Calypso's Quarantine Protocol

Calypso's Quarantine Protocol is the culmination of the past 17 years of practicing our own  quarantine procedure and collaborating with other field experts.  We believe our procedure(s) remedy saltwater fish of the 4  main marine diseases as thoroughly as any while we take extra care to keep the health of each individual fish in mind and react to their needs, accordingly.   Every fish is treated through our standard protocol and if additional care is needed it also will be administered. 

All fish go through our Comprehensive Medicated Quarantine Protocol. We use pharmaceutical grade medications instead of hobby grade which allows us to more properly treat any disease or parasites.

We prophylactically treat for these 4 main marine fish diseases in a myriad of ways

These diseases are as follows

1.  Marine Ich 

2.  Marine Velvet

3.  Flukes

4.  Uronema

Upon receipt of fish they are temperature acclimated to 81 degrees which is where all of our tanks/bath containers are are heated throughout our entre process,  as it is a standard reef temperature and helps keep lifecycles of diseases consistent so that  we can more effectively treat and evaluate them. 

Our distributors all keep their holding tanks at a specific gravity of 1.018.  Knowing this our receiving tanks and receiving baths are set there as well so only temperature acclimation is required. as from distributor to our baths is typically less than 5 hours so PH hasn't decreased significantly due to ammonia.

Our process begins with

1.  A 45-60 minute formalin bath.  This bath will get the fish as "clean" as possible before entering our receiving and quarantine tanks.

2.  Next the fish will go into a second bath dosed with Nitrofuracin Green.  We find this helps soothe the fish after the formalin bath in a number of ways.  First off it increases oxygenation to the gills to help heal any damage created by ammonia toxicity during the collection process.  Has been shown to heal somewhat all the way up to complete healing of this condition.  It can aid in healing of any puncture wounds on the surface of the fish created by attaching parasites.  It is also a wide spectrum antibiotic to begin any other detoxification process.  On top of that it is contain properties as an Anti- microbial, anti- protozoan, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal medicine.

3.  Next the fish will go into their receiving tanks, where they will sit for an average of 2 days, and longer if needed. Next, we begin very slowly raising the salinity in these tanks preparing for your home aquarium.  We let them get used to their new environment and to assure they are eating well and de-stressing from their previous journey.  We then begin raising the salinity by replacing all evaporation water with same temperature (81 degrees) premixed saltwater.  We ship at 1.025 specific gravity, so that is what our top off water is prepared to, which very very gradually over the course of 7-10 days along with very small daily water changes, will get us to our destination of 1.025 specific gravity.

3.  Next we dose a)chelated copper to the higher end of the "therapeutic level" and beyond to  make sure there's no chance of reinfection.   OR b) Chloroquine Phosphate to "therapeutic levels" 

4.  We also will begin using pharmaceutical grade Kanamycin Sulfate and Metronidazole as a wide coverage antibiotic.  These medications are effective for 48-72 hours in saltwater so they'll be dosed on every 3rd day.

5.  On the Following day, we will dose pharmaceutical grade Praziquantel.

6.  The day following praziquantel we do a large water change with matching parameters from salinity to temperature and ph.  This water is pre-dosed with an exact matching solution of either chelated copper OR Chloroquine Phosphate.

7.  This cycle of medication is repeated a total of 4 times.  This will get us safely through the known lifecycle of all treated diseases, as well as slightly extended to give us a little room for caution, in case something "slips through" it's known life cycle.  Also, at this point, we have reached the desired specific gravity of 1.025 over this long course which the fish handle with minimal or no stress.

We're not done yet! 

8.   Next the fish will undergo both receiving baths one more time of formalin and Nitrofuracin Green.  Following the Nitrofuracin Green bath they will be "rinsed" in a matching fresh dip of saltwater to remove the last remnants of any medication.

9.  Finally, after all of these procedures,, the fish are considered "clean" of these parasites.  But there's one last thing before they are ready to go to their new homes.

10.  We like to "observe" them in sterile non medicated tanks  for any possible "misses" in treatment for a full 14 days following treatment.  It also gives us the opportunity to make sure they are still eating and looking great before they head to your home aquarium.  If anything were to get through our process, it almost definitely will show itself within this 14 day process.