always quarantine??

[christyf5]

Hey guys,
I was just thinkin and I was wondering why you would have to quarantine a fish, say if it was from J&L aquatics. I noticed that on their tanks it says that their tanks have copper in them. I know that copper isn't the answer to every fish disease but do you still have to quarantine if you got one from them??

Thanks
Christy smile.gif

[terryp01]

Ah, the topic of the day. I would ALWAYS suggest to quarantine a fish regardless of where you get them from. The stress of catching a fish and relocating is enough to stress them out and they can get ill from your existing tank. Most LFS get a fish and sell the same week they receive. There are exceptions but the cost of holding fish and the risk of losses is too expensive to do so.

Just because the tanks are treated with copper doesn't mean it has killed the 'disease'. If you read the instructions on copper they usually require you to maintain a level of X for X number of days. If the LFS gets the fish today and sells in the next couple the bet is the parasites have not been killed.

It also allows you to make sure the fish is eating prior to adding to your tank. Hard to catch them once they are in.

I quarantine all of my fish for two weeks regardless of how long they were in the store, etc.

Duss

[terryp01]

One other thing, it is easier to deal with a loss of a $50.00 fish rather than the $700.00 of fish in your tank.

[Mak]

What about corals? I have found out, most people get there Red Planaria through buying and trading corals?[I think i got mine from the LR]

[Dolf]

Here is a link to Dr.Rons thoughts on quarantine here (http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27932&highlight=copper+quarantine) . I have followed this logic (though I do use dips on coral before introducing them to my tank.)

I found it interesting that he says that copper treatments will reduce the life expectancy of the fish treated with it.

Anyhow, I guess the decision is ultimately up to you, as the post above states it is easier to deal with the loss of $50 than $700. I only keep three fish with my coral and if/when I introduce another it will most likely go straight into the tank as I do not think that I could set up a quarantine tank with conditions as good as my established tank and think that the stress of poor water parameters (IMO a newly set up tank will not have the stability it would need and I can not justify keeping a tank as a quarantine/hospital when I only have 3 fish.)

Just thought I would offer another point of view.

-Danny