I'm going to inject a little heresy here. I think QT on these guys causes as much harm as good. It is clear that they are extremely sensitive to environmental stresses. IMO subjecting them to the added stress of medical treatments in barren tanks is too much for them to handle. My experience with 5 of these fish has been that putting them directly into a well established permanent tank works well. I have lost one to apparent disease, one to carpet surfing(after more than a year in the tank), and have 3 happy healthy bluestripes. To drive the point further- the large female of the pair I just acquired had been battling various infections for the 3 months she was in the LFS tanks. When I got her she had fungus eating away the edges her caudal and pectoral fins, and one eye was swollen and severely clouded. She now has no fungal infection at all, and the infected eye has nearly healed. She was introduced directly into a tank which has been up and running for about a year. It has a 6 inch Cryptodendrum adhaesivum, 2 small LTA's, and a new haddon's carpet added for her. ( Lost a large H crispa which I had added just prior to her arrival). I moved out a pair of pink skunks to make room for them. The tank also houses a scopas tang and copperband butterfly- both of which the big girl is now busily bossing around. My feeling is that the fish are captured healthy, and succumb to opportunistic infections due to stress. Exposing them to continued stress only makes matters worse. If we can put them into a non-stressful environment they stand a good chance of regaining health on their own.
