QT Time?

[aelene]

What is the shortest time period I can leave a spotted mandarin in quarantine (new addition) and still be safe? I want him in the main tank asap since all the live rock is in the MT not the QT. Any suggestions? I have some mysis shrimp I'm feeding him in the meantime, but I'm worried he won't have enough nutrition on that alone.

 

[tizzo]

Can you simply put a rock from your DT into your QT??
He himself will most likely be immune to most parasites however he can bring them into and introduce them to your fish (as mine did). I would QT him for at least 3 weeks, and monitor his breathing as well as his skin, fins, eyes, and shape. Mine, the one who brought in parasites, seemed to "yawn" a lot. By a lot, I mean pretty much every time I looked at him for over a minute, I would see him doing it. It shoulda been a red flag, but I was under the impression they were naturally safe.

 

[alyssia]

I didn't QT my mandarin... :notsure: anyway, everything turned out fine.

 

[beth]

Unless you have a source for pod feedings, such as harvesting from a refugium, then I would not leave a mandarin in a QT.

 

[aelene]

Well I put a decent size piece of live rock (with some hair algae on it) in the tank with him, and I bought a bottle of pods to help out. I figured I could put the some of the bottle in close to the hair algae so they have somewhere to "hide" so to speak. I am also feeding mysis shrimp.
Beth - would you put him straight into the main tank then? What are your thoughts on having a mandarin in a 40g? I will be building a sump this weekend and am adding a fuge for him. I had someone in the DIY forum comment saying he wouldn't even put one in a 110g tank with live rock, but that goes against what I have heard in the past. Any thoughts?

 

[tizzo]

Well, just be careful. I put my mandarin straight into my main tank and every one of my fish got this unidentifyable parasite!! He was my only addition, so I have absolutely no doubt it was him, but because I put him straight into my DT, all of my corals had to be removed, all of my fish had to be chased down and QT'ed and as a result of the small and crowded qt, my tang started to get HLLE. All is fine now, but I would NEVER add another fish without qting, not even a mandarin!! That is my experience.