Bonsai Boi
In Memoriam
This setup is simply incredible!
Ching, If you choose not to QT new fish, I wish you luck, and will cross my fingers that you dont have a problem. However, IMO, and the opinion of nearly EVERY public aquarium in the world (including those with volume FAR greater than this and water quality "pristine" as stated), QT is a mandatory and critical step. It should NEVER be labelled as "unneeded" or "snake oil". As I mentioned, if you chose to not do it, that is your prerogative, and you certainly do have a beautiful tank with many beautiful fish and corals now. I just hope it does come back to sting you, as it has SO many others who didnt QT.
FWIW, Copper does cure ick, that is not debated. However, copper is a caustic substance, and can cause other problems in non adjusted fish. IMO, if the fish is strong and healthy enough to fight off ick easily, it is strong and healthy enough to spend a few weeks in Quarantine. And if it isnt, then it is a vector for disease. A disease like protozoan amyloodinium will wipe out an entire collection of fish like this in days.
Good luck nonetheless, and beautiful tank.
Very interesting. How do public aquaria quarantine hundreds if not thousands of fish? and how do they decontaminate once QT'd?. What is accepted length of QT and why?. How do they house such large QT systems?.
What is the accepted concentration of copper that will wipe any system of ich and prevent a recurrence?.
How do you know a fish is completely clear of ich?... presumed lifecycles do not guard against resistant strains!.....
How can public aquaria be certain they do not have any ich parasite in their systems at all?.... do they culture and test for example?
All very interesting...
Thanks
Mo
QT or not QT
Using copper or any kind of drug to cure ich or Not using
These two subjects are neverending debate.
But for me, I never QT or use any kind of drug.
I don't want to stress them.
Some of my fishes got ich from time to time and they always can recover by themselves.
IMHO. Pristine water is the key.
I take it from your post that you are cynical of my claims. I can speak of the aquariums I worked with/for only, so if truly interetsed, contact your local aquarium, and ask them.
1) Aquarium maintain huge numbers of QT tanks. At the GA aquarium, they have a QT facility off site! Some display tanks are treated themselves, so become enormous treatment tanks in and of themselves. The issue is not nearly as difficult as you are implying. Different insitutions have different QT times.
2) When I worked with copper we dosed a target of 0.25 mg/L copper. We found this heavier than typical but not dangerous to most fish. This "copper resistant strain" of crypto you speak of, where is this documented? Or is it heresay? IMHO, this exist along with bigfoots and unicorns- only in fable. I believe such claims come from inadequate copper doseages, plain and simple. Copper treatment is CONFIRMED to be effective against cryptocaryon, provided the doseages are followed.
I hope this satiates your curiosity.
Without wishing to detract from Chingchai's excellent thread too much, I wold like to say a couple of things.
1) Offsite QT systems are not practical and not cheap. I don't believe "EVERY" aquarium has these. If they are truly offsite, then how do you guarantee that the transport tanks are not in some way contaminated, indeed if I dropped a fish with Ich into one of these QT system's are you implying that it would wipe out the system??.. I don't believe practices in any aquariumcan guarantee such purity from contamination, given the throughput of staff etc etc. Different Aquariums having differning QT times sounds a bit like sorcery to me!!. How do they come up with QT times then??, best guess?.
2) I haven't seen anybody publish or quote any controlled trials comparing various copper doses in the ability to wipe ich from a system or a fish. So how was 025mg/L arrived at?... anecdote?? and how does the average hobbyist guarantee this level in their QT systems??? constantly???. Salifert tests don't cut it and what does "Heavier than typical" actually mean??. It's all well and good quoting some anecdotal theories, but the published evidence doesn't back it up from what I have read, but of course I may not be widely read enough, so would be happy for you to point me in the direction of level 1 evidence.ie I'd like to SEE your PUBLISHED evidence of CONFIRMATION and what it exactly MEANS.
Sorry to Hijack Chingchai, but this hobby is packed to the brim of anecdotal views and very little scientific basis. Knowledgable types should really back up their info with published scientific evidence, not disguised anecdote . I'm not saying they don't work. I am saying they aren't necessary in many many cases though.
So, in answer to your last point, no my curiosity has not been satiated.
Thanks
Mo
i hope this qt issue is over, all i want is to enjoy ching's magnificent tank and all his updates and not to read off topic discussion. Please take it somewhere else. Thank you in advance
i hope this qt issue is over, all i want is to enjoy ching's magnificent tank and all his updates and not to read off topic discussion. Please take it somewhere else. Thank you in advance