Should new arrivals be quarantined?
 

When we bring a new critter home from the LFS should it be quaratined in a separate tank to watch for illness or just acclimate it to the main tank? Is it not more stressful for the animal to be quarantined for several days and then moved to the main tank? If it should be quarantined then what are your opinions for a suitable quaratine system.

Thanks, Doug & Shellie

Here I go again stirring the pot.
:mrgreen:
Personally I don't anymore as my record at quarantining has been abysmal while my success at adding directly to their final home has proven to be quite successful. Be choosy about what you buy, know what's going on in your dealers tanks no matter which way you decide to go. I've never had anything come into any of my tanks and adversely "infect" anything else...

Ok, my bad, I've never quarantined a fish. A good part of it is due to knowing what you are buying and who you are buying it from. When I buy a fish, I'm at the LFS for a good 30 minutes watching it. Check for disease, activity, strange behavior, etc.

I quarantine everything now. I've been through the ick battles and don't wish to ever repeat it. I have even begun to QT my new corals for a few days while watching for pests and nuicance hitchikers. Just got a couple of new corals this week and caught a couple of undesirable crabs that were missed on the initial inspection. It would have been much more troublesome to catch them in the main tank.

Hi,

For fish, I usually just do a fresh water dip before I add them to the main tank. This removes most of the parasites and minor ailments.

For corals, I usually do a iodine dip or high salinity dip. I am usually looking for hitchhikers like flatworms.

- Victor.

I started out quarantining everything. The last 3 or 4 fish I didn't quarantine. I am taking a risk by not quarantining. I only buy fish from a reputable dealer (J and L) and I know they use copper in their systems and have good livestock-handling procedures.

One tip is it is almost impossible to quarantine a tang, I found my tangs did miserably in a small quarantine tank, they quickly pollute the water, unless you have a huge quarantine tank they do much better in the display tank.

Anyway I figure quarantining is the optimal solution but to do it properly (4 to 6 weeks, large quarantine tank with good water quality) is difficult.