A
Amphitrite
Guest
At Oceans by Design we are very adamant about selling the healthiest fish possible. All fish that enter our facility go into quarantine. Our process lasts from 2 weeks to months. We are very proud to share with you how we treat our fish and the process in which we administer medication.
1. Acclimate fish to water temperature. We float all fish and invertebrates for 30 min. to acclimate to our water temp.
2. Acclimate fish to pH. We drip acclimate all fish and invertebrates for 2 hours to allow for the acclimation to the pH that we are running in the store.
3. All fish enter into quarantine and are treated with Cupramine, we chose cupramine because it is more tolerated by some of the more copper sensitive fish(butterflies, angels, dragonets, and jawfish to name a few) and a dewormer (praziPro).
4. All fish are monitored and if they appear to be stressed the fish is removed and isolated.
5. Fish are fed a minimum of three times a day, small amounts. Once a day the food is soaked in Metronidazole (antibiotic)
6. For two weeks all fish are treated with a formalin bath, every other day, this is to control external parasitic infections of fish. Formalin is effective in killing parasites on gills, fins, and skin.
7. For two weeks all fish are treated with Neomycin bath, every other alternating day to the formalin treatment, this is to control bacterial infections.
Throughout this initial process all fish are closely monitored. All the fish water in the store is running at the same pH, salinity, and temp. The quarantine system is its own system. Our display aquariums are on two separate systems, with each aquarium plumbed so we can isolate one tank and bring it offline.
At Oceans by Design we run our salinity at 1.024 - 1.026 and our pH is 8.1 – 8.3 and our temp is 78.2. We monitor our systems daily; this is to minimize any swings. Our water parameters are tested daily. We use RODI water that we make in the store. The fish systems are running ozone, and uv, bio-pellet reactors and carbon.
Our coral systems are on a separate system and the water is tested to ensure that we have appropriate water parameters to support coral.
With all of this, you will not be seeing from us a weekly list of arrivals. We will not sell any fish that has not been fully quarantined and medicated. We will be more than happy to order fish for anyone that wants something special, however even those fish will be quarantined. We will keep everyone advised as to when fish exit our quarantine and are ready to be re homed. We will make announcements here, on Facebook, and Twitter.
