Copper Quarantine healthy fish moving to new tank?

[theishkid]

I've got a 10 year old naked clown in a 34g (he's the only fish that's been in the tank for almost 5 years).
I'm cycling a 150g display that he will be moving into. In the new tank I want to do everything right and at a bare minimum copper quarantine any new fish I get.
But would you do a 14 day copper quarantine on a fish that's been in an established tank for that long? I know he's not sick... but what are the chances he's still carrying something around that he could give to other fish?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

I've got a 10 year old naked clown in a 34g (he's the only fish that's been in the tank for almost 5 years).
I'm cycling a 150g display that he will be moving into. In the new tank I want to do everything right and at a bare minimum copper quarantine any new fish I get.
But would you do a 14 day copper quarantine on a fish that's been in an established tank for that long? I know he's not sick... but what are the chances he's still carrying something around that he could give to other fish?

Thanks for your help!

If your qt against ich, odds are your fish has it. If he ever had a speck of ich, then he still has it. It's a disease(technically a parasite maybe??) where they have it until you treat for it and get rid of it. Your fish just has a healthy immune system and can fight it off so it doesn't go rampant. Now, if your fish was bought pre qt all those years ago and you didn't introduce anything the wasn't qt, it could still be ich free, but based on your question, I assume it was never qt in copper to treat for ich, and if that's the case, odds are it has it but has a strong immune system so it wouldn't show up until the fish got stressed/immunocompromised in some way.

 

[CHSUB]

Technically above is correct. However, ich does have a “die” cycle that last about 18 months, if no other strains or fish are added. Maybe a parasite expert will say I’m wrong, but I did experience this first hand and have confirmed it with others at the University of Florida. Maybe this is hobby observation and not confirmed by research? If you want to be sure do TTM and no copper, imo, copper is not great and there are better alternatives to qt.

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

Technically above is correct. However, ich does have a “die” cycle that last about 18 months, if no other strains or fish are added. Maybe a parasite expert will say I’m wrong, but I did experience this first hand and have confirmed it with others at the University of Florida. Maybe this is hobby observation and not confirmed by research? If you want to be sure do TTM and no copper, imo, copper is not great and there are better alternatives to qt.

Im by no means a expert! Personally never heard of this "die cycle" so I'd be really interested if someone well versed on this chimed in!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I've got a 10 year old naked clown in a 34g (he's the only fish that's been in the tank for almost 5 years).
I'm cycling a 150g display that he will be moving into. In the new tank I want to do everything right and at a bare minimum copper quarantine any new fish I get.
But would you do a 14 day copper quarantine on a fish that's been in an established tank for that long? I know he's not sick... but what are the chances he's still carrying something around that he could give to other fish?

Thanks for your help!

It's highly unlikely that the clown is carrying ich or velvet, the two main issues that copper manages. It is also unlikely that it is harboring flukes - first, clowns don't get flukes that often and second, it would be almost impossible for it to have had a chronic fluke infection with no symptoms for five years.

That said, for new fish, a 14 day copper treatment really isn't enough. Here is a basic quarantine protocol:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Nor'easter Reefer]

It's highly unlikely that the clown is carrying ich or velvet, the two main issues that copper manages.

So it's true that after a certain amount of time ich will die off without treatment? I never knew that!

OP definitely don't take my post seriously if Jay says otherwise!

 

[CHSUB]

So it's true that after a certain amount of time ich will die off without treatment? I never knew that!

OP definitely don't take my post seriously if Jay says otherwise!

The answer I got from some experts in the field was, “there appears to be some truth to this”. However, I don’t believe it is an absolute? I believe ich die off in my aquarium after about 2 years of not adding any new fish. When I resumed, with a better QT system, ich never reappeared.