- Location
- Ijamsville Md
you scream, i scream, we all scream for... quarantine!! that is how that saying goes, right?
I got to say that I love the atmosphere lately on the boards. more and more we get PMs and calls on our qt protocols for fish and coral. you also see a lot more posts nowadays on folks working together with legitimate and accurate information on how to get through a situation with a pest or parasite, what are best practices, folks setting up coral quarantine tanks, etc.
It's one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk. as the reefer becomes more knowledgeable and aware more than ever of what a proper quarantine protocol looks and sounds like we are able to make educated decisions about where the coral and fish for our tanks come from.
lately, business has really been tremendous; we've been doing very well and I'd like to think it is because of our impeccable customer service, the healthiest and most beautiful assortment of corals, and our always very fair and reasonable prices. that being said, what I've been actually hearing lately from our customers most is how they truly appreciate the care and attention given to the frag or colony they just picked up or had shipped to their door.
for fish this means:
- minimizing the chain of custody and obtaining the healthiest specimens possible from the get-go from as direct a source from country of origin exporter to our door as possible by leveraging negotiated relationships with divers and collection site managers
- fish are brought into and un-packaged in a dimly lit room. they are pH, salinity, and temperature acclimated.
- assuming they are asymptomatic for brookynella, amyloodinium ocellatum, or any other quick-killer they are allowed to de-stress and continue acclimating over the course of 7-10 days while they are fed seven to ten times a day LRS fish or reef frenzy and if needed live BBS, clams on the half shell, etc. whatever it takes to get them eating very well
- once they are eating and adjusted very well then we do not begin prophylaxis for another week. this is done with cupramine or chloroquine phosphate, furan-2, and praziquantel/FW dips. if symptoms are shown for any parasite, malady, or bacterial infection unaffected by above prophylactic treatment, then they are dealt with individually with appropriate treatment.
- we do not rely on outside vendors/wholesalers to quarantine our livestock. we've worked with most of them and there are often issues that arise or shortcuts taken. the only people and protocols we can trust are our own to ensure 100% confidence in what we provide our customers.
- treatment continues for 4 weeks.
- during those four weeks customer food choices are introduced if any in particular and fish continue to thrive on LRS food selections.
- after four weeks of therapeutic levels of treatment, all FW dips and rounds of praziquantel are completed, medications are removed via activated carbon, skimming, and water changes.
- fish are given at least one more week to continue eating frequent meals and regain any lost vigor without treatment and observed multiple times a day
for coral this means:
- most of our coral is hand-selected in person ensuring the very best, healthiest, and most colorful coral.
- all coral is carefully and closely inspected for unwanted pests
- coral is dipped in bayer and/or coral rx pro
- if AEFW/eggs or red bugs are found on a coral colony or frag, it is immediately discarded. it will not enter quarantine.
- all acropora is quarantined for at least 4 weeks and most commonly 8-10 weeks to ensure the color of the acropora holds in a captive environment, the health of the specimen, there were multiple opportunities to find any potential pests via daily inspections or weekly dips
- all acropora is dipped in bayer once a week for at least four weeks while undergoing daily inspections
- we never offer fresh cuts. even of all the aqua-cultured colonies. everything we frag and sell has had at least three weeks to heal and encrust which offers the healthiest coral and highest chance of livelihood in our customer's tanks.
typing it all out in modest detail like that it still seems like a lot of work. but it is this diligence and consistent effort that separates us from the rest. we don't look for the short cuts and i'm confident this is what shows in every customer order.
as we begin to tackle the online-order market we found our website is not up to par. despite past attempts at rejuvenation it became clear that to match our mission, level of service, and meet demand, a full over-haul was required. a few weeks ago we enlisted the help of some wonderful web professionals and over the coming weeks will have a newly designed, efficient, and effective site that will allow for unique customer features across all our product offerings (evergrow LED lights, dry goods, frozen food, and of course, coral). please be patient as great things are coming as we continue to evolve and surpass your expectations.
we hope that if you haven't experienced everything ERC has to offer that you'll soon allow us to exceed your expectations with a truly superb piece of goodness for your reef!
I got to say that I love the atmosphere lately on the boards. more and more we get PMs and calls on our qt protocols for fish and coral. you also see a lot more posts nowadays on folks working together with legitimate and accurate information on how to get through a situation with a pest or parasite, what are best practices, folks setting up coral quarantine tanks, etc.
It's one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk. as the reefer becomes more knowledgeable and aware more than ever of what a proper quarantine protocol looks and sounds like we are able to make educated decisions about where the coral and fish for our tanks come from.
lately, business has really been tremendous; we've been doing very well and I'd like to think it is because of our impeccable customer service, the healthiest and most beautiful assortment of corals, and our always very fair and reasonable prices. that being said, what I've been actually hearing lately from our customers most is how they truly appreciate the care and attention given to the frag or colony they just picked up or had shipped to their door.
for fish this means:
- minimizing the chain of custody and obtaining the healthiest specimens possible from the get-go from as direct a source from country of origin exporter to our door as possible by leveraging negotiated relationships with divers and collection site managers
- fish are brought into and un-packaged in a dimly lit room. they are pH, salinity, and temperature acclimated.
- assuming they are asymptomatic for brookynella, amyloodinium ocellatum, or any other quick-killer they are allowed to de-stress and continue acclimating over the course of 7-10 days while they are fed seven to ten times a day LRS fish or reef frenzy and if needed live BBS, clams on the half shell, etc. whatever it takes to get them eating very well
- once they are eating and adjusted very well then we do not begin prophylaxis for another week. this is done with cupramine or chloroquine phosphate, furan-2, and praziquantel/FW dips. if symptoms are shown for any parasite, malady, or bacterial infection unaffected by above prophylactic treatment, then they are dealt with individually with appropriate treatment.
- we do not rely on outside vendors/wholesalers to quarantine our livestock. we've worked with most of them and there are often issues that arise or shortcuts taken. the only people and protocols we can trust are our own to ensure 100% confidence in what we provide our customers.
- treatment continues for 4 weeks.
- during those four weeks customer food choices are introduced if any in particular and fish continue to thrive on LRS food selections.
- after four weeks of therapeutic levels of treatment, all FW dips and rounds of praziquantel are completed, medications are removed via activated carbon, skimming, and water changes.
- fish are given at least one more week to continue eating frequent meals and regain any lost vigor without treatment and observed multiple times a day
for coral this means:
- most of our coral is hand-selected in person ensuring the very best, healthiest, and most colorful coral.
- all coral is carefully and closely inspected for unwanted pests
- coral is dipped in bayer and/or coral rx pro
- if AEFW/eggs or red bugs are found on a coral colony or frag, it is immediately discarded. it will not enter quarantine.
- all acropora is quarantined for at least 4 weeks and most commonly 8-10 weeks to ensure the color of the acropora holds in a captive environment, the health of the specimen, there were multiple opportunities to find any potential pests via daily inspections or weekly dips
- all acropora is dipped in bayer once a week for at least four weeks while undergoing daily inspections
- we never offer fresh cuts. even of all the aqua-cultured colonies. everything we frag and sell has had at least three weeks to heal and encrust which offers the healthiest coral and highest chance of livelihood in our customer's tanks.
typing it all out in modest detail like that it still seems like a lot of work. but it is this diligence and consistent effort that separates us from the rest. we don't look for the short cuts and i'm confident this is what shows in every customer order.
as we begin to tackle the online-order market we found our website is not up to par. despite past attempts at rejuvenation it became clear that to match our mission, level of service, and meet demand, a full over-haul was required. a few weeks ago we enlisted the help of some wonderful web professionals and over the coming weeks will have a newly designed, efficient, and effective site that will allow for unique customer features across all our product offerings (evergrow LED lights, dry goods, frozen food, and of course, coral). please be patient as great things are coming as we continue to evolve and surpass your expectations.
we hope that if you haven't experienced everything ERC has to offer that you'll soon allow us to exceed your expectations with a truly superb piece of goodness for your reef!
