To those of you who DON'T quarantine...

[Albertan22]

I've been trying to go the QT everything route with my new tank, but so far only 2 out of 4 fish I've put through QT have survived, and the 5th is currently lying on the bottom breathing heavily. I just did a 50% water change, but I don't think he'll survive the night. I'm getting very frustrated as the QT process is costing time, money and lives of fish. My fish seem to thrive in the first week or two. They eat well after a day or two, and come out to see me when I approach the tank, then a week or so in they stop eating and just die. I don't know if it's stress or water quality (it's hard to keep up with the water changes, even with a fully cycled sponge).

I know there's a large camp of people out there who don't QT, even some who think that QT does more harm than good. I was wondering for those that don't QT, do you use any prophylactic treatments before you add your fish to the tank? My biggest fear is adding ich or something like marine velvet to my tank, can you just treat fish and add them straight to the tank without a QT process?