Quarantining an existing reef

[Grayhead]

I have been reading up on this process as well as watching videos concerning quarantining fish. I must say, as with many things in this hobby, this is a hard decision to make on what's best for my fish.
I have a 240 gallon tank set up that is almost 5 months old. System is running fine with a moderately stocked fish community. I have around 16 fish in my display. All are still young except a mimic tang and a file fish. I lost one fish just over a month ago to ick. I have another newly acquired fish showing a few spots. Out side of that I've had very little deaths. Now to my situation.

If I were to remove the fish from the display(if that's even possible) what would be the safest route to take? After reading all the choices, hyposalinity seems the easiest on the fish. None of the other fish have shown any signs of ich out side of the mimic occasionally rubbing on the sand. I think treating chemically should be a last resort.

If I leave the display fallow for the recommended days, how will this affect my corals. I can continue with them just as normal, but once it's time to reintroduce my fish, will this created an issue with my bacteria and bioload? I guess with the amount of fish I will be doing, it will require multiple tanks. I have a 40 gallon breeder I can start with. It would be nice to house all of them in one tank. I can't see me doing multiple tanks and DOI g the tank to tank method. My rodiwould never shut off. Is it possible to do that many fish at once and monitor for ammonia while dosing bacteria supplement?

Also, this is not a thread to pile on me for not doing g this in the first place. I'm just looking for solutions that will be the easiest on my fish.

[MMacro]

I would do tank transfer on all of your fish with prazipro at the end of the second and fourth transfers which is really easy on both you and your fish. Once TTM is over you can keep then in observation tanks for the remainder of the fallow period. Once its time to restock I would add 2-3 fish back every two weeks going from least to most aggressive. Corals will be fine, if not better without fish.
If you are concerned about your bacterial population you can ghost feed the tank every few days.

[Grayhead]

I guess I don't understand the purpose of ttm. I can see how it shortens exposure during icks free swimming stage, but moving it from one body of water to the next doesn't seem logical. If it releases in the freshly transfered water, then the fish sit there for up to 72 hours with them free swimming. Doesn't that just start the process all over? Wouldn't hyposalinity for the majority of the fallow period be an easier option? Or will ick survive the fallow period in hypo? Remember, my fish are fat and healthy right now. Aggressive treatment seems risky considering they are seemingly happy now. I'm not trying to kick all the rank and file methods, but looking for what will be the smoothest transition for the fish.

[ColoReefer970]

It's about interrupting the life cycle

Read the sticky

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1990809

[CarrieB]

Don't forget you have to keep all those fish somewhere during the 76 days the tank is fallow.

How about this? Set up a QT tank and move all the fish to it. Set it up with live rock from the DT if you want for filtration. You can do hyposalinity if you want to slow the ich down. Then on day 64, you can start a group of fish through TTM. When that group is done, it goes it the DT. Then the next group starts.

This allows you to ramp your bacteria back up if necessary. You can use small tanks for TTM.


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[xanthurum]

I have used chicken wire to section off areas of the tank. This makes it pretty easy to catch the fish. Cut it into manageable sized pieces and slide it between the fish and rocks so they can't get into their hiding spots.

[Grayhead]

I have some rock that I took out of my display a little over a month ago. I have a spare 40 gallon breeder I can set up. I guess I'll build a temporary system to house the fish. Will need bottled bacteria to kick start it. That should be good enough to house the fish while waiting out the fallow period. It will be cramped, but should be fine. I guess the ttm will be what I follow.

Once the new temporary tank is cycled, would it hurt to run it as a hypo salinity tank?

[CrayolaViolence]

It probably wouldn't hurt, but there are many bacteria an parasites that are resistant to hypo salinity, including variations of marine velvet. Honestly, if it were me, I would treat the fish as diseased and medicate them for a period of time, then observe them for several weeks after treatment to insure they are visually free of an issue. If you have a micro scope you could take samples from gill tissue and look at it under a microscope to look for carriers. If one fish has a parasite then they most likely all do. It's just the parasites remain dormant till the conditions are optimal.

[Grayhead]

Which part of NC are you in. I live in southeastern NC south of Wilmington.

[Grayhead]

I think I will set the forty breeder with existing live rock. I have an old skimmer I can use. Will keep it in the display. Also will use a job filter as well. I will also take one of my DOS units away from my main display and set it up for 3 gallons per day water change. Will also take one of my gyres out of the display, clean it and set it up for flow. No sand, just live rock only. By the time I finish building g a stand for the TTM and run its course, the temp tank should be close to cycled. I'll have to supplement with bottled bacteria as well. Hopefully I can have the display stocked before vacation this spring. Otherwise, I may not be able to go.

[greg683x]

If you're concerned about the corals having nothing to feed on while the tank is without fish, you could dose potassium nitrate to keep your nutrients around 1ppm

If you're interested one of the experts could chime in to confirm

[vhuang168]

You CANNOT bring anything wet from an infected DT to the QT. If you do, you are defeating the purpose. 1 part of the ich lifecycle is encrusting on substrate. If the piece of livestock you bring over has ich cysts then the QT will have ich as well.


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[Grayhead]

I never intended to move livestock. The only thing coming out of the display would be my gyres. And it would be cleaned and dried prior to that. The rock I have for the temp setup is rock that was removed around 8 weeks ago. It's been on my back deck in the sun. If it's not clean, then nothing is safe in anyone's reef tanks.

[vhuang168]

Originally Posted by Grayhead

I never intended to move livestock. The only thing coming out of the display would be my gyres. And it would be cleaned and dried prior to that. The rock I have for the temp setup is rock that was removed around 8 weeks ago. It's been on my back deck in the sun. If it's not clean, then nothing is safe in anyone's reef tanks.

Originally Posted by Grayhead

I think I will set the forty breeder with existing live rock.

Where are you going to get the live rock from? That rock that's been out of water for 8 weeks is not live.




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[Grayhead]

Well, dry rock. Been out of the tank on my porch for weeks. Will be live by the time for TTM to be completed

[CrayolaViolence]

Originally Posted by Grayhead

Which part of NC are you in. I live in southeastern NC south of Wilmington.

Didn't know if this was for me or not. But I'll answer. I'm in the Winston Salem area.

[Grayhead]

Yeah that was for you. Unfortunately, there are very few reefers in my area. Always looking out for someone closer to home

[CarrieB]

Originally Posted by vhuang168

You CANNOT bring anything wet from an infected DT to the QT. If you do, you are defeating the purpose. 1 part of the ich lifecycle is encrusting on substrate. If the piece of livestock you bring over has ich cysts then the QT will have ich as well.


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If he's going to do TTM afterwards, it doesn't matter. Think of it as a holding tank rather than a QT tank. It's just to keep the fish happy out of the DT and waiting for TTM.

Of course, after all the fish are back in the DT, you'd want to fallow anything in the holding tank that's wet before using it again.


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[vhuang168]

Originally Posted by CarrieB

If he's going to do TTM afterwards, it doesn't matter. Think of it as a holding tank rather than a QT tank. It's just to keep the fish happy out of the DT and waiting for TTM.

Of course, after all the fish are back in the DT, you'd want to fallow anything in the holding tank that's wet before using it again.


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It's absolutely going to matter if he brings a live rock from an infected DT into his QT. That contaminates the QT.


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[tkeracer619]

That seems like a lot of fish for a 40b.

[Grayhead]

It is. All but one are still juvenile. When I purchased them, I looked for young fish so I could watch them grow. I'll just be aggressive towards husbandry till the fallow period is over. I simply do not have the room to house them untill then. If it starts to create issues, I'll return some of the more common ones. I think my hippo, yellow, and mimic will be the most cramped. We will see how it goes

[CrayolaViolence]

Just make sure to put a top on it so no one jumps out.

[Mrs. Music]

Have you considered using quinine phosphate? I used it in 2014 and left a DT fishless to treat ich. It was very challenging. I think you have a good plan.
So you are using a
*40 gallon breeder. ----coverer/screen it. Nervous crowded jumpy fish
*skimmer ----excellent!!!!
*dried out rock ---possibly will leach alot of pollution and hold parasites if you do not use medication...Consider plastic plants and pvc pieces instead.
* TTM later rather than at the beginning? Maybe I misunderstood?
*water changes daily---excellent
*bottled bacteria ----excellent! I found I had non detectable ammnia using Stability by Seachem--ammonia kept climbing despite frequent water changes in QT PRIOR to using Stability. I also suggest an ammonia monitor by Seachem. It worked awesomely!


I also placed a tiny led light on a timer with a night light near by so it was never full dark. Reduced fish jitters.

[Mrs. Music]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...8&highlight=qt

[Mrs. Music]

If you are interested in my saga treating ich.