quaratine basics, a few questions/freshwater dip?

[kriskristofferzen]

Okey dokey,

I am getting ready to get fish in the next week, I would like to 2 very small clown fish. I have a 10 gallon barebottomed tank with some pvc fittings/ small heater/ and aqua clear hob filter (without carbon for now just floss). I plan on filling the tank with old tank water and then observing the clowns over 2-3 weeks for general health and any diseases.

 

1.) Is this a fair amount of time to quarantine?

2.) I was at a LFS, and spoke with a nice salesman who has been reef keeping for like 20 years, he does not quarantine any new fish but gives them a fresh water dip for 5-6minutes. Does anyone out there do this and then add fish to their DT?

3.) How does my quarantine setup sound? I have a feeling some will not agree with two fish at once in QT but if purchased at the same time from the same tank will it really make that much of a difference?

[CoralWhisperer]

I myself do not qt things, or do freshwater dips.

I just make sure the fish Im buying look healthy and strong, and/or have been in store for long enough for problems to develop there, or try to get them from the shipping box before they hit the stores water.

Any good store will let you put a deposit down and keep them for you for observation.

 

That said, your qt theory sounds like a solid one, and thats basically how its done.

Id go with at least Xamount weeks if you are really worried, as marine ich can take little as 2 weeks and up to 60 days to show.

 

My personal opinion on FW dips is that it causes unneeded stress on a fish and could in itself cause problems to occur.

But like I said, this is all just me, there are folks who swear by FW dips and qt and will flame anybody who says otherwise.

 

Oh- there is lots of info/ideas/OPINIONS on the subject, and reading the disease section on this site can help you to make informed decisions.

But, DONT BE PARANOID!!!

Also, the #1 thing,IMO, that will reduce your chances of having problems with new fish in your tank is to NOT PUT ANY LFS WATER IN YOUR TANK UPON TRANSFER . . .

[OClownsandNanos]

Good for you setting up a QT! I did the same with the two baby clowns I purchased a year ago. If you are going to go through the trouble of setting one up, you really should QT for four weeks at minimum, six to be safe. That will insure you never have marine ich in your main tank. Do you use filter floss in your main tank? If you do, I'd suggest just moving it over after it's been in there at least a week or so instead of throwing it out so you start with a small colony of bacteria. If you've got chaeto, take a little and put it in your QT also. It will help with minimizing ammonium, etc.

 

Keep an eye on your water parameters in your QT, testing for ammonia and nitrites more frequently in the first few weeks, to make sure everything's going okay.

 

Everything sounds good though. I say it's better to be safe than just count on "luck" even if the store QTs for a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks is not necessarily going to cut it and they constantly add/subtract new fish, etc. who could be carriers of problems. This is truly the best way to minimize your risk. And you can use it for corals, etc., when you are done with adding fish.

[kriskristofferzen]

Good for you setting up a QT! I did the same with the two baby clowns I purchased a year ago. If you are going to go through the trouble of setting one up, you really should QT for four weeks at minimum, six to be safe. That will insure you never have marine ich in your main tank. Do you use filter floss in your main tank? If you do, I'd suggest just moving it over after it's been in there at least a week or so instead of throwing it out so you start with a small colony of bacteria. If you've got chaeto, take a little and put it in your QT also. It will help with minimizing ammonium, etc.

 

Keep an eye on your water parameters in your QT, testing for ammonia and nitrites more frequently in the first few weeks, to make sure everything's going okay.

 

Everything sounds good though. I say it's better to be safe than just count on "luck" even if the store QTs for a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks is not necessarily going to cut it and they constantly add/subtract new fish, etc. who could be carriers of problems. This is truly the best way to minimize your risk. And you can use it for corals, etc., when you are done with adding fish.

Thanks folks for the responses.

I have a 20g long with an old 20g long sump/fuge with gl#######s.com overflow.

I had posted last week about the size of a QT and came up with varying but helpful answers of 2.5/10g or a minimum of 20g for a clownfish, so it was nice to see someone who is using the exact sort of setup that I would like. I figure I can use the same tank for a QT for other fish later or for the many corals I plan to buy.

I think i'll do a 3-4 week and see how they look, I liked the idea for the macro in the tank to reduce the nitrates.

How often did you change the water in your QT tank? Once or twice a week? I was thinking two or so 2 gallon changes or just a 3 gallon change pending the water parameters?

Thanks!!

[OClownsandNanos]

For full disclosure, I actually had a spare 20 long and filled it up just a little over halfway to three-quarters way (so prob about 12g-14g or so) when I used it for QT, so just a little more than the 10 gal. 10 gal is suggested minimum tank size for clown pairs, so putting two babies in there for a month or so is perfectly fine. Don't worry about it; your tank size is perfect for that temporary setup.

 

I use 5 gal buckets when I change water for my 40BR, so I changed 3-4 gal when I did a weekly change on the QT. I tested frequently for the first several weeks and found that I wasn't seeing any ammonia or nitrite levels before my weekly change, so it worked out well for me. Because you have smaller volume, you may see detectable levels before a weekly change so you may need to change twice a week. You'll just have to see how it plays out. Just have your water ready in case. (When I did mine, I had my filter floss in the main tank for almost 2 weeks, then transferred it over. If you can get a sponge that would probably work better than floss.)

 

One of the things I might suggest is if you are thinking about adding some corals and/or more CUC, you might buy your fish and your corals/CUC at the same time, do coral dips before adding to main tank, then add corals and CUC directly to the main tank and QT your fish for six weeks. That way the main tank will be fishless for six weeks and you are set with CUC/corals/fish once you add your clowns back in. Then if you want to add more inverts thereafter you can QT them from then on. Just something to think about.

[kriskristofferzen]

Ok, thanks for the input! i might do that with my corals/inverts. In the meantime, I dont have filter floss/sponge from the tank available. could i just chemipure(i think that is the one) with fresh filter floss/wool (which i would change a couple times a week) with the HOB filter? I realize the benefits of having beneficial bacteria colonizing the sponge but I really dont want to wait another week or two! I figured if i keep up water changes and use the mechanical/chemical filtration that will suffice in the meantime? thanks!

[OClownsandNanos]

Ok, thanks for the input! i might do that with my corals/inverts. In the meantime, I dont have filter floss/sponge from the tank available. could i just chemipure(i think that is the one) with fresh filter floss/wool (which i would change a couple times a week) with the HOB filter? I realize the benefits of having beneficial bacteria colonizing the sponge but I really dont want to wait another week or two! I figured if i keep up water changes and use the mechanical/chemical filtration that will suffice in the meantime? thanks!

 

Hmm you could try it w/ the Chemipure. I've actually never used that product and my understanding is that most people use it primarily for its activated carbon properties, not so much the ion exchange ones they claim minimize ammo, etc. But you are going to need to test frequently to make sure you are on top of any water issues. If you use that and chaeto, I'd be curious to know how often you have to do water changes.

[kriskristofferzen]

Hmm you could try it w/ the Chemipure. I've actually never used that product and my understanding is that most people use it primarily for its activated carbon properties, not so much the ion exchange ones they claim minimize ammo, etc. But you are going to need to test frequently to make sure you are on top of any water issues. If you use that and chaeto, I'd be curious to know how often you have to do water changes.

I will keep you upated! I got it all running today!

 

I drip acclimated the pair, they are tiny! The store had probably 8 or so and they seem in pretty good shape. I asked if they quarantine and they said that the supplier quarantines them for a month before being sent out, but they already lost one of the bunch that was sent

I plan on about 4 weeks maybe 5, we'll see. I stuffed the filter with polyfil stuff and topped it with purigen pack, right now it is on full blast.

I also put a few small pieces of PVC in the tank as well as some fresh water dipped Macro Algae to see if it helps

Here is a question, I want to know if in the next day or so I can put a light by or near the tank for the Macro, it (the tank) is sitting in the basement getting some light in but I want to make sure it does not perish. But, I dont want to freak out the clown with a light. What do you think? Also should I add any Fe for algae? I hopefully dont plan on medicating the fish but want all parties to survives, so if need be i'll put the algae in my fuge later.

Thanks

[OClownsandNanos]

I will keep you upated! I got it all running today!

 

I drip acclimated the pair, they are tiny! The store had probably 8 or so and they seem in pretty good shape. I asked if they quarantine and they said that the supplier quarantines them for a month before being sent out, but they already lost one of the bunch that was sent

I plan on about 4 weeks maybe 5, we'll see. I stuffed the filter with polyfil stuff and topped it with purigen pack, right now it is on full blast.

I also put a few small pieces of PVC in the tank as well as some fresh water dipped Macro Algae to see if it helps

Here is a question, I want to know if in the next day or so I can put a light by or near the tank for the Macro, it (the tank) is sitting in the basement getting some light in but I want to make sure it does not perish. But, I dont want to freak out the clown with a light. What do you think? Also should I add any Fe for algae? I hopefully dont plan on medicating the fish but want all parties to survives, so if need be i'll put the algae in my fuge later.

Thanks

 

Congrats on your two new clowns! I used a one T5 plant bulb for my QT (it's what I had available), so yeah, if you've got a daylight bulb that would probably work well. You definitely want some light on the tank for algae growth. As long as it's not too bright, the fish should be fine with it. You've got PVC so they can always hide out if they want it a little more dark. It's just more important the first several hours to keep it dark for acclimation purposes; once they're familiar with their new surroundings they should be fine with the light.

 

I did not dose with iron and my chaeto worked fine. I also wouldn't suggest dosing unless you test for it. There should be some iron in your saltwater mix and given you've got nothing else in there which will use it, it will likely be enough for your macro.

[kriskristofferzen]

Congrats on your two new clowns! I used a one T5 plant bulb for my QT (it's what I had available), so yeah, if you've got a daylight bulb that would probably work well. You definitely want some light on the tank for algae growth. As long as it's not too bright, the fish should be fine with it. You've got PVC so they can always hide out if they want it a little more dark. It's just more important the first several hours to keep it dark for acclimation purposes; once they're familiar with their new surroundings they should be fine with the light.

 

I did not dose with iron and my chaeto worked fine. I also wouldn't suggest dosing unless you test for it. There should be some iron in your saltwater mix and given you've got nothing else in there which will use it, it will likely be enough for your macro.

Bad news. One of the clowns was hiding by the pvc for the first day and just staying in one spot yesterday. I went to look for him today and he was d.e.a.d. unfortunately the fish place wont take a return, so i buckled up and got another one to keep the other little (active) guy happy. this one seem much more active and a little larger than the previous, so we'll see how it goes. all tank params are good right now.