Do you NEED to Quarantine?

[FishN00b83]

you don't have to QT anything if you don't want to. just be prepared to start a thread with "ich in my DT, what do I do" as the title somewhere in the near future

 

[snorvich]

you don't have to QT anything if you don't want to. just be prepared to start a thread with "ich in my DT, what do I do" as the title somewhere in the near future

Right. And we will see you in the Fish Disease Forum. But ich is relatively easy, some of the other parasites simply kill all fish.

 

[mbauma]

Right. And we will see you in the Fish Disease Forum. But ich is relatively easy, some of the other parasites simply kill all fish.

so you chemically treat all fish that you receive in QT? If yes, what do you use and for how long?

 

[SecretiveFish]

... Not quarantining is like playing Russian Roulette IMO.

I just experienced this lesson beginning of this year after getting lucky for many years. I lost half of my fish in my 150g to ICK because I was not quarantining. Stupid, just stupid.

I am still working out my quarantine procedure though; I currently have some fish that have been in quarantine for 6 weeks now but have not done preventative treatments with medications, just watching for signs of illness. I can't decide if I should batter them with medications they may not need or no signs of illness are seen for 8 weeks if I can then move them to the display... Going to do the latter, but I hope I will not be sorry.

 

[orientalexpress]

How about Fishes from another Reefers that break down there tank?

 

[Allmost]

How about Fishes from another Reefers that break down there tank?

oh even worse !

sure those fish might not carry velvet or brook. but they can carry alot of other diseases ... sometimes you see small signs or maybe none at all, but the stress of moving and change on environment would allow those to grow and sometimes take over the fish's immunity killing it.

always QT and observe at least.

 

[3dees]

a qt is best for the fish and your tank, but the truth is, many many people don't qt. they usually won't post here because of the negative comments they will get. some have problems and some get lucky. I qt all my fish and took down my qt. a few months later I lost two fish. I will admit that I replaced those fish with a cb and flame hawkfish without qt. I took a chance and it worked out, but I really worried for a while. I have a 120 gal. dt and as much as I like tangs, I won't put one in my tank.

 

[igot2gats]

Just like anything else in this hobby, the goal is to minimize risk in the processes that you take.

There is nothing bad that can come from using a QT. It's cheap to set up, it helps prevent disease from entering your DT (as long as you do it properly), and it's a stress free environment for your animal.

So, based upon that - is it necessary? Yes.

You're playing rush 'n roulette with your DT, otherwise.

 

[Arcuatus]

Its funny how when you dont QT and things work out so fine, it lulls you into a false sense of security. u get the last fish on your list, the one you have been waiting for months, all hell break lose.

I have fought emotional battles with parasites of every kind, they know when to strike when you are at your highest lvl of happiness. I lost a shepardi trio, scopas/black hybrid, abberant yellow tang, flame angel pair, achilles tang, a nice feeding harlequin filefish and the dream fish, a fat healthy eating bandit angelfish, all because i didnt QT. So please QT. Your first few fishes may not be affected but the parasite monster will be stealthily waiting, lurking in your live rocks for that last prized fish.

 

[Dmorty217]

What's funny is people still think that this is debatable, money aside the amount of time and effort we have into our tanks and systems makes not QTing fish very foolish. You don't see a lot of threads on here that say "my 10 yr old reef tank has ich" most that get ich and other diseases are relatively new to the hobby and lack confidence or knowledge about QTing

 

[Allmost]

I speak to ppl at LFS and around here ... and when topic of QT comes up ... the most problematic part is keeping the water clean. which is also the part I struggle with.

in a reef tank, we have expensive skimmers, and all sorts of filters, and corals and ... removing and eating parasites or bacteria and keeping N and P and ... in check. most QT set ups do not have those. so its simple for a rather healthy fish to develop a bacteria infection in QT, burn due to high ammonia, develop HLLE due to poor water quality, not get their full diet as there are no live rocks or corals to graze and so on.

everyone knows its important to QT. but many do loose fish in QT very often ... many times healthy fish too !. so after they loose maybe 4-5 fish, they stop and just drop them in DT and pray.

soooo ... perhaps we can come up with more straight-forward QT set up and maintenance ... some of the Issues include water changes [its really not that easy changing 10G daily, when you have about 600 G total reef running, I live in an apartment, so just making RO/DI water for all this is close to impossible. ways around it could be using tap water, using water from DT, and so on.] better filtration methods for QT [to not allow bacteria infections] , and many more which I cant think of now.

we have alot of "how to set up a QT" threads on here, which lack the info needed, so following those would most likely result in the fish's health deteriorating. "oh just a 10G tank, with a sponge filter is enough" ... the new reefer will follow that, and loose the fish in 48 hours due to ammonia poisoning ... so I think more informative, and complete QT procedures are needed to make new reefers [or old reefers with no QT plans] start doing that easier, and have more confidence in their procedure.

 

[mbauma]

a qt is best for the fish and your tank, but the truth is, many many people don't qt. they usually won't post here because of the negative comments they will get. some have problems and some get lucky. I qt all my fish and took down my qt. a few months later I lost two fish. I will admit that I replaced those fish with a cb and flame hawkfish without qt. I took a chance and it worked out, but I really worried for a while. I have a 120 gal. dt and as much as I like tangs, I won't put one in my tank.

Do to higher incidents of ich with Tangs? I am thinking of going with smaller fish in my 140 like wrasses, cardinals and maybe some anthias.

 

[mbauma]

I speak to ppl at LFS and around here ... and when topic of QT comes up ... the most problematic part is keeping the water clean. which is also the part I struggle with.

in a reef tank, we have expensive skimmers, and all sorts of filters, and corals and ... removing and eating parasites or bacteria and keeping N and P and ... in check. most QT set ups do not have those. so its simple for a rather healthy fish to develop a bacteria infection in QT, burn due to high ammonia, develop HLLE due to poor water quality, not get their full diet as there are no live rocks or corals to graze and so on.

everyone knows its important to QT. but many do loose fish in QT very often ... many times healthy fish too !. so after they loose maybe 4-5 fish, they stop and just drop them in DT and pray.

soooo ... perhaps we can come up with more straight-forward QT set up and maintenance ... some of the Issues include water changes [its really not that easy changing 10G daily, when you have about 600 G total reef running, I live in an apartment, so just making RO/DI water for all this is close to impossible. ways around it could be using tap water, using water from DT, and so on.] better filtration methods for QT [to not allow bacteria infections] , and many more which I cant think of now.

we have alot of "how to set up a QT" threads on here, which lack the info needed, so following those would most likely result in the fish's health deteriorating. "oh just a 10G tank, with a sponge filter is enough" ... the new reefer will follow that, and loose the fish in 48 hours due to ammonia poisoning ... so I think more informative, and complete QT procedures are needed to make new reefers [or old reefers with no QT plans] start doing that easier, and have more confidence in their procedure.

I agree with a lot of you concerns on QT. I'm new and I get the reasons on doing it and will have one setup for my new 140, but I think moving a fish twice also adds stress that may make a healthy fish sick and lead to more problems.

 

[Allmost]

I agree with a lot of you concerns on QT. I'm new and I get the reasons on doing it and will have one setup for my new 140, but I think moving a fish twice also adds stress that may make a healthy fish sick and lead to more problems.

exactly, so its important to make the QT set up as part of the main system set up. It is just as important. and lets face it, we are all addicts and cant stop adding fish lol

if done right, TT should not cause too much stress, but you are correct and first time I tried it the fish was NOT happy

one of the best advices I was given here about QT, maybe sounds harsh, but start with one cheaper fish. and practice your QT regime with it. try copper treatment. try TT, try Prazi pro, freshwater dip and so on. it also adds alot of stress on the reefer if you are doing your first ever tank transfer on a 800 dollar fish !

 

[mbauma]

exactly, so its important to make the QT set up as part of the main system set up. It is just as important. and lets face it, we are all addicts and cant stop adding fish lol

Do you mean tying it into the plumbing of your other system? I was just planning on having a separate 20 gallon for QT. I'm looking to keep this as simple as possible.

 

[mbauma]

it also adds alot of stress on the reefer if you are doing your first ever tank transfer on a 800 dollar fish !

Not brave enough to try that, I will be doing a couple wrasses or maybe some cardinals as my first fish.

I will add some cleaner shrimp and a few corals before the fish. I get part 2 from TBS on Monday so I will have my cleanup crew in there for a while.

 

[Allmost]

no no, keep it separate. but think ahead also.

1. have GOOD filtration. you will be feeding the fish alot in there, so make sure u can handle the ammonia.

2. good surface agitation and oxygenation.

3. plan ahead for water changes, my QTs had no stand before and were sitting on the floor, and just sucking water out was a hassle !

thats all I can think of for now

 

[mbauma]

By good filtration you mean what? Thanks for all the answers.

 

[mandarinfanatic]

What happens if you quarintine and then you still have crypto appear in dt?

 

[Allmost]

By good filtration you mean what? Thanks for all the answers.

Maybe a hob filter, with its media in your main tank's sump for weeks, so it gets cycled fully. feed the QT as well even when fish less, u want to keep the tank cycled and ready to remove ammonia. extra room for running GAC after medication is a plus too.

What happens if you quarintine and then you still have crypto appear in dt?

thats why a QT period consists of 1. observation 2. Identification of possible diseases, 3. treatment, 4. 4 weeks of observations again.

usually 4-5 weeks are enough for most parasites to show up.

some like flukes are harder to detect, so Prazi pro should be a standard part of every QT.