To QT or not to QT, that is the question.

[Jolieve]

So... after many months of debate over the issue... I have made a somewhat controversial decision... (well not really that controversial, everyone I have spoken to about the decision has been tremendously supportive).. I am going to try a baby hippo tang in my 75 gallon tank. About two inches long. This will be the last fish added to this system.

The majority of concerns with trying this have already been worked through, but one remains. Do I quarantine this guy or not? My LFS will be watching for one that is eating before I take it home, so I will not have to worry about that.

I worry about the extra stress involved with qt'ing a fish, the stress of more than one acclimation period... this is one of those cases where I am not sure the benefits outweigh the risks. I was considering doing a good long drip acclimate and adding him directly to the display instead. I think this would minimize stress and risks of ich.

Good idea, bad idea?

J.

 

[Anonymous]

You know the right answer, hun. :wink:

QT that tang for 30 days. That way if parasites or disease do show up, you'll be able to treat him without having to get him back out of your reef. You also can get him eating and used to life in captivity without any agression from other tankmates. It may seem like less stress to not QT, but it really isn't.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with Louey. Q-tanking is the smartest way. Taking shortcuts in this hobby often leads to disaster, which ends up being stressful for everyone involved, both you and the fish.

Save yourself some grief, and quarantine the lil beastie

 

[LauraH]

Definitely quarantine the little guy! I've got one in quarantine right now and he did come down with ich, which I have been treating him for and he is recovering very nicely. Perfect example of why it's important to QT, especially when the fish is intended for an aquarium with an established fish population.

 

[Jolieve]

Oh... if only there were shortcuts in this hobby. *chuckle*

No, I am not looking for the easy way out. Just looking to do the best thing for my livestock here. This will be the first fish that I've qt'd to date... I didn't qt the chromis, they were the first fish in. Lawnmower's are really ich hardy, and he was extremely stressed... I didn't qt my lawnmower either. My clowns... well.. I'm not sure why I didn't qt the clowns... other than the fact that I made the mistake of not asking the lfs to hold them for me, and they'd already gone through one acclimation that day before I got them home.

My qt is small... 10 gallons, and is totally bare. I'll make some arrangements to pretty it up a bit before I ask a baby hippo to live in there for a month. Maybe one of my friends has a spare tank that's a bit larger... or I can go pick a bigger one up this week... 10 gallons seems a tad small to ask the poor guy to live in for that length of time.

 

[LauraH]

You don't really need to worry about getting a larger quarantine tank for a fish of that size. If it were already full grown, I'd say that a 10 gal was too small, but for a 2" baby, it should do fine. Just be sure to provide it something to hide in. These guys really like their security blankets.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Laura

Why risk the tank?

Qt is not that hard, one 2" fish is not a lot of bioload

Put some 3-4 inch PVC elbows in there. The tank will hide in them and they are easy to clean up when the Qt is done being used

Good luck

Bryan

 

[ynd]

Just a question about QTs. Do you just set it up, add a powerfilter and thats it? Don't u need to cycle the QT or anything? Since bacteria will grow and cause high nitrites? I'm quite new at this.

 

[Anonymous]

You need to cycle the Qt tank, but the quickest and best way to do this it to fill it up with water from the main tank. Also, if you take the sponge that comes with the powerfilter and place it in your main tank, it will become colonized with the bacteria you need.

I have also found that adding Cycle can speed up the process imo

Bryan

 

[ynd]

Thanks Bryan, just another question, Do you need to QT new coral as well? If so, do you need to provide them with proper lighting?

 

[Anonymous]

I will let someone else answer that, I have no corals

Bryan

 

[Rlumenator]

How long does the filter need to be in the main sump to be "seasoned" ? When a new resident comes in, what do I do with the used sponge- boil, and put in sump again? Thanks, Dawn.

 

[ChrisRD]

How long does the filter need to be in the main sump to be "seasoned" ?

I'd give it a week or two.

When a new resident comes in, what do I do with the used sponge- boil, and put in sump again?

I'd base that on whether or not there was a problem in the tank. If you haven't had any sick fish in there, I'd just keep it running.

If you had a fish in there that got sick or had a parasite, then you might want to clean the system and start over before putting another fish in.

 

[Rlumenator]

If there is a problem- how do you clean the sponge, boil it, or just buy a naw one ?

 

[ChrisRD]

Boiling or soaking in a mild bleach solution (rinse thoroughly with clean water afterwards until there is no detectable scent of bleach) will pretty much nuke everything on the sponge.

 

[Anonymous]

I will add that if you're not confident that you have a sufficiently sensitive sense of smell you can certainly use sodium thiosulfate to completely dechlorinate, or allow to sit in open air at least 24 hours.

Also, boiling may have to be for a certain period of time, say five to ten minutes, and the same might need be said of bleach soak.

 

[Anonymous]

I would always QT any fish, but a hippo for sure. I have never been in an LFS where the hippos did not look sick. Not near death because most LFS keep copper in their fish only tanks, but just a little dusty or a spot here and there. Bad karma to put a dusty fish in your main tank.

Manny

 

[Anonymous]

Manny! Welcome to reefs.org! (You post like a pro )

Jo, there is no question that q/t is a must, quite honestly. It is absolutely required protocol for public aquariums, if it were so risky and stressful why would they risk it? Remember, many of these organizations are NPOs, they are hard pressed for cash, and if they suffer large losses their donors very well may pull funding. Do NOT skip q/t, not for ANY specimen, not EVER (I include EVERYTHING live that goes into your system, as does the p.a. I had personal experience with).

 

[Rlumenator]

Stupid question: what is p.a.?

 

[Anonymous]

Public aquarium.