Quarantine ..... Do you or don't you?

[AquaticFinatic]

Quarantine ........ Do you or don't you? If you do what do you do? If not how has that worked out for you? Just trying to get some ideas on a good setup for a qt tank. Thanks for looking.

[doch]

I don't, but I should. So far, it hasn't bit me in the A$$, but I'm sure it will someday.

[Aquattro]

I don't and have never introduced disease into any of my tanks. Going on 12 yrs of reefing.

[reefwars]

If I buy a fish from a store it gets quarantined, if it comes from a friends tank and I know it's healthy I just acclimate with lights out.

Recently bought a filefish right out the box I didn't have a month to quarantine and so far so good. I too have never had disease in any of my tanks my theory is if your tank isn't overpopulated and your tank is healthy them your new fish will too. I'd never buy a unhealthy looking fish though I should also add:)

[pelle31]

I have and haven't. Sometimes it can lead to a wreck. I've been lucky and everything has went smooth for me. I do however QT if I buy local(which is rare and you know the place).
Plus setting up a "QT" is a good way to get another tank set up!! QT tanks don't have to all fancy and whatnot.

[intarsiabox]

I don't and so far have never had a diseased fish in my tank. I suppose quarentining would be the smart thing to do. But IMO a lot of diseases are brought on by stress that decreases a fishes immune system to fight of diseases that and it could normally take care of naturally. I think the fish will be less stressed in a good sized established tank. So far my theory has worked for me.

[Aquattro]

I think the fish will be less stressed in a good sized established tank. So far my theory has worked for me.

That's my logic also. Putting a new fish in a bare tank can cause a lot of stress. Adding them to an existing reef where all the other fish are behaving normally tends to make them feel more "at home". No stress, no disease!

[2pts]

I don't and so far have never had a diseased fish in my tank. I suppose quarentining would be the smart thing to do. But IMO a lot of diseases are brought on by stress that decreases a fishes immune system to fight of diseases that and it could normally take care of naturally. I think the fish will be less stressed in a good sized established tank. So far my theory has worked for me.

That's my theory too, my only exception was when I got my copperband butterfly. He had ich showing so I did freshwater dips and treated him with medicine. I Quarantined him for less than a week, but more so I didn't introduce the medicine to the display.

I did not quarantine my hippo tang, 2 days later he showed signs of ich, but it weant away after 2 more days. I contribute the disappearance of the ich to less stress (he did not get bullied at all) and to a lesser extent my cleaner wrasse.

[marie]

After losing half my fish to Marine Velvet I quarantine all fish. Right now I have a 60g cube set up with live rock and sand, new fish go in there for a minimum of 6 weeks. If they show any sign of disease they go into a 20g hospital tank to be treated.

[globaldesigns]

I don't and agree with the statements of the others that also don't

[Cal_stir]

Yes, I quarantine everything for at least 14 days, but made the mistake of quarantining a fish with corals, the fish had ich and was hospitalized, the corals had to wait 45 days to be sure the ich had cycled thru.

[chris121277]

That's my logic also. Putting a new fish in a bare tank can cause a lot of stress. Adding them to an existing reef where all the other fish are behaving normally tends to make them feel more "at home". No stress, no disease!


+1 I couldn't have put it better myself, after loosing so many fish in QT I've stopped with it all together, now that being said......I'd never put a fish in my display if it looked sickly

[cuz]

I quarentine everything!! Altho yes it can be stressfull to some I think if done right its not so bad!! I keep alot of pvc pieces for all sizes of fish to hide in, use minimal light and basically leave them alone. Other than maintanence i try to leave them be to reduce their stress levels a bit.
I've lost every fish in my display and from that day on vowed never again!!!

[Skimmerking]

That's my logic also. Putting a new fish in a bare tank can cause a lot of stress. Adding them to an existing reef where all the other fish are behaving normally tends to make them feel more "at home". No stress, no disease!

I don't and so far have never had a diseased fish in my tank. I suppose quarentining would be the smart thing to do. But IMO a lot of diseases are brought on by stress that decreases a fishes immune system to fight of diseases that and it could normally take care of naturally. I think the fish will be less stressed in a good sized established tank. So far my theory has worked for me.


Very good info there I believe in that all my tanks have been large so to myself it works so far. but I using buy all my stuff from Doug so it has been fair to me ..

[AquaticFinatic]

Thanks guys and gals. I did the no qt thing on my last tank which was a 90gal and lost most of my fish to ich. This time round I'm doing a 180 and am trying to find out if it was just my luck or everyone has had this problem. Our local supply is always hit and miss with health so don't really want to make that mistake again. So far I guess the majority don't and I think I agree after reading your thoughts.

[daniella3d]

I always quarantine. I have a hippo tang and it does not have ich at the slightest stress. why? because I treated it with hyposalinity and got rid of ich for good. No more ich and it,s been 2 months since it was introduced in my main tank. I simply don,t want any disease in my main aquarium, period, end of story.

Now I have a copperband butterfly and I take the quarantine as an opportunity to fatten the fish up while checking it for disease. It will be there at least 4 weeks, probably more. He's much better in quarantine because he's not stressed by other fish and can have all the food for itself. I think that's a lot less stressfull to a fish than being dumped in a main system with lots of fish that might not be happy about a new intruduction and if the fish is not so strong yet, that might just be the end of it.

I don't see what's stressfull in quarantine. A quarantine tank does not have to be full of ammonia or just bare empty. I put liverock in mine for filtration and shelter and the fish are in peace alone in there.

When I did the hyposalinity treatment for my hippo tang, the biofiltration kept on without problem with a few pieces of liverock. Bacterias survive quite well at 1.09.

[peasofme]

lots of misinformation in this thread. look here for the facts:

http://www.reefland.com/forum/marine-fish-care-health-disease-treatment/20321-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

[whatcaneyedo]

I often dont quarentine fish although I believe that I should. Quite often when I add a new one my other fish get ick for a little while but then get over it. However I rarely buy new fish anymore. On average just two a year lately. My biggest problem has been from not quarantining coral and other inverts. I've introduced a lot of problems and parasites that way... so lately I've been trying to QT everything for at least two weeks.

My QT tank is just a bare 20gal with two powerheads, heater, hang on filter and T5 light. Whenever I use it I do 10% daily water changes by using water from my main system to keep the water in the two the same.

[ponokareefer]

lots of misinformation in this thread. look here for the facts:

http://www.reefland.com/forum/marine-fish-care-health-disease-treatment/20321-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

Couldn't agree more. Maybe you won't ever have a problem, but if you do, you could wipe out your entire fish population. Is that something you want to risk? Disease/parasites aren't always easy to see and spot and fish can act quite normal when the disease isn't full blown. You'll typically want to use a quarantine tank that is 20% to 30% of the size of your main tank. As others have already pointed out, they are quite simple and unless you have fish in them, they can just sit there running only having to top them up. For the small cost of them and little maintenance compared to the cost of all the fish in a system, it is a no brainer for me.
I also don't understand why a quarantine tank would be more stressfull? They are the first fish in, so there is no quarrell for dominance or being picked on. There are no bright lights to get used to like most people run. There is minimal competition for food. How is that more stressfull than your main tank?

[ScubaSteve]

I don't QT as I believe that it often stresses them out (as said previously). Stressed fish are more likely to contract something. I will QT, however, if I by from certain places that I know are bad for it or depending on the species of fish... I find some fish are just ich magnets.

Corals on the otherhand... I've learned to dip. Can't afford a coral QT but Coral Rx is waaaay cheaper than losing all my corals... Dark times those were....

[Twinn]

+1 of SubaSteve

I do not QT but I do dip corals with coral rx. I may be lucky because I do have good local fish stores in my area. The problem for me was this the lighting and water quality in my QT tank was never as good as the lighting and water quality in my DT. When it came to corals I found making the adjustment from crappy QT lighting to intense DT lighting was hurting the corals themselves too much. That being said every coral gets a good did before entering my system.

[dsaundry]

I have and haven't- Depends on the situation, both mine and the fish's. I haven't for quite a while now and so far so good.

[Midway]

When I started out with this expensive hobby...lol I lost almost all my fish to ick. So since then, I started to QT all my new fish, well if I buy the fish from any store, I QT, if I buy a fish from some of the guys here, I don't QT them bacause I know those fishes come in healthly already. I have a small 10 gal. tank that I use for QT. the tank only comes to live when I QT some fish, otherwise its stays off.