Doc's Aquatics Quarantine Process

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#1
Hey guys,
I wanted to post an informational thread on my current quarantine process and hopefully make it an ongoing thread where everyone can share their quarantine and treatment procedures that they have had success with

So a little background on me for those who don't know me.
I got my start in this hobby 20 years ago at the ripe young age of 12 years old. I've met so many awesome people in that time and have learned so much through trial and error

My approach to quarantine comes from a strong background in combat trauma medicine and emergency medicine. I was a Navy Corpsman (combat medic) with Marine Corps Infantry for 5 years. Hence my busniness' name, Doc's Aquatics. I then went on to work as an EMT for San Bernardino County Fire. So I have a rather aggressive treatment approach with saltwater fish lol

So now on to the important stuff, my QT process!

All of my fish undergo 30 days in copper power. I maintain therapeutic levels of 2.0-2.5 ppm by monitoring with the hannah copper checker as this have given me the best results

Fish are given freshwater dips throughout the first 3 weeks to control any flukes, then on approximately day 24 and 29 they are treated with general cure to completely eradicate them

I feed the fish foods soaked in seachem focus, metroplex, kanaplex, furan 2, and vitachem for the first 14 days of treatment. Alot of people lose their fish to secondary infections or internal parasites without even knowing it. You can completely get rid of ich, velvet, or flukes but the fish could still easily develop an infection from one of the microscopic injuries left behind by parasites

I will also give my fish 45 minute baths in ruby reef rally. That stuff can really help to provide relief to fish infected with brookynella or velvet

I run UV sterilizers throughout the entire quarantine process (minus the two days of general cure treatment) to prevent bacterial blooms and maintain water quality. It also does help keep parasite populations down but of course does not completely eradicate them. It is often believed that you cannot run UV while running copper as the UV will breakdown the copper into toxic levels. This only applies to ionic copper such as cupramine. Chelated copper like copper power or coppersafe are ok to run with UV

I would like to add that this is only how I run my quarantine tanks. Much like medicine in humans, there a so many proven methods to treat fish. Many people like to observe and only treat what they see, and there is nothing wrong with this approach. People experimenting with new methods of treatment will make the survival rate of these fish skyrocket. I am very interested in playing around with hydrogen peroxide treatment. It is still very much in its experimental phase right now but I know people like @mattyzang have had alot of success with it

I'd love to hear any questions or criticisms you guys have of my process. Also, please share your own quarantine process if you have one, or if you've had success with some kind of disease management system. I'd love to hear everyone's experiences on how they've been able to beat these diseases that can cause major headaches for us hobbyists
 
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#2
i live locally to deven so i've picked up fish from him before and seen his system, so i can say he isn't BSing on the process.

beyond the medicating portion, he truly seems to have a knack for getting difficult fish to eat normal foods. this is worth the extra money right there imo. i have a copperband from deven that eats mysis and all kinds of other stuff along with clams. and i have a potters angel from him that eats literally anything. and last time i was at his house he had a regal angel and a bunch of other difficult fish he was working on

before i found out about deven i ordered some pre-QTed fish from some of the online guys and they're all cool, although some basically told me "those fish are hard" lol, but paying and dealing with shipping can be a major bummer. i just got 2 fish from a dude in minnesota and fedex casually left them at an airport in Indianapolis for an extra day. luckily seems they are doing well, but that's not something you have to worry about with someone local. not to mention they all have their own wholesale places they go through and some wholesale lists are not overly extensive. deven has access to a whole bunch of the LA wholesale places so he can find pretty much any fish. except magnificent foxfaces :D
 
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#3
i live locally to deven so i've picked up fish from him before and seen his system, so i can say he isn't BSing on the process.

beyond the medicating portion, he truly seems to have a knack for getting difficult fish to eat normal foods. this is worth the extra money right there imo. i have a copperband from deven that eats mysis and all kinds of other stuff along with clams. and i have a potters angel from him that eats literally anything. and last time i was at his house he had a regal angel and a bunch of other difficult fish he was working on

before i found out about deven i ordered some pre-QTed fish from some of the online guys and they're all cool, although some basically told me "those fish are hard" lol, but paying and dealing with shipping can be a major bummer. i just got 2 fish from a dude in minnesota and fedex casually left them at an airport in Indianapolis for an extra day. luckily seems they are doing well, but that's not something you have to worry about with someone local. not to mention they all have their own wholesale places they go through and some wholesale lists are not overly extensive. deven has access to a whole bunch of the LA wholesale places so he can find pretty much any fish. except magnificent foxfaces :D
Thank you Matt for the kind words! I have so many people asking for magnificent foxfaces its ridiculous. They just aren't coming in anywhere lol. I will be starting a nutrition post soon, but thats a whole different beast. It is one of the most important parts of success with fish though. You cannot expect to keep a fish like a copperband and only feed pellets that it literally is unable to eat. I constantly say people wonder why they can't keep fish alive, but underfeed for the sake of their corals. Ill get into the nutrition stuff another day though and stop my ranting about it lol
 
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#6
I have a purple tang from Devon and he’s happy, healthy and beautiful. I’ve also got a batch of about 10 fish on order from him that is going through the process now.

Highly recommended to get your fish through him! Excellent prices considering all he does to keep your new fish safe to add!


The Darkness is my Dagger. The Shadows are My Security.
 
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#7
Awesome article Devon... thank you for sharing. This really helps alot specially for a newbie. I was always hesitant to qt my fish not because its difficult or dont have the time and space but because I lack the knowledge and a concern that I might make things worst.. this helps....I just have a few questions if you dont mind...

1.. when you mix the meds to their food, how much of each meds are u using to soak? Are you just making 1 big cocktail of meds and soaking the food?
2. You mentioned a fresh water dip during the first 3 weeks. Are you dipping them once a week or 1 time in the period of 3 weeks.
3. When and how often do you soak in Ruby rally?
4. I have an old hob protein skimmer, is it worth it to used it? Or will this remove medication...
5. Lastly, thinking about putting a small rock to seed my tank. I heard that chelook ayed copper does not kill the good bacteria.. any thoughts on this? I know the rock will absorb copper not sure by how much....

Thanks

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#8
Awesome article Devon... thank you for sharing. This really helps alot specially for a newbie. I was always hesitant to qt my fish not because its difficult or dont have the time and space but because I lack the knowledge and a concern that I might make things worst.. this helps....I just have a few questions if you dont mind...

1.. when you mix the meds to their food, how much of each meds are u using to soak? Are you just making 1 big cocktail of meds and soaking the food?
2. You mentioned a fresh water dip during the first 3 weeks. Are you dipping them once a week or 1 time in the period of 3 weeks.
3. When and how often do you soak in Ruby rally?
4. I have an old hob protein skimmer, is it worth it to used it? Or will this remove medication...
5. Lastly, thinking about putting a small rock to seed my tank. I heard that chelook ayed copper does not kill the good bacteria.. any thoughts on this? I know the rock will absorb copper not sure by how much....

Thanks

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Hey there! Happy to help and I really hope that I can help ease your fears of qt by answering any questions you have
1.. when you mix the meds to their food, how much of each meds are u using to soak? Are you just making 1 big cocktail of meds and soaking the food?

I use the scoop that comes with with the seachem products in a 1:1 ratio with the focus. So 1 scoop of focus and 1 scoop of the other three meds. I like to make bigger batches though since I have so many fish to feed so mine ends up being two scoops. You want to make batches that only last about 3 days or so. After that the food begins to spoil in the fridge

2. You mentioned a fresh water dip during the first 3 weeks. Are you dipping them once a week or 1 time in the period of 3 weeks.

It usually ends up averaging once a week. I watch for any flashing, scatching or head shaking which are signs of flukes. It is more of an as need treatment

3. When and how often do you soak in Ruby rally?

This is also an as needed treatment. If I see any fish swimming into the high flow areas then they immediately get a freshwater dip and then a ruby reef rally bath the following day

4. I have an old hob protein skimmer, is it worth it to used it? Or will this remove medication...

If you are going to run copper power or coppersafe, it is definitely worth it! Protein skimming actually only removes a minimal amount of copper contrary to popular belief. It only removes the amount of copper that is in the water volume removed in the skimmate. My next big upgrade to my systems is to get some decent skimmers on them

5. Lastly, thinking about putting a small rock to seed my tank. I heard that chelook ayed copper does not kill the good bacteria.. any thoughts on this? I know the rock will absorb copper not sure by how much....

You're correct chelated copper does not kill the nitrifying bacteria. I would however recommend that instead of a rock using filter media such as the fluval ceramic rings or seachem matrix. Both of these have been proven to not absorb chelated copper and the last thing you want is for your level to drop below therapeutic!

I hope this was helpful to you. Lmk if you have any other questions at all!
 
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#9
Thanks Devon... very very much appreciate it. Iam starting to see the light. With regards to fish swimming in high flow area, thats is interesting. I have seen some of my fish do that but i dont see any physical signs.. now that you mentioned it, i will keep an eye on it... thank you once again...

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#10
This is awesome... I hope more hobbyists actually decide to either purchase quarantined fish or do the quarantine themselves rather than dropping fish in their tanks and hoping for the best.

I personally do what ends up being about a 3-week quarantine (pretty much the same as what humblefish describes on his website). All it takes is two small tanks (I have two 20L tanks)... medicate the fish at 2.0-2.50ppm with Copper Power, while also doing two rounds of Prazipro (which can be done at the same time as Copper Power), and adding in a few doses of Metronidazole (MetroPlex) and Kanamycin (Kanaplex) to make sure they are free from any internal parasites and/or any fungal/bacterial diseases. After the two weeks in this, I transfer them to an entirely separate tank (here is where the second tank comes into play) with completely separate equipment and watch for a few days (4-7 days) to make sure there are no signs of disease/parasites.

Does it take some time and work? Yes; but if you do this from the start (or get all of your fish from someone that quarantines for you), then you have VERY LITTLE chance of introducing fish diseases/parasites into your tank. And you know what takes more time and work? Tearing your tank apart to try and save a dying fish.

To be extra careful (and to reduce the "VERY LITTLE" chance to "Snow Ball Chance in Hell" chance, I am also quarantining any inverts that I get before it goes into my DT.

To each their own, but this seems like the LEAST we can do to make sure these animals live long, healthy lives that would otherwise have been spent in the ocean.
 
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#11
Its also great that reefer like Devon shares their knowledge to other reefer. Some people dont like to share info and like to give u false info or the run around...

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#13
This is awesome... I hope more hobbyists actually decide to either purchase quarantined fish or do the quarantine themselves rather than dropping fish in their tanks and hoping for the best.

I personally do what ends up being about a 3-week quarantine (pretty much the same as what humblefish describes on his website). All it takes is two small tanks (I have two 20L tanks)... medicate the fish at 2.0-2.50ppm with Copper Power, while also doing two rounds of Prazipro (which can be done at the same time as Copper Power), and adding in a few doses of Metronidazole (MetroPlex) and Kanamycin (Kanaplex) to make sure they are free from any internal parasites and/or any fungal/bacterial diseases. After the two weeks in this, I transfer them to an entirely separate tank (here is where the second tank comes into play) with completely separate equipment and watch for a few days (4-7 days) to make sure there are no signs of disease/parasites.

Does it take some time and work? Yes; but if you do this from the start (or get all of your fish from someone that quarantines for you), then you have VERY LITTLE chance of introducing fish diseases/parasites into your tank. And you know what takes more time and work? Tearing your tank apart to try and save a dying fish.

To be extra careful (and to reduce the "VERY LITTLE" chance to "Snow Ball Chance in Hell" chance, I am also quarantining any inverts that I get before it goes into my DT.

To each their own, but this seems like the LEAST we can do to make sure these animals live long, healthy lives that would otherwise have been spent in the ocean.
Very nice quarantine process man! It does take work like you said but it really increases your odds of success!
 
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#14
Its also great that reefer like Devon shares their knowledge to other reefer. Some people dont like to share info and like to give u false info or the run around...

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Yeah I really do my best to be as transparent as possible with my process. To be honest its not something that should be kept a secret. I invite reefer to check out my setup all the time so they know I'm not hiding anything. Plus, qt is something that should start becoming common practice for all reefer and the more everyone shares with eachother the better 😁
 
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#16
So does seachem coppermine kill nitrifying bacteria?
I am starting a nano quarantine for my nano fish. Debating if I should even bother with media or just do 100% water changes
 
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#17
So does seachem coppermine kill nitrifying bacteria?
I am starting a nano quarantine for my nano fish. Debating if I should even bother with media or just do 100% water changes
No it will not. I would recommend some form of chelated copper though since it is much easier on fish than cupramine. I would use media as it will be less effort and money to be honest. Every 100% water change is going to be cupramine that needs to be redosed
 
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#19
Yes inverts should be quarantined but this is one of those cases where you have to measure the risk vs reward. Technically everything wet we put into our tanks should be quarantined for 76 days. This means all corals, live rock, and inverts. This may not be realistic for most people and the chances of transmitting disease in this way is very low. Most of these "rules" come from aquaculture facilities. It is my personal belief that disease was more likely transmitted through human error and employees not taking responsibility for cross contamination
 
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#20
Thank you Matt for the kind words! I have so many people asking for magnificent foxfaces its ridiculous. They just aren't coming in anywhere lol. I will be starting a nutrition post soon, but thats a whole different beast. It is one of the most important parts of success with fish though. You cannot expect to keep a fish like a copperband and only feed pellets that it literally is unable to eat. I constantly say people wonder why they can't keep fish alive, but underfeed for the sake of their corals. Ill get into the nutrition stuff another day though and stop my ranting about it lol

copperband loves her some lrs!
 

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