Do you Quarantine or Dip your Corals?

Be careful with the word "all," tangster!

I prefer other food, myself.

 

I use tincture of iodine...20 drops per liter of tank water. I put my new corals in the dip(after acclimation) for 8 minutes, then dip them in tank water before putting them in the tank. My corals are currently limited to several zoanthids, blastomussas, mushrooms, a caulastrea, a ricordea colony, and a kenya tree coral.

 

technicalities...

If you dip, how do you acclimate? Or do you?Seems counterintuative to out the back into lfs water after a dip- of course some of mine have been packed with no water, just a piece of plastic holding moisture in.

 

I don't really acclimate corals except to float them in the tank for a little while to adjust for temperature.

 

I acclimate first by floating the bags in the tank (unopened) for 15 minutes. I then open the bag, and add 1/4 C of tank water every 5 minutes until the volume of water in the bag is doubled. Meanwhile, I am prepping my dipping containers. The first container contains 20 drops of tincture of iodine per liter of tank water. I do not prep these containers until I am ready to dip for temperature reasons. The second container just tank water. I place the specimens in the iodine container for 7-8 minutes, then dip them (rinse) in the second container. They are then placed into the tank...with the lights off for at least 12 hours. I have not lost a single specimen since I have been doing this.

 

It's really ok to place the fish is straight RO/DI water??

What is the goal of this step, to remove parasites of the fish?

 

i dip most my corals first but i should start a Qt.

 

i havent purchased any corals for my tank as of yet (only two months since its startup) but from research i have done its almost necessary to dip / qt if you dont want nuisances hitchhiking.

i have a 10gal tank prepared for a use as a QT with a frag rack that i made out of egg crate. ill use it for coral and fish QT. for dips ill just a spare saltwater bucket.

 

Not to hijack, but to add to this older thread's content i have 2 questions...I have a qt tank now that I'm using copper in to treat an ich outbreak. I plan to use the qt in the furture for new fish arrivals, with copper.

1) is this a good plan for new fish additions
2) i can't use this same qt for corals, can I? won't the copper be a problem? do I really need a seperate qt for corals only?

 

Re: Do you Quarantine or Freshwater Dip your Corals?

NO. Ro/di water has a ph of 7. You want to match the ph and temperature for a FW dip.