QT Options!

[MarkW19]

Someone has just kindly offered to QT my next fish for me for 4 weeks...

It will be a Coral Beauty, and will take 20 mins to get from the dealer to his house.

Then, after 4 weeks, assuming all is well, I'll be picking the fish up from him and bringing it back to my tank (a 1 hour journey).

Is a 1 hour journey enough to stress the fish a lot?

My main question is this:-

After a calming, successful 4-week QT, will a long car journey and going into yet another tank not stress the fish out loads, basically making the QT useless and making the fish more prone to ich because of the extra journey?

 

[gear-head]

Doubtful a 1 hour journey will be too bad. Think about 8 hours for a fish bought online and shipped to you.

Just make sure you drip acclimate him for a few hours.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

gear head said it beset, I order most of my exotice fish online and they take sometimes 12 hours to get to my house. DRIP acclimations is the best way to do it.

 

[MarkW19]

So the risks of him getting ich from the journey are very low?

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

of course, if he was QT right then there is no ich on him nor the water he is being tranported on. it all comes down to how good the water parameters are in the tank that he shall be going to. Also, if they are great parameters, a drip acclimation will do the trick.

 

[steve-s]

So the risks of him getting ich from the journey are very low?

If the QT process is done correctly there should be no future concerns of parasitic problems for that fish. Parasites do not just develope, they are either there from the beginning or never there in the first place. Once the fish is placed in the QT, any parasite present will show up and can be treated accordingly. Parasites will usually respond to changes in environment and the possible reduced immune response the fish may have from transportation stress. This will bring about renewed and often heavy reaction from a parasite if present making them easily detectable.

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarkW19]

Cool, cheers guys!

 

[MarkW19]

Steve: I didn't know that about parasites. I thought they were always there, and could be brought out by sudden changes in water params etc.

I was asking about tank temp once, and Hara said that the tank temp going up and down a lot could lead to ich in no time, even though my fish have been in there for months and I've not introduced any new ones...

 

[steve-s]

I thought they were always there, and could be brought out by sudden changes in water params etc.

I was asking about tank temp once, and Hara said that the tank temp going up and down a lot could lead to ich in no time, even though my fish have been in there for months and I've not introduced any new ones...

Both completely false if properly quarantined. Some may believe this but I can assure you once a fish can been through the proper QT period a parasite like ich will definately rear it's ugly head if there. It can then be treated and that's the end of it, literally forever as long as there is no contamination from another source. It's pretty near impossible to say fish cannot become infected at a later date due to coral and other hard surfaces that parasite reproductive cysts can attach to and be brought in. One reason I prefer never to buy inverts from tanks containing fish.

If a fish is introduced directly to the main tank without a QT period, it is more than possible for a stress event to trigger an onset of the parasite at a later date. This would mean the fish in question had a certain degree of aquired immunity but it is typically short lived and there are many things that can set it off.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

That is true, I had a problem in my display once, treated it with copper for one month without fish and, no more parasites after any new introduction, of course I QT them for at least 4 weeks.

 

[MarkW19]

Steve: just got some advice that if I put a regal tang in my system, he'll almost definitely get whitespot at some time...even if QT'd correctly...

 

[steve-s]

Steve: just got some advice that if I put a regal tang in my system, he'll almost definitely get whitespot at some time...even if QT'd correctly...

Sorry but I gotta say it... BULL!

If you place any fish in a QT the stress from transport, acclimation and adjusting to a new tank will assuradley bring about the parasite if present. Changes in environment will spur the parasite as well the fishs' own lowered immune response would leave it much more susceptible. If so it can then be treated accordingly and be done with. If a fish developes C. irritans after the fact and the process was done correctly, it did not originate with that fish.

Cheers
Steve