Quarantine question

[kwajtrader]

Last Monday I purchased a flame hawk and a lawnmower blenny at my LFS. I had my 20g QT set up for a week before hand with a bare bottom, some PVC a small piece of LR and a bag of ceramic media both that I’ve had in my sump for a few weeks. I also had the filter pad for the HOT filter in the sump as well. The guy at the LFS recommended dosing for a week with copper followed by a week of a wide spectrum antibiotic. I bought all the stuff and headed home. After thinking it through I decided against it and I drip acclimated the new fish and put them in the QT. My plan is to follow the “spa” plan and keep an eye on them for the next three weeks and as long as they are eating well and looking healthy, I.E. no white spots, I plan on moving them to my DT. If I see signs of ich I’ll pull the LR and ceramic and dose with copper and start over. I did additional reading after putting them in the QT and realized that I skipped the step of dipping them. My question is should I dip them and start over or does this plan seem reasonable?

 

[shromy]

You should be fine.

 

[fish scales2]

Good choice, IMO on chosing the spa method and not copper.:thumbs:

If spots pop up then dip em before trying copper.

 

[kwajtrader]

When he told me to treat for a week with copper with the fish showing no signs of ich I should have called him on it. If I understand correctly unless it's in the trophant stage treatment is ineffective.

 

[coolsurf]

If you don't need to treat for any disease or parasite, than you should not. Copper is not the most pleasant experience a fish will go through and can even cause internal damage. Copper versus ich...if your losing the battle, than go with copper. I use it as a last resort only but have used it and it worked.

QT the new fish and watch for signs....way to go!

 

[texhorns98]

If they end up showing sign of ich, don't put that LR back in your main system. Might go without saying, but better safe than sorry!

 

[kwajtrader]

Thanks to all for the advice. I'm going to stay the course and if they still look healthy in 2 more weeks I'll moving them to the main tank.

I'll tell you, that flame hawk eats just about anything I put in the tank. I wish I could say that for the blenny. I think I've seen him pick at some of the flake food but just barely. I just bought some algae today that was soaked in garlic that I saw him nibble at. Hopefully he'll start eating more soon.