How long do you personally QT new fish?

[eco23]

I'm interested in hearing different opinions on what is believed to be a suitable time to keep new fish in quarantine before moving them to your display tank.

I have heard opinions ranging from fish shouldn't be QT'd because a display tank will cause less stress and keep their immune system healthy...to a minimum of a 2 month quarantine and everything in between. It does seem like 2 weeks is the normal recommendation.

A couple things I've been curious about...what is the average time frame for different illnesses to present themselves if a fish actually is ill when purchased?

Also...pure speculation...is one of the purposes of keeping a QT bare instead of decorated actually intended to CAUSE stress with the intent of making a fish display any illness they might have?

Just curious on opinions .

 

[jetajockey]

I qt my wild caught fish for at least 2 weeks. Usually in that time I cull out the ones that are having issues, and the ones that didn't transition well are long gone by the time they go into the main stock tank.

My QT tanks usually have something in them, even if its just plants.

With fish that I purchase, it just depends on where I get them from, and what tank they are going into. If the tank is empty then I put them straight in.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Like jetajockey, it depends where I get them. From an LFS, they get 30 days qt... unless it's not possible. I purchased 52 fish a while back, fish that needed a fairly large tank. I just didn't have the ability to qt them. Got ich, but didn't lose any fish. Heat+salt=win.

If I order them online from someone like HN1 and severum mama, or I get them locally from someone with healthy tanks, I usually don't qt.

 

[Maya]

We QT for 4 healthy weeks. When we first started discussing getting an aquarium, my husband and I sat down and came up with some agreed upon parameters. There is a lot of back and forth so we took in all the arguments and then tried to learn about the life cycles of some common parasites, ich for example. We agreed that 4 weeks would be ample time for any disease, in any life stage, to show itself. If, by chance, a disease does present... The fish gets 4 weeks in QT after treatment to ensure that he is now healthy. No question and no chance to shorten our QT time. And we keep each other in check when one of us gets an urge for the immediate gratification of immediate introduction to our display tank.
We keep our QT tank bare to be able to easily break it down and set it up with a filter always ready (baking... Lol). A bare tank covered on three sides with three pieces of elbowed PVC piping is all they get. When we are ready to add our last addition (my orange spotted goby in the saltwater tank that I'm going to wait for at least another 9 months to a year on to make sure we have good nutrition in our sand) I will run a QT with a 2 inch sand bed for a time to make sure he doesn't suffer in QT. After his QT we will trash that sand. Yes, it is a lot of time and effort spent on QT but for us... It's worth it.
Our theory is simple... We don't trust anything (fish, coral, plant or invert) to go into our display tank without QT. For a lot of people, it's probably overkill and that's cool. But that's the way we do it.

 

[eco23]

I lean the same way. SM and HN1's fish get a nice acclimation then go straight into the DT.

As a follow up, if a fish dies from unexplained causes, is that sufficient reason to restart the timer on the QT period, or do you just consider it an acceptable fact that not all fish will survive when new? For example, right now I have 5 Tetras / Danios in QT, they've been there for a week and a half. Over the weekend I woke up to one of the Tetras dead with no signs of illness and water parameters were fine. I was previously shooting for the 2 week mark (they came from a lfs)...but now may extend their visit in the QT before joining the others. Do you look for physical signs of illness, or is fish death reason enough to consider them not ready for the DT?

 

[Maya]

We would probably give them another 2 weeks. If I saw obvious signs of trauma.. Nipped fins, war wounds, I might cut that down a bit but with no signs I would err on the side of caution. Some fish dont make it. But I would rather they die in QT than have to find them and fish them out after they foul up our DT's. But everyone is different.

 

[chagoi]

Goldfish 2 months Koi 6 months other 1 month.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I always go off the 30 day rule. A very knowledgeable member on here, who works for a public aquarium, and is very well aversed in both freshwater and marine diseases, made a good point that while 2 weeks may be sufficient, some diseases may take a bit longer to show up.

 

[Maya]

Why longer for koi? The expense of the fish or an increased susceptibility to disease? Just curious for future reference (after I talk the hubby into building my Japanese garden, complete with koi pond).

 

[Oscarr19]

I don't QT the fish. They get acclimated and go straight into my tank. A lot of people won't agree with this but i have yet to get a disease in any of my tanks.

 

[eco23]

I don't QT the fish. They get acclimated and go straight into my tank. A lot of people won't agree with this but i have yet to get a disease in any of my tanks.

Out of curiosity...is there any particular reason you choose not to, or is it just how you've done it? I'd be to nervous to not quarantine unless it was from a very trusted source, but I have actually seen other arguments against quarantining.

 

[chagoi]

Why longer for koi? The expense of the fish or an increased susceptibility to disease? Just curious for future reference (after I talk the hubby into building my Japanese garden, complete with koi pond).

Koi herpes virus (KHV) can wipe you out. I have about 70 koi can't chance it. About 6 years ago I keept a G/F in QT for 48 days. I lost him and a few others to FISH T.B. I just started a african tank QT about a month.

 

[chagoi]

Out of curiosity...is there any particular reason you choose not to, or is it just how you've done it? I'd be to nervous to not quarantine unless it was from a very trusted source, but I have actually seen other arguments against quarantining.

A trusted source? I have had fish none stop for 40 years. I don't know much and forgot a lot. But I have never been been sorry about guarantining.

 

[eco23]

A trusted source? I have had fish none stop for 40 years. I don't know much and forgot a lot. But I have never been been sorry about guarantining.

There's a particular (married) couple of people on this site who are about as reputable as they come. They're kind of like AA's personal fish store. For example, I asked if they were going to get Panda Corys in...she special ordered them, and held them for 2 weeks to ensure their health before shipping them out....basically did the quarantining for me.

 

[Maya]

Koi herpes virus (KHV) can wipe you out. I have about 70 koi can't chance it. About 6 years ago I keept a G/F in QT for 48 days. I lost him and a few others to FISH T.B. I just started a african tank QT about a month.

Thank you so much for the info. I haven't even started my research on koi yet as this project is months (if not longer) away. But, obviously, I'm a little on the skittish conservative side (husband calls it paranoia) when it comes to the health of my pets. Better safe than sorry for me! I will have to keep that in mind when it comes time to purchase my outdoor friends.

 

[Oscarr19]

Out of curiosity...is there any particular reason you choose not to, or is it just how you've done it? I'd be to nervous to not quarantine unless it was from a very trusted source, but I have actually seen other arguments against quarantining.

One reason is i don't have a QT tank. The other probably because i trust my lfs. I have yet to see a dead fish left in the tank or one that is sick. The plants they sell aren't always in the best shape but they have experienced and knowledgable staff so that kind of evens it out for me. Don't think that i don't inspect the fish before buying or even before i put them in my tank. I would never put a sick fish in my DT.

 

[Tigroscr]

Personally I don't get or buy fish often enough to have a QT tank, I've had most of my fish for months some even years. I just pick out or try tobthe healthy fish at my lps and so far have never had any issues. I would think it might pose more stress on fish to get acclimated to one tank and then switch them over again to a new one to get acclimated to.

 

[Tigroscr]

I'm curious also.....do people who do this let the QT sit dormant for long periods of time without any fish? are they still treating the water and doing pwc? and where in the world if they do use a qt are they putting all these fish? Lol, I have 4 tanks soon to be 5 and don't have that many fish. Also are they buying fish with short life spans and is that why they need to keep buying more fish or are they dying from lack of proper care. I personally think you would only need a qt tank if your a breeder, or own a lfs.

 

[Hondatek]

This is a good thread. I allways thought about qt or not . Personally I have never qt any fish. I have discus and I never done qt or a slow acclimation I just give them 20 mins in the bag then scoop them in the tank. I know that's not great but I haven't had a problem.even my sw puffer got 20 mins in the bag then in the tank he went . I think if your tank and your fish are healthy unless the fish you buy has obvious signs of illness it's not necessary but who would buy a sick fish anyways.

 

[Tigroscr]

I agree with you Hondatek that's what I've always done too! It has always worked for me