Fish Store Quarantine

[Rollins4Miles]

So I'm asking this question out of simple curiosity and is not meant to challenge the practice of quarantining a newly acquired fish. I have owned dozens of different fish , never quarantined a single fish, and only had one cause a problem - stupid Blue Hippo! Unfortunately it wiped out my entire 220g and I have since learned of the importance of quarantining.

There are a few stores that I have dealt with in the past that run copper through their fish holding systems. One store in particular had a meticulous acclimation process of medicated dips. This same store worked with Universal Studios down here in Florida and would supply them with fish or take sick fish in for them. I've never seen an unhealthy fish in this store nor have I quarantined any fish purchased from this store and I've never had a problem. The killer Blue Hippo came from a store that did not quarantine or use copper whatsoever.

So my question is how effective are these systems that run copper 24/7? How efficient are the typical run-of-the-mill quarantine setups that many stores use? My assumption is that they must work to a certain degree but I'm sure they're not fool proof.

 

[Mrscribbled]

They problem is that when treating a very large system were fish are constantly coming and going there are always parasites entering the system. Running the copper all the time will mask or prevent ich and velvet from being visible but, if a fish arrives and is carrying ich and 2 days later its sold the chance is great that the fish will go home with it still attached. Or copper levels could reach too low of a level and allow a few cysts to hatch. Also its impossible to keep a large holding facility free of flukes since you'd have to also run prazi weekly then remove and re dose. 80 percent of wholesalers run free copper through their systems, mostly to keep the fish looking clean. Either way never trust a quarantined fish unless you've done it your self.

 

[MrTuskfish]

They problem is that when treating a very large system were fish are constantly coming and going there are always parasites entering the system. Running the copper all the time will mask or prevent ich and velvet from being visible but, if a fish arrives and is carrying ich and 2 days later its sold the chance is great that the fish will go home with it still attached. Or copper levels could reach too low of a level and allow a few cysts to hatch. Also its impossible to keep a large holding facility free of flukes since you'd have to also run prazi weekly then remove and re dose. 80 percent of wholesalers run free copper through their systems, mostly to keep the fish looking clean. Either way never trust a quarantined fish unless you've done it your self.

Well put.
Even Divers Den, perhaps the best everyday source of fish on the planet, strongly recommends you quarantine every fish they sell.

 

[HumbleFish]

Well put.
Even Divers Den, perhaps the best everyday source of fish on the planet, strongly recommends you quarantine every fish they sell.

+1 Anyone who thinks DD fish are 100% disease free; just need to read this.

 

[snorvich]

They problem is that when treating a very large system were fish are constantly coming and going there are always parasites entering the system. Running the copper all the time will mask or prevent ich and velvet from being visible but, if a fish arrives and is carrying ich and 2 days later its sold the chance is great that the fish will go home with it still attached. Or copper levels could reach too low of a level and allow a few cysts to hatch. Also its impossible to keep a large holding facility free of flukes since you'd have to also run prazi weekly then remove and re dose. 80 percent of wholesalers run free copper through their systems, mostly to keep the fish looking clean. Either way never trust a quarantined fish unless you've done it your self.

this. The odds of maintaining a therapeutic dosage in a large LFS fish system is slim and none. Any dosage less than this will mask parasites and with constant introductions of new shipments, the odds are against you.

 

[Zoodiver]

As stated, copper dosing (even when kept at the proper levels) is only a swing at the real problem. Unless the fish are being held in it for 30+ days withouth the introduction of new fish, it's not a good enough method to call quarantine.

Everytime a new fish (or fish shipment) comes into a system, the treatment that has been running is compromised.

 

[HumbleFish]

I will just say this... I have encountered a few LFS in my lifetime that actually do QT their fish properly. By that I mean they have separate tanks just for holding/treating new arrivals. These tanks all operate independently of one another, and fish are held in "batches" until all have been treated. So, no coming and going. The fish aren't moved into the "for sale" section until QT is complete. Again, all fish would have had to be treated in the "for sale" section for this to work. For example, I knew of a LFS in St. Louis (Chesterfield) that treated all new arrivals (in the back) for 1 month in copper/2 rounds of Prazi. All the fish you saw in the store had already gone thru this process.

Now, all the fish in this store were ridiculously expensive (for obvious reasons). So, that's the first tell-tale sign. They also were very open about their process - they took me in the back, showed me their QT process and explained everything to me. But then I still had to decide whether or not I trusted the person doing the QT to do it properly. So, there is always going to be some risk.

I guess bottom line is this: If you want something done right, gotta do it yourself.