to preform on these fish? If you go Hypo, I do not think that a protein skimmer will do much for you, as they do not function well at low salinity.

Second, set up a second QT tank with lots of small rocks, with a very good light source and no fish at all. Let the algae grow on the rocks and use them to feed the tangs periodically. You can pick up some ammonia chloride (or ammonia nitrate) from your LFS to feed the algae in this tank. And return the picked clean rocks to be regrown from the fish QT.

If the rocks/algae originally come from the display tank, these too may have the parasite cysts. So, I would extend the Q to the 6 weeks or even more.

Be prepared to do multiple water changes. A new 30 gal. trash can comes in handy for mixing/storing SW. And a second one for diluting water, if you go Hypo.

[Steven Pro]

Here are my thoughts on quarantine,
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

[Triggerfish]

how long have you had the pt?
you do not indicate size of fish, so would not be able to predict proper qt setup.

[Steelslinger75]

The PT was aquired a few weeks ago. I had to replace my entire tank due to a defective seam. So I had to remove all the fish and keep them at my LFS for 2 weeks. Upon settining up my tank again I introduced a purple tang and a sailfin tang to the mix. And after being a ******* and not putting all my fish into QT, ick is now in my tank.
All of the tangs are under 4" with exception to the purple, he is almost 5".
I bought a filter tonight and have the filter elements in my sump right now.

[Steelslinger75]

There are no major patches on any of the fish just a few white specks on the PT and the hippo.

All of the fish are eating like pigs which from the reading I have done so far is a good thing.

[Triggerfish]

you have all grazing fish.. if you are going to fallow the main tank,,that would be 6-8 weeks.
i know when i had my 55g going a ton of algae grew with the NO lights i was using.. the tank was basically covered.
you could try a 55g but you're going to have cycling issues with that many fish put in all at once.

so on 1/3 you mentioned the purple was only fish with spots ..now the hippo has them as well.
sounds like you may have to break the tank down.
or remove corals hypo the tank.

[Steelslinger75]

The hippo has had spots in the past, but they have never been bad. One or two would appear every week or two they would disappear as they cycle was ongoing.

If I hypo the entire tank will it adveresly affect the "good bacteria" and hurt the live rock?

[Triggerfish]

no it shouldn't hurt the live rock the beneficial bacteria should not be harmed.
i'm on my way of doing it now..currently down to 1.017.
i believe the pods and such may not fare was well though.
also remove your inverts.

[Steelslinger75]

I have no problem removing the majority of snails and crabs but the shrimp will be difficult to catch. What in your experience was the best way to catch them?

Will the hypo kill the sponges growing in my tank? What all will be harmed by doing hypo on the entire tank?

[Steelslinger75]

Have you done hypo on your entire tank before?

Anyone else have experience with doing hypo on the entire system?

[TerryB]

If you use hypo it can kill much of the mirco fauna and micro flora in the sand and live rock. Any inverts on or in your live rock and sand will probably die. I would not expect the sponge to make it.
Hyposalinity is best used in a seperate tank or a fish only system. Hypo won't kill the biofilter in your rock, but it will kill most of the other life on it. Once you remove all the live rock then you have removed most of the biological filtration with it.

It is a great idea to quarantine all new fish for 30+ days to prevent the need for ever having to treat for disease in your display tank.

Terry B

[Steelslinger75]

Fish will never go into my display tank again without going into QT once I get this mess cleaned up. I had the "It won't happen to me" attitude and I was very wrong. I have learned a valuable lesson and I am hoping I can get it under control.

[TerryB]

Happy to hear that you are a believer in quarantine. Please spread the word as there are many others that have the "It won't hapen to me attitude." It is a shame that most people have to lose some fish before they "get it."

Terry B

[Steven Pro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6446042#post6446042 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TerryB
Happy to hear that you are a believer in quarantine. Please spread the word as there are many others that have the "It won't hapen to me attitude." It is a shame that most people have to lose some fish before they "get it." Or simply quit the hobby altogether.

[Steelslinger75]

This experience has deffinately changed my mind. I just hope I can keep this at bay for a little while. I have not read any information about total irradication of ick using KickIck, but has anyone had sucess in keeping everything in check with this stuff. I statred treating my tank with it when I first noticed ick and the ick and the breakout has not taken oven all of the fish in the tank.

Anonther question that I have on the topic of parasite control. Is a UV skimmer effective in battleing unwanted organisms such as ick?

[TerryB]

IMO, Kick Ich is pretty much hit or miss with the keyword being "miss." A powerful UV with new bulbs and the right rate of water flow can help control the population of Cryptocaryon irritans, but I would not expect it to cure the fish. Soaking the foods in garlic and using a powerful UV are about the only alternatives for a reef system. They can help but you need some luck. The best choice is hyposalinity as it works very well most of the time provided it is used consistantly at the correct salinity for a long enough period and the pH is watched closely. Hypo is best used in a seperate tank or a fish only system.

Terry B

[Triggerfish]

kick ich really shouldn't be hit or miss..i know some folks have reported that they used it for something and it worked for something they had... it either works or it doesn't..
it's hard to believe that it would only be effective against certain c.irritan strains. just hard to fathom that notion.
perhaps it's true..what else would it be a 'hit' with.

it didn't work for me in the least bit...

my once reef is now a FOWL sitting at 1.008.
fun times...
good luck..

[TerryB]

I don't think Kick Ich works very well. Some people that use it may think ti helped them when their fish ddn't actually have ich, developed some immunity or maybe just had a light infection. I would not use it myself.

Terry B

[Puffer Queen]

Quarantining is the best prevention for ich.

I would never add anything to the display tank - especially reef.

Just my 2 cents.

Kelly

[tokitay]

So let's say that you have a tank with mostly fish, a few corals, and some inverts. Does it make more sense to move the corals and inverts (way easier to catch) to a QT tank and then hypo the main tank?

Besides probably diminishing the pod population, would this cause any problems? It just seems like it would be so much easier than trying to catch fish by removing hundreds of pounds of LR.

[Steelslinger75]

Ok the boys are going to be moved this weekend into QT. This is going to be real fun trying to catch all of them. :D

The one question that I have is how do I maintain the pH of the QT? I have read alot that the pH tends to drop. What is the safest and effective way to do this?

I will keep you posted on the status of the move.

Thanks,
John

[Puffer Queen]

Monitor pH and water conditions at least daily. Water changes frequently as well as buffer as needed.

Best of luck,
Kelly

[Steelslinger75]

Well the roundup of da fish started 5 days ago. I built a pretty effective fish trap and have all but 4 fish in the QT. I'll post some pitctures of the trap in action. All of the fish are in a 55 and are looking good other than the few spots of ick. Everyone is eating like pigs.

[Steelslinger75]

Well the roundup of da fish started 5 days ago. I built a pretty effective fish trap and have all but 4 fish in the QT. I'll post some pitctures of the trap in action. All of the fish are in a 55 and are looking good other than the few spots of ick. Everyone is eating like pigs.