Am I right by NOT QT'ing this fish? (leopard wrasse)

bridun22ajl

New member
First, sorry if this is the wrong spot for this thread but it is a reef fish so i figured this might be ok.

Either today or tomorrow i am going to pick up my second leopard wrasse. Normally i QT all fish. About 3 weeks ago i bought a leopard wrasse and drip acclimated him to my QT for about 3 hours knowing that they are very sensitive fish. The fish seemed very stressed out even though i did it very slow and my parameters were "perfect." This time I think that I'm going to just put him into the main tank since they like to burry themselves in the sand and I think it has a better chance of making it.

Am i right by doing this or should I take another attempt at QTing this difficult fish. It has been at the store for 1 day and was acclimated there over night with 2 hippo tangs in the bucket with it. There is about .10-.15 level of copper in the lfs system.

qt or not to qt...that is the question :confused:
 
If you are OK with potentially bringing unwanted diseases, viruses, bacterial infections, whatever into your display tank than, sure go for it.

My biggest problem when I did not QT wasn't spreading disease. It was trying to find the fish carcass when it died behind the mountain of liverock so I could take it back to the store for credit.

--Good Luck --landlord
 
so you guys qt manderines?

i believe in qt everything but i dont understand how im going to qt this fish. it was so unsuccessful last time and i really think it was because it couldnt bury in the sand.

on swf.com forums most of the people there said they put it right into there DT for the reason above and for the fact that it will mostly only eat pods and micro fuana off the rock.
 
I would atleast see how it does a the LFS for a week or more. Before I purchased one. I would never buy a fish that just came into a LFS.
 
Well IME i don't QT sensitive fish like mandarin's and what not. For one a mandarin can't get ick but can carry it. I generally use a few methods when i don't qt a fish. I have a bucket i drip acclimate, another bucket i use malchinate green(sp) and leave him in there for around 30min. I then get him out and put him into a new bucket that is only my tank water, leave him for 20min and then i add him to the tank. The whole process takes around an hour and a half but i've never had problems doing it this way. But for normal fish, qt all the way.
 
And like Scott said, let the lfs hold him for a bit and make sure he looks good before you pick him up.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11621081#post11621081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luke33
Well IME i don't QT sensitive fish like mandarin's and what not. For one a mandarin can't get ick but can carry it. I generally use a few methods when i don't qt a fish. I have a bucket i drip acclimate, another bucket i use malchinate green(sp) and leave him in there for around 30min. I then get him out and put him into a new bucket that is only my tank water, leave him for 20min and then i add him to the tank. The whole process takes around an hour and a half but i've never had problems doing it this way. But for normal fish, qt all the way.

i have heard of people doing this with copper. drip in one bucket for hour or 2, then put in another bucket with copper for a hour or so, then put in the tank.
how do you know how much to dose the bucket though?
 
You should not quarantine your leopard wrasse unless you have a fairly deep (3+") sandbed in your quarantine tank. It needs a sandbed and will try to dig into the glass bottom of your quarantine tank. It will sustain injuries to it's mouth and likely die.
Have the lfs hold it for a week or more.
 
Generally its a couple drops per gallon, it'll be on the back of the meds. I do not recomend copper with sensitive fish, it'll be very stressful.
 
I'd recommend you don't use your LFS as a substitute for quarantining on your own. Fish come and go at an LFS from distributors all over the country/world. I think you'll find it's more likely to be continually exposed to a disease its carrying or be exposed to something it hasn't yet contracted.

If you'd like the LFS to hold it for observational purposes - great idea. But that QT timer starts the second it gets in *your* QT tank - not in theirs.

Add some sand to the QT tank for the leopard wrasse. It's a QT tank, not a hospital tank. IMO it's not necessary to eliminate substrate in this situation unless you're medicating for a known condition.

Your tank - your call.

This is coming from someone who lost a very very expensive tang to a non-QTed fish. I'm still mad at myself.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11621081#post11621081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luke33
Well IME i don't QT sensitive fish like mandarin's and what not. For one a mandarin can't get ick but can carry it. .
Mandarins can get ich. It's just not as likely.
I say QT everything. Maybe put a tray of sand in the tank until you see a sign of a problem, and need to treat. Good luck, but I don't like the risk of bringing any unwanted problems to my DT.
 
I say take the fish home in the shipping bag if it looks good. Having the LFS holding it will just stress the fish more. They do not acclimate properly. They usually run copper in their tanks. Their nitrate is usually high. They will put this fish in with a bunch of other fish with not place to hide which is NOT GOOD for a sensitive fish fresh from the sea. I would look the fish over through the bag and tak my chances in MY QT where it's peacefull and quite. place a large deep bowl of sand from your display in the QT.
 
you guys all say something different! man o man am i confussed as to what to do. my head tells me to qt the fish, my heart tells me to put it in the dt.


if one person can tell me that they have successfull qt'ed this fish, i will do it. otherwise im going to try and rescue this fish and put it in my tank.

everything is stable and perfect in my tank. it is extablished for about 2 years.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11629071#post11629071 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bridun22ajl
you guys all say something different! man o man am i confussed as to what to do. my head tells me to qt the fish, my heart tells me to put it in the dt.


if one person can tell me that they have successfull qt'ed this fish, i will do it. otherwise im going to try and rescue this fish and put it in my tank.

everything is stable and perfect in my tank. it is extablished for about 2 years.

Such is life... everyone has an opinion.

The thing that concerns me most is the "everything is stable and perfect in my tank" comment.

Is this fish worth changing that?

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.
 
you should pm just dave and ask his opinion. He is a LFS owner in memphis and is very knowledgeable about fish in general and had a couple leopards in his old SPS tank.
 
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i know im dumb..but ive never QT a fish. And so far ive been very lucky. I keep saying to myself that i will set one up, But wheni get the money i end up getting someting for the DT or the motorcycle.
 
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