Should I quarantine?

C

Curt Boswelll

New member
The pair of clownfish I want have been at my lfs for the past 2-3 weeks. I won't be getting them for another 4 weeks at least. These will be my only fish.

I've been looking at them for signs of disease recently. Their fins don't have any sign of damage. Their eyes aren't clouded or sunken in. They are swimming around a lot. They aren't hiding.

The one thing I saw on one of them is a circle that is very tiny. It is a slightly different shade of white and it seems to be darker in the middle. What could this be? Should I be worried about it?

Also the store claims to keep a small amount off copper in their tanks? So what are your thoughts on quarantining them?
 
It is entirely up to you. But I highly recommend QT all fishes regardless of quantity in the tank.

I am sure you will have more than fish in your tank. CUC, Shrimp, maybe some coral. You will not be able to treat for illnesses in the DT.

The levels of copper LFS keep their tanks at are not of any real therapeutic value IMO.
 
If you know the people at the lfs well and trust them, it's not necessary, but you can always just set up a small quarantine tank for a week (which is all that's necessary) and put them in the tank after.
 
Though it may seem counterintuitive on the surface, the longer a fish languishes at LFS the greater the chance of it catching something. Not sure what bearing 'trusting' the folks at your LFS has on anything. Personally I QT all fish for at least a month - many for much longer than that.
 
Quarantine always.
I trusted someone that said they quarantined and ended up with ich. Had to tear out 3/4 of the live rock in a 240g tank to catch all the fish, lost half a dozen corals in the process as well as a few fish. Just finished long fallow period this week.
I say all that to let you know it is not worth it to skip this step. Much easier in the long run to do it right the first time.
 
ChimolaFish said:
If you know the people at the lfs well and trust them, it's not necessary, but you can always just set up a small quarantine tank for a week (which is all that's necessary) and put them in the tank after.
Click to expand...

one week in quarantine is about as good as one day. quarantine needs to be much longer, several weeks, to get the full benefits.

i was at my lfs earlier this week. they put little blue circle sticky things on the front of the tanks where they are treating for ich, etc., but claim all of their other tanks are disease free. i would trust them about as far as i could throw them.
 
ca1ore said:
Though it may seem counterintuitive on the surface, the longer a fish languishes at LFS the greater the chance of it catching something.
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Agreed. And what is worse, a low level of copper can mask several parasites, some of which are much worse than ich. Quarantine everything. If you wish a highly effective quarantine protocol, read my blog.
 
I will be quarantining for a month at least then. What medicines do you recommend dosing even if I do not see signs of it? (Just to be safe.) Are there any dips I should do? Like a freshwater dip as mentioned earlier?
 
I didn't used to QT my fish. Then I bought a fish from a very good, and I mean very good fish shop. The fish had been in their system for a few weeks. Not too long after I put the fish in the DT I had ich in the tank. I now qt everything for 30 days. I use a biocube and just leave it running.
 
rocsec1 said:
I didn't used to QT my fish. Then I bought a fish from a very good, and I mean very good fish shop. The fish had been in their system for a few weeks. Not too long after I put the fish in the DT I had ich in the tank. I now qt everything for 30 days. I use a biocube and just leave it running.
Click to expand...

Do you treat with medication before you see anything?
 
Curt Boswelll said:
Do you treat with medication before you see anything?
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I suggest you do some reading here. The problem is that treatments are somewhat disease or parasite specific. I suggest tank transfer to eliminate ich from the possibilities then observing for at least 4 weeks (especially if your LFS runs a low level of copper) to observe.
 
First off, I'll agree with everyone saying "Always Quarantine", specifically snorvich's posts. Quarantine is kind of his thing.

That being said, I'm more of a risk vs effort kind of guy. I won't recommend you do anything besides "Always Quarantine", but personally, I didn't bother setting up a QT until I had enough fish in my tank to warrant the extra cost. I had about $60-70 worth of fish and some coral before I decided it was worth the extra investment to setup a QT. Since then, all fish have spent at least a month in there.
 
I've been bitten too many times so now nothing wet goes into my tank without QT. I treat prophylactically with copper and PraziPro. Sometimes antibiotic if I see something out of place. It takes a good 4-6 weeks to acclimate the fish, get it eating well and administer the treatments. Anything less is worthless IMHO because the fish can harbor the pathogen yet show no signs of infection.
 
Rot26 said:
That being said, I'm more of a risk vs effort kind of guy.
Click to expand...

I also look at it as risk:reward

I have about $100 invested in QT systems. I have hundreds, if not thousands worth of fish in my display. The last thing I want to do is have a $50 fish take out all of my livestock.
 
Thank you all of you!

Snorvich I read you blog. There was a lot of great information there! I'm glad there are a lot of people out here ready to help new people!

I have decided on quarantining them for whatever period of time it takes to make sure they are 100% healthy.
 
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