Quarantine Protocol for Fish

[Otaku Reefer]

IMO, very good info/method of quarantine, this guy does it like a Pro lol..

 

 

 

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[R0B]

Thanks for sharing! This is certainly a great start and so simple to set up (a tank, waterfall filter, some pvc drain pipe, a test kit and some medicines). For those that don't quarantine I would certainly look to set up a small system like he has (however don't add substrate but do add in an air stone as many medicines strip out oxygen). For more advanced quarantine methods and systems check out Humblefish on reef2reef.

I wonder how many reefers here quarantine fish?

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[Otaku Reefer]

i only started quarantine after tank wipe lol, last time keep frantically trying all the reef safe method like garlic, feed nutrition food etc all dont work, fish still die, velvet is ultimate kill damn fast, 1 -2 days gone, even hardy fish like clowns also cannot survive. also try UV, no work also it doesnt do anything to those parasites on fish probably just killing free swimmers, tried copper and it works, follow the saying: if reef safe cant kill ich, those can kill ich not reef safe


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

[soggycookies]

Back when I had a FOWLR tank I was definitely quarantining all my fish before adding them to the main display. For a full blown reeftank quarantine gets a lot harder cause if I really wanted to be sure ich/velvet doesn’t get into my system I’d ideally quarantine my corals and even cuc too. Not everyone has the space/$ investment to essentially set up more or less 2 of the same systems to quarantine both their fish and coral. Plus you’d technically have to set up 2 QT systems instead of 1- a separate one for fish and another for corals and inverts(cause copper treatment).

 

that’s a whole lot of cost(coral QT tanks prolly also require a chiller, suitable reef standard lighting, ATO and all the standard reef thingamabobbbers(even worse if you’re keeping stuff like sps and some sensitive lps/softies)

 

Now instead of a full quarantine I go with preventative dips/baths(paraguard/formalin/fw dip) accompanied by polyplab medic dosing if I know I’m gonna add a few new fish or even coral frags and snails to my main display. Won’t guarantee that it stays out of your system but i’ve been practising this for about 1 and a half years now(the dips and bath part) and so far there have only been 1 or 2 ich outbreaks, and thankfully nothing died from it.

 

As for room for improvement i’m thinking of plumbing a uv sterilizer directly to the main tank to manage these parasites even further.

 

it’s not impossible to keep ich and velvet out of a system but i wouldn’t say it’s easy. quarantine is straightforward but not all of us are willing to adhere strictly to it. i’m no exception hahahaha. why wait 4-12 weeks to put in coral/fish when you want to see it right now?!?

 

 

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app

 

 

 

 

 

[Indeco]

I guess alot of reefer give up on quarantine half way as they realised that they killed more fish compare to directly put into the main tank.

I started quarantine from Day 1 and 3 mths passed not even a single fish survived. Hence, I gave up and start putting fish (those with thick mucus) in my display directly.

After doing this I got 0 casualties but I do understand that marine dieases are not something u can just ignore so I started back QT tank when I start to stock up Tangs.

At that point of time, I knew that I have to deal with Ich for a long time until I decom my tank.

So my QT approach now is to make sure I don't introduce fish with Velvet, Fluke and Brooklynella.

Ich and other less deadly diseases can be management in display. As long u got the medication ready.

[soggycookies]

I guess alot of reefer give up on quarantine half way as they realised that they killed more fish compare to directly put into the main tank.

I started quarantine from Day 1 and 3 mths passed not even a single fish survived. Hence, I gave up and start putting fish (those with thick mucus) in my display directly.

After doing this I got 0 casualties but I do understand that marine dieases are not something u can just ignore so I started back QT tank when I start to stock up Tangs.

At that point of time, I knew that I have to deal with Ich for a long time until I decom my tank.

So my QT approach now is to make sure I don't introduce fish with Velvet, Fluke and Brooklynella.

Ich and other less deadly diseases can be management in display. As long u got the medication ready.

personally i gave up on quarantining new fish after switching to keeping more coral. cause one day i added a few new corals(they were only frags too) and bam a few days later i saw white spots on my quarantined fish. bottomline is anything new you add into your tank will have a chance to introduce it to your system if not quarantined, not just fish.

also in my experience stuff like polyplab medic while effective to a degree, if used carelessly in the main display will irritate corals and especially anemones. i had an anemone bleach out from constant stress of the medic peroxide particles getting blown onto it. after that experience i always dissolve the medic in a container of tankwater before adding it in. they are reef safe but with all additives, there will always be some sort of effect on the system imo. best is to monitor before just continuing to dose.


Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app