Who uses quarantine tanks?

[Gordon H]

I had been using a quarantine for about six months, and then was advised against it by my LFS. It appeared that about 1/3 of the peopleworking at the LFS did baths and used a quarantine and the other 2/3 did not. I discussed the issue at length with a group of people working at the LFS and at the end of the day, concluded that I would not dip or use a QT. While everything on the Internet and in the books strongly suggests a quarantine, the arguments against using one seem equally as strong. The main argument is that the strongest determinant of fish health is water quality and that it is almost impossible to get as good a water quality in your QT as it is in your display tank. Unless you are willing to basically duplicate the equipment from your display on your QT, you might be doing the fish more harm than good by using a QT. This seems to be the conclusion reached by most of the people working at the LFS.

Am I the only one that has come to this same conclusion? Not according to the results of the poll ;-)

[marie]

Originally Posted by Gordon H

I had been using a quarantine for about six months, and then was advised against it by my LFS. It appeared that about 1/3 of the peopleworking at the LFS did baths and used a quarantine and the other 2/3 did not. I discussed the issue at length with a group of people working at the LFS and at the end of the day, concluded that I would not dip or use a QT. While everything on the Internet and in the books strongly suggests a quarantine, the arguments against using one seem equally as strong. The main argument is that the strongest determinant of fish health is water quality and that it is almost impossible to get as good a water quality in your QT as it is in your display tank. Unless you are willing to basically duplicate the equipment from your display on your QT, you might be doing the fish more harm than good by using a QT. This seems to be the conclusion reached by most of the people working at the LFS.

Am I the only one that has come to this same conclusion? Not according to the results of the poll ;-)

To me the biggest reason to quarantine new fish is to protect the fish that you already have in your tank. If I hadn't quarantined my achilles tang I would of lost all of my fish to marine velvet

[surgeonfish]

Except for Gordon H, everyone posting a reply is in favor of quarantine and/or dipping, often because of personal experience. If done properly, I think the benefits greatly outweigh the negatives.

Maybe we should talk about ways to quarantine that reduce stress on the animals/corals. If done poorly, it may just add more stress to the anima or coral. I am always worried about plopping a fish into a newly set up quarantine tank with the potential added stress of the tank cycling. Therefore, I have a 44 gal tank always running with a filter, protein skimmer, and a few permanent resident fish. As a result, the quarantine tank is already stable. I do weekly water changes, alternating between new SW and water from the main tank. Before moving a fish out of the quarantine tank, I will do additional water changes using water from the main tank so the water in both tanks is as similar as possible. However, this requires additional time to keep the quarantine tank running constantly; but personally I think it provides the least amount of stress on new arrivals.

[michika]

I agree with you Shane, we should have a thread, or even a sticky about how to QT or dip fish/corals with the least amount of stress as possible.

[Chowder]

Hey mseepman you can get flatworm exit at Ocean Aquatics. Last time I was there he had about 4 boxes.

[Aquattro]

You need a "only quarantine/dip corals" option for me.....

[EmilyB]

No, not according to the results of the poll. However, it is difficult to condone not Qt'ing or whatever that dipping thing is..

I don't QT. In fact, I bought a fish with full blown ick and threw it into my reef tank, knowing that good food, good water quality, etc. would cure it in a hurry. And it did, because my existing fish were healthy.

However, for the new people, who rarely let their tank mature before adding yet another fish, or adding fish that do not suit the environment, this is not an option.

Originally Posted by Gordon H

I had been using a quarantine for about six months, and then was advised against it by my LFS. It appeared that about 1/3 of the peopleworking at the LFS did baths and used a quarantine and the other 2/3 did not. I discussed the issue at length with a group of people working at the LFS and at the end of the day, concluded that I would not dip or use a QT. While everything on the Internet and in the books strongly suggests a quarantine, the arguments against using one seem equally as strong. The main argument is that the strongest determinant of fish health is water quality and that it is almost impossible to get as good a water quality in your QT as it is in your display tank. Unless you are willing to basically duplicate the equipment from your display on your QT, you might be doing the fish more harm than good by using a QT. This seems to be the conclusion reached by most of the people working at the LFS.

Am I the only one that has come to this same conclusion? Not according to the results of the poll ;-)

[hawk]

Originally Posted by EmilyB

I don't QT. In fact, I bought a fish with full blown ick and threw it into my reef tank, knowing that good food, good water quality, etc. would cure it in a hurry. And it did, because my existing fish were healthy.

.

Not trying to be argumentative and glad it worked out for you, but IMO probably not the best idea to expose a healthy tank to a known diseased fish. Skipping qt and dealing with ick is one thing but what would you have done if the fish had flukes or velvet?, neither of which have visible symptoms in the early stages.
The good water, stress free environment argument is often used as a reason not to qt but unfortunately poor conditions can arise in any system at anytime ie. holidays, power outages, equipment failure, work, sickness etc. The key is to keep the disease out of the display in the first place.
There is no reason a properly set-up qt should be a stressful environment nor should it get the blame for a fish death. If a fish dies in qt, there was something wrong with it and better it dies in qt rather than the display. If a healthy fish dies in qt, then there was something wrong with the qt procedure. I agree with Marie, the reason I qt is to protect my display, the many benefits to the new fish are secondary.

[Pier Pressure]

It is quite interesting that everyone writing in is all for QT and dipping and yet the results of the poll suggest most people do not do it.

If you only use a tank for QT - how do you keep the cycle running and the water quality good?

[marie]

Originally Posted by Pier Pressure

It is quite interesting that everyone writing in is all for QT and dipping and yet the results of the poll suggest most people do not do it.

If you only use a tank for QT - how do you keep the cycle running and the water quality good?

At the moment I have live rock in mine and I'm not planning on getting fish anytime soon but when i was stocking with fish I kept some sponges for a HOB filter in the sump of my display tank to keep them seeded.
When I was expecting a new fish I would fill the QT with fresh saltwater, put the sponges in the filter and if I had a few days before the fish arrived I would add a few mysis shrimp to keep the bacteria fed.