To quarantine or not to quarantine

[Gregcoyote]

Yes, but in the end, the fish themselves may be carrying something. It's like the old "boy in a bubble." Once the immune system is failed, it's almost impossible to provide a sterile enough environment that something doesn't slip thru. The key is in husbandry of the fish themselves to insure their natural immune systems work. This is the only real dependable long term answer. Folks like myself, who don't usually QT, haven't seen ICH in over twenty years. Any fish that gets a parasite (and a few have) simply shrug that parasite off if that slime coat is working. The parasite population can't explode and them overwhelm fish that are on the borderline.

I've made my own argument for QT. I need to personally re-evaluate this. A new fish may be best kept in QT to enable that fish to recover from transit and regenerate their slime. As always, there are two or more ways to skin the cat. (Wherever that phrase came from, it's horrible...)


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[jeffaquarius]

Yes, but in the end, the fish themselves may be carrying something. It's like the old "boy in a bubble." Once the immune system is failed, it's almost impossible to provide a sterile enough environment that something doesn't slip thru. The key is in husbandry of the fish themselves to insure their natural immune systems work. This is the only real dependable long term answer. Folks like myself, who don't usually QT, haven't seen ICH in over twenty years. Any fish that gets a parasite (and a few have) simply shrug that parasite off if that slime coat is working. The parasite population can't explode and them overwhelm fish that are on the borderline.

I've made my own argument for QT. I need to personally re-evaluate this. A new fish may be best kept in QT to enable that fish to recover from transit and regenerate their slime. As always, there are two or more ways to skin the cat. (Wherever that phrase came from, it's horrible...)


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I totally agree with the 1st paragraph but not the 2nd. If you picked a compatible fish with tank, I believe they are better off and recover faster in DT than in QT.
Edit: Provided the acclimation is done properly.

 

[Gregcoyote]

That's the quandary I have. If I had the room for a properly setup QT system, it would be hard to argue with that as precautions are warranted. But only if that QT system is up to snuff and is as nice as the main tank is. Otherwise, I would tend to think the QT could make the problems worse.


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[mr_X]

Monday I introduced to my display 6 wild caught fish, purchased from Sea Dwelling Creatures. It's Sunday. No Ich, velvet, or anything else I can see as of yet except for a weird bruise on one tang's chin. It already seems to be healing. I think he may have bumped an anemone...but who knows, it could be the end of my $500.00 purchase.....TO BE CONTINUED.......

 

[Animal-Chin]

I have a QT but don't use it like most I think. I put my fish in there for the minimum amount of time because I can tell it's a more stressfull environment than my display. Thant being said, I just bought a Naso that looked totally healthy in the store. Brought it home and it wouldnt eat. Next day, nope. Then I noticed it had a lumpy belly, ope I've seen this before. Sure enough, little stringy worms show up out of the anus. Now because I QT'd I could add the Prazipro to kill the intestinal worms right away and he has a way better chance. I like the small empty invironment to observe before putting the fish in the display. I've had 2 QT fish develope ich within the first few days of being brought home.

Seconly, i will never purchase a fish from a tank that I see any other fish with ich. At my LFS if I like a fish, i look at every fish in the tank. If one has a spot, I move on because there could be ich you can't see on your fish. Take is slow, even if you see that fish you've been wanting for a while, there will always be another chance. Risking outbreaks in your display isn't worth it. I had a powder brown tang bring in velvet and let me tell you, it was the worst decision I've made while reefing...

 

[melosu58]

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro

 

[jeffaquarius]

Take note. It has emphasized that if you QT you must QT not only fish but everything.

 

[Mebbid]

Take note. It has emphasized that if you QT you must QT not only fish but everything.

Nobody here is disagreeing with that.

 

[jeffaquarius]

Monday I introduced to my display 6 wild caught fish, purchased from Sea Dwelling Creatures. It's Sunday. No Ich, velvet, or anything else I can see as of yet except for a weird bruise on one tang's chin. It already seems to be healing. I think he may have bumped an anemone...but who knows, it could be the end of my $500.00 purchase.....TO BE CONTINUED.......

Just curious if your new 6 wild caught fish are still swimming.

 

[mr_X]

All fish are doing well, eating prepared foods, and not a sign of disease.

 

[Mebbid]

All fish are doing well, eating prepared foods, and not a sign of disease.

Im curious mr x. Do you dip new corals before you add them to your tank?

 

[dylan p]

I don't quarantine anything or dip anything and haven't had any deaths since I stArted this hobby I just pay close attention to what I'm buying and anything else in the the tanks before I buy anything. The only deaths I've ever had were the first couple fish I ever had and that was because I didn't do research on there compatibility


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[mr_X]

Im curious mr x. Do you dip new corals before you add them to your tank?

Only ones I get from other reefers' tanks. I haven't found a single red bug, monti eating nudi, or acropora eating flatworm on wild corals.

 

[PB_Smith]

Greg is totally correct about tangs and why they are so susceptible to external parasites, as well as his remarks about immunity in general.


A while ago I purchased a yellow coris wrasse, didn't quarantine and introduced ich into my tank.


I hooked up the UV as a prophylactic attempt to contain a big outbreak, started doing 5-10 gallon water changes every 5 days vacuuming the substrate to remove any eggs, and just made sure everyone was fat and happy. In a week spots showed up on a few fish, but only ever 1-3.
What I also noticed during this, or at least it seemed this way, is the cleaner shrimp would seek out the fish that were showing signs of distress, and my flame angel made regular stops by the cleaning station. I even saw the shrimp picking cysts off it, went in with a few spots on his head/fins, came out clean with little blemishes where the cysts were.
pretty cool to watch the little dance the fish and shrimp go through.


!!But cleaner shrimp WILL NOT prevent a big outbreak if other factors are not up to snuff.!!


It's been about 10 days now since I have seen any signs of ich, except for the occasional scratching, but that could be a number of things. If I'm going to have an ongoing issue, I should see more spots in the next couple of days.
So for me at least, the fish are healthy and happy enough to easily fight off any infestation, now to just keep it that way.




I also watch the fish in the store and check the overall health of their complete system.
I just assume that ich is present, haven't been to a store in ages that didn't have a few infected fish, it's how/what they do that I look at.
If I mentioned a sick fish and they take measures to help it right there, that is fine. It's the ones that try to feed you some lame excuse or just shrug it off that don't get my business.


wish more lfs would quarantine their new stock, but with most offering no type of guarantee, why should they.

 

[jeffaquarius]

At your lfs the fish have lesser stress since their salinity is at the fish comfort zone (1.20 or lower). It is very important when acclimating that the temp, pH and salinity must be equal to DT parameter otherwise that stress leads to ich outbreak.

 

[jeffaquarius]

This other thread is quite related to this topic.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f16/ginger-ich-treatment-334030.html

 

[BLUElobster99]

I've always wondered why people say that keeping fish at a lower salinity of 1020 or 1018 is less stressful since the reefs they were collected from are 1025. I may be wrong though.


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[Mebbid]

I've always wondered why people say that keeping fish at a lower salinity of 1020 or 1018 is less stressful since the reefs they were collected from are 1025. I may be wrong though.


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That's a good question, I'm wondering that myself.

 

[Gregcoyote]

It relieves osmotic pressure on the fish.
I think...

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[Mebbid]

I would have liked to see sources that are newer than 30 years old, but this is a decent read.

Aquarium Fish: Applications for Hyposalinity Therapy: The Benefits of Salinity Manipulation for Marine Fish — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog