Thoughts on QT process
 

I read a post from Snorvich where he does TTM for 12 days with prime w/o drip acc (With matching SG) due to high toxicity from prolonged period in bag and to minimize stress, follow up by a 2-4 week obv period.

Then the next step would be:

"If there is reason to suspect infestation with brooklynellosis, velvet or flukes , do a formalin bath before starting treatment with copper for velvet, formalin for brooklynellosis or prazi pro."

Even though QT arguablly isn't 100% effective, this seems bulletproof IMO. What are your thoughts on this and is 2-4 weeks enough of an obv period for a fish to show signs of disease? Thanks in advance :thumbsup:

Drip acclimation is fine for non shipped fish. Once the bag has been opened on a shipped fish, you have approx 30 minutes to have the fish out of the bag. You must be careful with prime though, many retailers keep their fish at non-therapeutic levels of copper. If prime is used, it will convert the copper from Cu2+ to Cu+ which is very toxic.

It is best to just temp acclimate the bag and place the fish in QT. Another common problem is not knowing the SG of the source water or even the retailer not knowing it. On many occasions I have called the retailer to find out the SG and they were way off. I usually put a pin hole in the bag and check what it is with my refractometer and adjust accordingly.

Formalin is very harsh on fish and IMO there are many better meds that can take its place. Metronidazole is great for brook and uronema and prazi will treat for flukes and black ich. The only time I would use formalin is before being placed into Copper or Cp for velvet treatment, and again there is another option that is much easier, acriflavine.

Prazipro can also be used in conjunction with TTM, that way you can eliminate ich and flukes right off the bat. Since that is only 12 days, I would observe for 4 weeks. Velvet and brook should show up within 4 weeks. The only sure 100% way IMO to ensure eradication is to prophylactically treat for everything and QT for the full 76 days.

This seems a little extreme for most but you will not have any issues. Just make sure to sterilize all tanks and equipment after copper or CP is removed. Since ich tomonts have been known to survive up to 72 days, you need to sterilize.

What if i place the fish in the 1st tank using the TTM without mixing any of the retailers water with mine? Using prime will still have a negative effect? Cause im well aware of CU poison. I made the mistake fully dosing copper on my clowns and adding prime due to nitrite and my clowns almost died. Luckily i did my research and found out about cu2 cuz my clowns were disoriented but they were fine after a 100% WC

Prime is fine then. As long as you know there is no copper in the water.

Thanks for the input.:fun4:

Anyone else care to share their quarantine practices ? I can use all the help i can get