The DOs and DON’Ts of Quarantine

[Humblefish]

Carbon removes most meds, including Prazipro & Cupramine.

 

[saltysilverado]

You can buy 3'x2' of filter media pads that you cut to size for like $5 or $6

 

[Jlobes]

gotta love a good QT setup. just got the 120DT restarted, and definitely gonna be using a QT for all fish additions. Corals will also have a QT/receiving tank, but never sure what to do with the CUC! those should probably also get a QT, but seems a bit tedious and difficult.

More to the point, my first fish for the DT is coming next week!! getting things ready this weekend for the new arrival. Was seriously considering just adding fish to the DT, since it is currently
empty, but worried about possible contamination due to diseases. So, im gonna set up a QT today.

have plenty of extra tanks, heaters, etc, but trying to find the right filter. cant seem to find my old aquaclean, whattaya think about using a penguin biowheel for the QT?
I know I could also just use sponge filters/air pump, but would prefer the HOB option. plus the hob has the option of adding carbon and other filters if necessary. Should I keep the biowheel in the DT sump, to get it going until im ready to use it, as I would a sponge?? seems reasonable but im pretty sure they float. ha

 

[Mike2112]

Sounds like you are going about it correctly. I would use the biowheel while the fish are in the tank, it will give more bio filtration. Keep carbon out while treating with meds. Keep us informed on progress.

 

[Reflective]

gotta love a good QT setup. just got the 120DT restarted, and definitely gonna be using a QT for all fish additions. Corals will also have a QT/receiving tank, but never sure what to do with the CUC! those should probably also get a QT, but seems a bit tedious and difficult.

More to the point, my first fish for the DT is coming next week!! getting things ready this weekend for the new arrival. Was seriously considering just adding fish to the DT, since it is currently
empty, but worried about possible contamination due to diseases. So, im gonna set up a QT today.

have plenty of extra tanks, heaters, etc, but trying to find the right filter. cant seem to find my old aquaclean, whattaya think about using a penguin biowheel for the QT?
I know I could also just use sponge filters/air pump, but would prefer the HOB option. plus the hob has the option of adding carbon and other filters if necessary. Should I keep the biowheel in the DT sump, to get it going until im ready to use it, as I would a sponge?? seems reasonable but im pretty sure they float. ha

You could put a zip tie around the biowheel and then zip tie it to a rock to keep it from floating.

 

[Jlobes]

Sounds like you are going about it correctly. I would use the biowheel while the fish are in the tank, it will give more bio filtration. Keep carbon out while treating with meds. Keep us informed on progress.

thats what i planned, 10-20G tank, biowheel full time, and carbon/other media when/if needed, like after meds etc.

 

[Jlobes]

You could put a zip tie around the biowheel and then zip tie it to a rock to keep it from floating.

agreed. just wasnt sure if it needed to be 100% submerged, it 90%+ in water.

 

[UffnerReef]

Hi everyone!
- 56gal saltwater tank about 2 months old. Reef Ocotpus BH90 HOB; Aquaclear HOB filter; Hydra26 HD light
- recently started stocking with corals and a couple fish. Some invert clean up crews. The three fish I have are: cardinal, midas blenny, tailspot blenny. I have not added anything new for 2 weeks

Early this week, I noticed my Midas blenny turning around and biting his tail. He also did the "ich rub" every once in a while. Apart from these behaviors, he looks and acts totally healthy. In attempts to stop/treat whatever was wrong, I caught him and put him in QT tank. At first he was clearly stressed, but looked fine. I put a plastic spoon rest and a new piece of PVC (rinsed off) in there for hiding. The water was from the DT and I had not added any treatments yet. Temp was the same. When I woke up in the morning, the tank water was milky (I had used my display tank water and filled the QT tank with it). He was clearly not doing well and breathing very hard. My best guess was that one of the two items I used was contaminated and poisoned the water (I still can't come up with any other explanation). I did a water change in hopes of saving him. It did not help and then I left home. Last night my husband got home and he was still doing poorly and water was somewhat cloudy. He decided to put him back in display tank in hopes he would recover. He sank to the bottom and is still breathing hard. He has wiggled around a bit, but has still not swam and is clearly not doing well/I can't image he will survive. This morning he looks terrible, but is still alive.

Ultimately I have two questions: any ideas what went wrong in the first place? What do I do with him now? It makes me want to cry seeing him in a pain, but I'm not sure if/how I should somehow move the process along. I'm also a bit worried about the other inhabitants in the tank.

Thanks everyone!

 

[UffnerReef]

.

 

[UffnerReef]

@Humblefish do you have any thoughts on my above comment? I've been reading some of your threads and you seem to be pretty knowledgeable

 

[shoelaceike]

Don't you want to acclimate the PH? Not just salinity and temp...... From what I understand, that could be more important......the water in a bag of shipped fish can be really low.

 

[DeniseAndy]

The three needed for acclimation IME are TEMP (very important as fish do not show the issues for days and signs are notoriously read incorrectly), pH (yes, fish in bags shipped will have a much lower pH (effect of ammonia in the water) so have some acid buffer on hand when getting new fish in, SG (this is important, but not as important if you are dropping it, much more so if you are raising it).

A cloudy tank can be bacteria bloom or some other toxin (ammonia or something else), breathing heavy? Were the gill areas flared and him gasping? That is ammonia poisoning. Bacteria blooms will rid the tank of oxygen quickly, so the o2 may be very low in the tank. Add airstones asap.

 

[UffnerReef]

I think you're right, however in my case my fish started showing signs of illness after he had been in the DT for a couple week. I filled my new QT tank with DT water. The QT tank came up to temp, I tested the water (which as I would expect was the same as the DT he came from), and I put him in.

That happened Tuesday night. He looked stressed (as I would expect) but fine. When I woke up Wednesday morning, QT tank was milky looking and fish was in distress and breathing very heavily. I did a water change and took the PVC pipe and plastic spoon rest out. Then I had to leave for work. When my husband got home on Wednesday afternoon, he said the fish looked bad and breathing hard, so then he put the fish back in the DT in hopes that the DT water could help him "overcome this" and he would survive. I have tested the DT tank water twice just to make sure everything is ok (and it was). Everyone else in DT looks ok for now... fingers crossed. This morning, he is sitting at the bottom of DT and still breathing terribly.

So now I don't know what to do with my dying fish, how to prevent this in the future (other than automatically QT every single thing I purchase), any guesses as to what disease he had, and do I need to do anything to make sure my other two fish don't get ill.

Thanks!

 

[UffnerReef]

Thanks Denise. My flaw was probably the airstone then... I had a HOB filter, heater, and thermometer. The ammonia tested at 0. Maybe the PVC pipe and/or the plastic spoon rest had some sort of toxin in it, since the ammonia seemed ok.

His gills were flared, his head bobbing, and mouth gaping. Now he is just lying on the sandbed in my DT.

Any thoughts what I do with him now? Is it cruel to have him breathing this hard in my DT?

 

[melypr1985]

Did you have a filter of any kind on your QT to process the ammonia caused by the fish being present? - nevermind I see the question answered.

Was your filter media cycled at all? Any seeding of benificial bacteria before use?

 

[TheWhiteFord]

Great advice Humblefish! That aerial transmission though.....crazy.....good thing it would have to go up through a floor to get to my tank

 

[DeniseAndy]

Even if you used the water from your dt, a bacteria bloom can happen and zap the o2 from the water. Had it happen to me. Also, what was in the tank prior to use. I had to QT a lot of fish for a project we were doing and borrowed a 55 gal. Turns out something was in that 55 that was not good (I did clean it myself) and I lost a ton of fish before I could get them all moved to a new tank that I knew was safe. I do not know what it was, but I gave the tank back and warned them and will never do that again. It was heartbreaking.

I know it was the tank, because as soon as I move the fish to my personal qt, they all got better and survived. Sucked to lose what I did, but lesson learned.

My guess is either ammonia poisoning or lack of o2. Sorry. He may recover, but brain damage may be too much. In future, you already said. QT everything. Humblefish has a nice write up. I have also written protocols if you ever want to read them. Not sure I am allowed to link here because they are on my organizations website.

 

[melypr1985]

Even if you used the water from your dt, a bacteria bloom can happen and zap the o2 from the water. Had it happen to me. Also, what was in the tank prior to use. I had to QT a lot of fish for a project we were doing and borrowed a 55 gal. Turns out something was in that 55 that was not good (I did clean it myself) and I lost a ton of fish before I could get them all moved to a new tank that I knew was safe. I do not know what it was, but I gave the tank back and warned them and will never do that again. It was heartbreaking.

I know it was the tank, because as soon as I move the fish to my personal qt, they all got better and survived. Sucked to lose what I did, but lesson learned.

My guess is either ammonia poisoning or lack of o2. Sorry. He may recover, but brain damage may be too much. In future, you already said. QT everything. Humblefish has a nice write up. I have also written protocols if you ever want to read them. Not sure I am allowed to link here because they are on my organizations website.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[UffnerReef]

Oh gosh, now I feel even worse that I pretty much doomed my favorite fish. These lessons are hard for everyone I guess :-(

I didn't know/think about a bacterial bloom with 'seasoned' water.

The tank I had was brand new from Petsmart. It was just a glass 10gallon tank. I did rinse it out, but that's it.

In the future for my QT tank, I assume I have to add the air stone to prevent lack of O2, but how do I prevent this ammonia poisoning and bacterial bloom? It happened so fast- I did my water changes within about 8 hours of when the fish went in. Around Tuesday at 9:30pm, QT looked fine. At 5:30am, it was cloudy. Around 9:00 I did a water change.

I'm sacred to QT in the future because I'm pretty upset about what I did this time around.

I read Humblefish protocol this morning. I see it is suggested a powerhead or air stone. AWhen I was setting my tank up, I came across "an air stone or filter" and I thought the filter would be the most beneficial. Live and learn. lso the seeded sponge which would take foresight that I didn't have. I guess I'll throw some sponges in my DT now for future use.

How do I find your write up @DeniseAndy ? Do you keep your QT up and running all the time?

 

[DeniseAndy]

Actually I do not keep one up and running. However, I usually know ahead of time when I am getting a fish and set one up a few days prior to getting it. I am crazy that way. I rarely buy on impulse. I have been doing this a while and know exactly what I want when. With fish anyway. I do have a 40g that is a full reef that I would actually keep new fish in, but now I cannot as I have full time fish in there.

You did not doom it, you did what you thought would work. You tried. Never feel bad about trying. The tank was new so should not be an issue.

Make sure to have an ammonia badge with each QT. I do have a sponge I keep in a main system to throw in qt for bacteria, but really air is needed because of any bacteria bloom and for any meds you may add. Many times I do not use the sponge and just use the badge as a key to ammonia. I run a hob filter with carbon (if I am not treating) and that is it. PVC for hiding.

Go to care4reefs.org and at the bottom information links. I will not link it for rules pertaining here. I wrote it years ago, but should still be valid. I will try to review it again today and make sure I have not learned something new to do instead.

Just reviewed and I would change a few things, but for the most part still valid. I will post new ones when I get to it.