q tank for corals

[Samper]

Someone please go over with me what I need to be able to quarantine corals. I need a safe haven when problems come along like the one I'm having now and a nice place to put new pieces for observation. I assume it's slightly different than a fish q tank.
Right now I have the following
a 30 gallon tank
a prizm skimmer
some mj powerheads
a heater
sand and some misc unused base rock

I was going to buy 2 lights of america fixtures with the 100 w 65k bulbs.
Other than that what do I need and how do you guys have your coral q tanks set up? Pics also would be nice.
Thanks

[Reefland]

I wonder if trying to treat or q a coral in a seperate tank is a good idea? Moving corals to different water and lighting conditions is pretty stressful, it would seem that you would have a better chance of recovery in the main tank.

[zhenya]

I personally think that having quarantine tank for corals is a great idea Chuck. Sometimes, and I am talking about recovering corals, reduced light is much more beneficial than having it blasted with the halides. Just make sure you have water parameters as close to the display as possible,provide enough water movement and you should be set to go.
Newly purchased pieces would benefit from quarantine as well, give you a chance to observe the coral for any pests or desease developing.
I think acclimating a coral from quarantine to display shouldn't be all that difficult if you do it carefully and match water parameters.

[Reefland]

I guess the question for me is, how stressful is it for a coral to be moved to different conditions, even in the same tank?

[golfish]

I need a safe haven when problems come along like the one I'm having now

I did a quick search and didn't see any threads about the problems your having.. What kind of problems are you have? I'm getting close to being expert on problems, I have em all.

[zhenya]

I did a quick search and didn't see any threads about the problems your having.. What kind of problems are you have? I'm getting close to being expert on problems, I have em all.

Is this it, Chuck?
macro in display = bad idea

I guess the question for me is, how stressful is it for a coral to be moved to different conditions, even in the same tank?

Scott,

I think it all depends on the coral and if and when that coral may have some problems. I had moved lots of frags to different locations within the same tank without any noticeable problems. I almost always place new frags on the very bottom of the tank and than gradually move them upwards. Sometimes I move entire colony to a different spot just to gain some room...it usually takes a little bit of re-acclimating and the coral continues to grow and do well.
But, I think the quarantine idea is entirely different thing. If you just recieved new coral you can easily acclimate it to the quarantine tank the same way you'd do it if you were acclimating it to your main display. Keeping it in a quarantine for a month or so wouldn't hurt it at all, I think. The upside is that it gives you chance to see if that coral has any pests and what not. The main thing, in my opinion, is that you have to maintain this tank as close to the display as possible.

[Samper]

Yes Gene, that's the problem I'm having. I had some polyp bail out and now my herpolitha a fungia and an acan echinata are showing signs of the problem spreading.

[zhenya]

Yes Gene, that's the problem I'm having. I had some polyp bail out and now my herpolitha a fungia and an acan echinata are showing signs of the problem spreading.

Hi Chuck,

Do you actually see this brown jelly forming on the tissue? Also, do you have Eric Borneman's book "Aquarium Corals"? If you do, look on p.381 where he describes this malady and possible ways of dealing with it. If you don;t have the book I can type it out for you right in this thread.
Basically what he said is that it is an infection(protozoan) that usually follows some sort of trauma or accidental damage to the tissue. Opportunistic protozoans(e.g. Helicostoma ) and some other organisms as well begin to digest this injured tissue, it is what you see in a form of this brown, jelly-like mass. He also states that it may progress very quickly and even affect other colonies and spread this way throughout the tank.

Let me know if you need the info on a potential treatments.

I'm really sorry to hear you are going through this.

[Samper]

Gene, I did see the brown jelly on my hammer but it seems to have gone away. Whatever is left behind has spread to a few other corals and they are now looking like crap. I don't have the book. All I have that discusses this is Anthony Calfos book which does have some advice. Kevinpo told me to get a dip for it but no one carries it locally.

[zhenya]

Chuck,

PM me your address and I'll send you this book. Don't worry, I have two of them so it;s not a big deal. ;)
I'm surprized that the brown jelly( if that's what it was) had gone so quickly from the coral. Usually, if nothing is done about it, the protozoans will consume the entire tissue mass. The coral dip that Kevin had recommended is basically a Lugol's, I think. I would ask Kevin what the main ingredients are on the bottle as well, perhaps you can just do a Lugol's dip for the coral to kill most of the bacteria and Eric also recommended fresh water dip for that as well( Very short duration for the fresh water)

Whatever is left behind has spread to a few other corals and they are now looking like crap.

Can you expound on that? What exactly is left behind, can you describe it?

[Samper]

I just meant that the brown jelly has disappeared but another infection has spread and caused some problems to a fungia and herpolitha as well as an ugly acan echinata. Tissue has discolored and begun to pull away from the skeleton. Everything else seems to be fine though.

I've pm'd you my address but I insist on paying for shipping at the very least.

[zhenya]

I just meant that the brown jelly has disappeared but another infection has spread and caused some problems to a fungia and herpolitha as well as an ugly acan echinata. Tissue has discolored and begun to pull away from the skeleton. Everything else seems to be fine though.

Hmmm, that's interesting. I don't think tissue discoloration would be related to the brown jelly thing though. Have you done water changes and carbon thingy? I think something like that definately advocates having a quarantine tank on hand so you can isolate affected corals and perhaps medicate them.

[Samper]

Yeah I've done all I know to do. I'm just riding it out now. How important is it to have the water chemistry the same if your bringing home new corals for quarantine? Seems to me they would adapt to the q tank then a few weeks later adapt again to the display once moved over.

[zhenya]

Yeah I've done all I know to do. I'm just riding it out now. How important is it to have the water chemistry the same if your bringing home new corals for quarantine? Seems to me they would adapt to the q tank then a few weeks later adapt again to the display once moved over.

I think it would be important to keep water chemistry as close as possible to the main tank, which in itself shouldn't be very difficult to do. There shouldn't be big demand on Ca or Alk and water changes should maintain water just fine. As far as nitrogen goes, water changes should take care of that as well.
I think.

[BubbaWPB]

I was watching one of the talks given at IMAC 2005 and the guy who talked about tridacnid clams was talking about the importance of having a q tank for everything, including coral. He gave the example of how someone brought home a $15 frag and wound up infecting and killing over $2000 worth of coral in his reef tank.... or something like that.... it sure made sense to me after hearing that story.

[BubbaWPB]

The guy was Barry Neigut and the talk can be seen at www.theimac.org/Barry.wmv