Do you Quarantine or Dip your Corals?

Discussion in 'Coral' started by inwall75, Jul 24, 2008.

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Do you FW Dip or QT new coral purchases

  1. I Quarantine Only

    2 vote(s)
    5.1%
  2. I Freshwater Dip Only

    8 vote(s)
    20.5%
  3. I Freshwater Dip and then Quarantine

    6 vote(s)
    15.4%
  4. What the heck are you talking about?

    23 vote(s)
    59.0%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. wildreef

    wildreef Stylophora

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  3. adam

    adam Montipora Digitata

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    QT or Freshwater dip Corals

    I have never FW dip or QT corals. I have never had a problem. Maybe just bought good stuff and lucky. I have bristleworms which are pretty normal in tanks. I used to qt fish in clout for a week. I never thought of dipping my corals. LFS stores always just say float for 20 mins and put it or you can acclimate longer for a better guarantee of not having a problem.
    Adam
     
  4. ssgheislerswife

    ssgheislerswife Ritteri Anemone

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    Your LFS only recommends a float? I would seriously doubt their credibility!

    I do a 45 minute slow drip acclimation into my quarantine and another 45 minute slow drip acclimation (a minimum of 7 days, usually 2 weeks later) into the display.

    Just in case you don't know how to do that...and don't want to search...

    SLOWLY dump the water from the LFS bag into a 2 gallon bucket, allowing the fish to swim into the bucket from the bag (if you're acclimating a coral, snail or other invert, grab it with your hand and place it in the bucket). Never pour water directly on the invert. Take a small tube (I use 1/4 inch tube) and tie a loose knot in it and start syphoning water from the tank. All you should get is a slow trickle. Let the water flow into the bucket for about 45 minutes, or until you have doubled the volume of water in the bucket.

    Net the fish/invert or pick it up and swish it in some RO/DI water for about 20 seconds. Then slowly place it in your tank. I'm really careful to not allow the fish to swim in the RO/DI water.

    I didn't follow this procedure with my first two fish...the second one died, nor did I with my first set of snails...5 out of 6 were flushed. With my rainford goby, that I've now had for a week, I did and so far so good. He's in the q/t and he appears healthy. I've done so with all my corals and no unwanted hitchhikers nor unexplained deaths to speak of.

    It takes time and some expense setting up a q/t but it is SO worth it in peace of mind alone.
     
  5. ReefSparky

    ReefSparky Super Moderator

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    The main idea behind acclimation is to "temper" the new addition's previous water with your own. This brings the chemistry of the tank water and the fish bag's water to equillibrium. The above how-to addresses the chemical aspect, but neglects temperature. It's important to make sure you acclimate not only the water's components, but its temperature too.

    FWIW, I take the bag with the new addition and simply float it in my tank. I give it ample time to insure the fish's bag and my tank water are the same temp. Afterwards I'll take the appropriate size measuring cup and remove whatever volume I'm about to add. By appropriate I mean a unit of measure that won't shock the fish with the first shot of water. If the new fish bag has a quart of water in it, I'll use something like a quarter cup measure. If it contains 24 oz. or less, I'll use a tablespoon.

    So using a 1/4 cu. measuring cup I'll discard that amount from the bag, and replace it with tank water. Every 15 min's I'll do this until I've added about what the bag contained in the first place.

    When I've replaced 100% (equal volume) of the LFS water with my tank water, I'll remove the fish with my hand (I don't like nets unless I'm removing something dead from my tank) and place the fish into a small 1G bucket with newly-drawn RO/DI water for a FW bath for about a minute, or less if the fish shows signs of stress.

    I place the fish into the tank using my hand again. If I suspect trouble, I'll shut the lights first, or feed the tank and place the fish in while everyone's feeding. Quarantine is a great thing if you want to do it. I don't have a quarantine tank and maybe I'm lucky, but no casualties as of yet.

    This method has worked for me with tangs with no ich outbreak--and that's good enough for me.
     
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  6. liegeofinveracity

    liegeofinveracity Coral Banded Shrimp

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    ...the night time... is the right time...
    wow, i never even considered quarantine or a dip for corals.yet i have a very long drawn out and overkilled procedure for fish! sometimes its the most common sense things that we just don't see i guess.
     
  7. ssgheislerswife

    ssgheislerswife Ritteri Anemone

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    I do float the bag...for about a half an hour. I am so anal, I have separate nets, one for trash and dead stuff and one for adding new livestock. I also always add new livestock to the display after lights out. I figure it gives it time to rest before my Royal Gramma (who thinks its a Tang) finds it and starts harassing it...
     
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  9. Reeron

    Reeron Blue Ringed Angel

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    Big mouth? That's what mine used to look like when I added new fish. It's mouth was like a snake's (he could open it wider than his body). It was funny to see such a peaceful creature being so mean. He was quick about it though, only lasted for about 20 minutes. Then he couldn't care less.
     
  10. ssgheislerswife

    ssgheislerswife Ritteri Anemone

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    You got it! It also liked to knock over the frogspawn which was wedged into a hole on the LR, I found it in the sand 15 minutes after I put it in. To fix that I had to drill a hole in a piece of rubble and then glue it in place. He tried to knock it over and looked like he'd run into the glass, which he does often!
     
  11. ReefSparky

    ReefSparky Super Moderator

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    LOL. Some fish don't have much sense!

    I love the fish who poops, then turns around and says, "Hey, food!!" tries it, spits it out and says, "Ooh, guess that wasn't food."

    Then 3 seconds later he says, "Hey, food!!" tries it, spits it out and says, "Ooh, guess that wasn't food." The fish will do that for about as long as that poop is waterborne.

    To me, that's proof positive that fish are simply not that quick witted.
     
    1 person likes this.
  12. ssgheislerswife

    ssgheislerswife Ritteri Anemone

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    OMG,, the Gramma does that ALL the time!!! I swear I watched it chase cat hair for about 15 minutes the other day...BTW-how do you keep cat hair out of your tank? It's such a PITA!!!! I have to syphon it out with every water change...