Don't judge lol

[Zswift]

Not to try and discourage quarantining, but a couple of things to think about:

In a natural environment, most fish are born into an environment that has plenty of sand, space, rocks to hide, and plenty of food.
So as reefers, we attempt to try and replicate those same things to make fish happy.

When a fish is at in a tank at an LFS, it is typically housed with other fish (depending on the fish) and if your LFS is like mine, it will have sand and misc. decorations and rock formations for the fish to hide and live it. Now it is not as big of space, but the fish will typically do fine.

So why then do we put a fish in a tank with no sand, no rock, but give it a bare tank with some PVC pipe? PVC pipe is not natural in any way. There is no rock or sand or anything that a fish might naturally see in the ocean. So could this not stress a fish out even more?

You take away someone's home, move him to a new area, and you give him nothing to provide some consistency-that guy will flip out. Is that not the same for fish?

Yes, there will be some stress because you are putting him in a new tank which can cause some stress, but if we pick healthy fish fish, why quarantine them then?

Could it not then stress a fish out even more by moving him not to just one tank, but two moves?


So here is the theory-Do not quarantine fish that are not sick.

Yes, there are diseases in LFS stores and sometimes fish we purchase are affected by it, that we cannot see yet. But would it not be best for the fish to try and fight it on its own? Try and keep at minimum some consistency in what he is used to and just put him in the DT.
Yes of course there is a chance of getting all of your fish sick, but typically, it is nothing that cannot be treated fairly easy.

Just some thoughts, and I know I will probably get ripped for this but just a thought.

 

[bugs713]

You obviously have never had to deal with ich!
I look at Quarantining as a way to keep my living creatures alive and for me, it works!
Good luck with your theory.....

 

[ThaBeast]

+1000 on the ich!

I have extra base rock. I keep some in my sump on my disease free dt that I use when I quarantine. If I have to medicate, then I just pitch it and grab another piece. Dry rock is pretty inexpensive, becomes 'live' fairly quickly in the sump, and has made my success ratio with qt considerably higher.

 

[snorvich]

Ah, but worse than ich is velvet, which will wipe out tanks more often than not. If you want to be long term successful in this hobby, develop a quarantine protocol.

 

[Zswift]

I only have a pair of clownfish, and I got them from a friend, and his tank is awesome, and the fish have been fine. but it is just a "theory". Major purchases will be quarantined, because I know that quarantine works, but again it is just a theory on the way we do things.

 

[hvacman250]

You're putting human emotion into a fish's thought pattern. A fish doesnt know the difference between a rock cave in the ocean vs. a PVC pipe. An non-sand dwelling fish doesnt care that there is no sand.

Quarantine is a calm place to settle in away from future tank mates that have already established territory. A place to train the fish to eat before you throw it in the display to compete against the feeding frenzy. And a place to inspect and/or treat the fish to protect your other fish from disease.

 

[b0bab0ey]

IMO QT is more about protecting your investment, the fish you already have in your DT. What happens to the 1 or 2 fish you may have in QT is of secondary consideration, as callous as that may sound. You do everything you can for them but never if it involves putting your fish in the DT at risk. Many have made the "I bet he'd do better if I just put him in the DT" mistake. Myself included.

I do agree with you that fish generally look "stressed" to me in a bare bottom tank with PVC. But, oh well, it's fishy boot camp and if they can't make it out then they don't make it to the DT.

 

[Zswift]

I will more than likely QT all fish purchases. I know the benefits and such, but who I am has to always"challenge" the status quo. It's just in my nature, besides it brings about good discussions and thats what I was trying to aim for lol

 

[sandwi54]

I will more than likely QT all fish purchases. I know the benefits and such, but who I am has to always"challenge" the status quo. It's just in my nature, besides it brings about good discussions and thats what I was trying to aim for lol

That's fine. We all used to think that way when we started out in the hobby, until we suffered major losses from introducing a sick fish that "would do much better in the DT." Try to read all the stickies in this disease forum, and you'll quickly understand why quanratining for 4-6 weeks is necessary. Many parasites have typical life cycles of 4 weeks on average, and without a 4-week quarantine we'd not know if the fish has some parasites.

You raised the point that a healthy fish can be directly placed into DT. Sure, but the problem is how do we know the fish is disease-free without the observation in the QT? LFS brings in fish semi-weekly or weekly, and the fish that is disease free right now may not be a week from now, as the new fish may bring in some disease and transmit to the current fish.

 

[MrTuskfish]

You're putting human emotion into a fish's thought pattern. A fish doesnt know the difference between a rock cave in the ocean vs. a PVC pipe. An non-sand dwelling fish doesnt care that there is no sand.

Quarantine is a calm place to settle in away from future tank mates that have already established territory. A place to train the fish to eat before you throw it in the display to compete against the feeding frenzy. And a place to inspect and/or treat the fish to protect your other fish from disease.

+1 .......and fish don't need little fishie friends to play with either. The same arguments, in the original post, have been heard since I've been in the hobby. None of them stand up. There just isn't any good reason not to QT all fish; just excuses. I don't know a single published author,or anyone whose advice I would take, who feels otherwise. If someone doesn't want to use a QT, please change your mind. If you insist on going without a QT, you don't have to justify it and your decision may influence others who are truly seeking help.

 

[sandwi54]

Yes, there are diseases in LFS stores and sometimes fish we purchase are affected by it, that we cannot see yet. But would it not be best for the fish to try and fight it on its own? Try and keep at minimum some consistency in what he is used to and just put him in the DT.
Yes of course there is a chance of getting all of your fish sick, but typically, it is nothing that cannot be treated fairly easy.

You don't seem like you have had to deal with disease yet. Many disease are very difficult to treat in the DT, as most medications (such as copper) cannot be used in there. If you already have a DT full of large fish, trying to catch all of them and setting up a cycled QT that's large enough is a huge PITA. Controlling the QT water quality and constant water changes can be frustrating as well.

There are some diseases such as velvet that WILL kill all of your fish no matter how healthy they are. Marine ich (cryptocaryon irritans) is actually quite harmless compared to velvet. The point of QT is to catch all diseases possible, but more importantly to catch the "deadly" ones like velvet.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Yes, there are diseases in LFS stores and sometimes fish we purchase are affected by it, that we cannot see yet. But would it not be best for the fish to try and fight it on its own? Try and keep at minimum some consistency in what he is used to and just put him in the DT.
Yes of course there is a chance of getting all of your fish sick, but typically, it is nothing that cannot be treated fairly easy.

This would be like hosting a big Super Bowl party and when you greet a new guest; he's scratching, itching, breathing rapidly, and rubbing rudely on the furniture. (sounds like my old Frat house). Would you let him in to "fight it on his own"? I think your other guests would be out the back door. Parasites; on fish, dogs, or humans, are very contagious.

 

[b0bab0ey]

I even know a few people who try the Damsel approach to get around QT'ing. Meaning they just put cheap Damsels in their reef tank to have some fish swimming around, thinking the Damsels are hardy enough not to get Ich. Boom! One by one the Damsels all die off either due to Ich or some unknown disease. Worse yet, all dies but one and then you can't go fallow because you don't want to tear up your tank over a $5 fish. Or you see a sweet deal on a really cool fish but can't put it in your DT because of an a-hole/sick Damsel.

 

[Bosha]

There's an LFS in our area that runs copper through and treats their fish systems and do not sell their new fish for 7 days after arrival. Would you consider this a safe QT?

 

[ganjero]

There's an LFS in our area that runs copper through and treats their fish systems and do not sell their new fish for 7 days after arrival. Would you consider this a safe QT?

Nope. Minimum time of quarantine should be 4-6 weeks, there many different diseases with a life cycle of 4 weeks or more. Running copper on everything is not ideal either, that is a harsh treatment and it might bring negative effects on the fish. Better than copper would be feeding all fish with a correct diet that would provide great nutritional value and keep the fish nice and healthy.

 

[MrTuskfish]

There's an LFS in our area that runs copper through and treats their fish systems and do not sell their new fish for 7 days after arrival. Would you consider this a safe QT?

No, the copper practice is very common and can even hid velvet from being noticed. Diver's Den, perhaps the best source of live fish on the planet, runs copper, watches fish at least 7 days.....and strongly recommends QT. & days is nowhere near long enough to QT a fish. IMO & IME; there is no source, anywhere that uses a QT procedure that would justify us not using QT. It would double fish prices also.

 

[Chuongj510]

I actually like to qt everything. I invested so much into the tank that's just my LiL bit of insurance.

 

[snorvich]

There's an LFS in our area that runs copper through and treats their fish systems and do not sell their new fish for 7 days after arrival. Would you consider this a safe QT?

No, not even remotely safe.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I actually like to qt everything. I invested so much into the tank that's just my LiL bit of insurance.

Yeah; once you get a routine, pick up some knowledge on the procedure, keep an easy way to instantly cycle, use DT water to do WCs in the DT & QT at the same time, etc., its no big deal. Doing it on the fly and having to get fish out of the DT IS a big deal. Another QT plus: I'm convinced most shyer fish emerge much faster when they go into the DT---they've become used to you as the Food God.

 

[snorvich]

Yes, once you have formulated a process, it is not a big deal. Doing it reactively IS a big deal.