Who here doesn't quarantine?

[Oscarr19]

I'm just curious as to who quarantines and who doesn't and their experiences with that.

 

[bshenanagins]

I'm just curious as to who quarantines and who doesn't and their experiences with that.

I think it really depends, I don't find it necessary for most fish but saltwater fish I would not take the chance there is too much to go wrong.

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I would but I don't have an empty tank. But I've added a lot of fish to my tanks and never had a problem

 

[aquandrew]

i qt all sw fish, but for fw it depends where i get it. i have one store that has never sold me a fish with disease, and other stores that i don't trust at all but have fish that the other doesn't. most of the time i just toss them in qt for two weeks anyway to make sure they are eating properly and look good. if i see any sign of illness, they stay in for treatment. i would never put a fish in my saltwater tank without quarantine first, its way too much to risk imo.

 

[Oscarr19]

Yup, as a newbie to saltwater with a currently thriving DT (abundance of copepods, coralline growth, several inverts) I wouldn't want to risk ruining it. Unfortunately, I lost my first fish purchase in QT from unknown reasons and it sucked but at least I knew my DT was safe. I've since upgraded to a 10G from a 5 for safety measures even though my fish are relatively small. Hopefully QT goes well this time and I'll be able to finally have a fish in my DT in 2-3 weeks.

 

[Mebbid]

I don't quarantine but I've gotten kicked in the crotch by it once, possibly twice... I am waiting to see about the second one. Soon I'll have a second tank up and running just for QT so hopefully it won't be an issue in the future.

 

[Oscarr19]

I don't quarantine but I've gotten kicked in the crotch by it once, possibly twice... I am waiting to see about the second one. Soon I'll have a second tank up and running just for QT so hopefully it won't be an issue in the future.

Best of luck on that second one! One of the things SW has taught me is patience.

 

[Mebbid]

Best of luck on that second one! One of the things SW has taught me is patience.

Yeah, I'm not too worried about it. If they do have ich again my new tank is going up soon and I'll just do a hypo in that before moving my corals and inverts over.

 

[Bray84]

Well I never did and ain't had any trouble till not long ago my cardinals ill and now got ich and so has my other fish so lesson learnt the hard way

 

[TheTodd]

I have been in saltwater for many years and have not done QT until recently. Years ago, I had a tank with about $1000+ in fish. I wanted to add one last fish, so i got a flame hawk. About a week later, I wake up and it is dead. I think nothing of it, but get home from work and two more fish are dead. Of course, the LFS is closed, so I have to wait until the next day to do anything. To cut a long story short, I ended up losing every fish within three days. It is no fun flushing $1000 down the toilet. I'm still not sure what it was, but I suspect Marine Velvet. Fast forward to present day...had a 75g set up and had just started stocking it... had an Eibli angel, some Chromis and added a bicolor Foxface. A few days later, the Foxface looks bad, the angel looks bad too. They were gone within 24 hours of me noticing them. This was MV. Not as bad a hit on the wallet, but enough is enough. I've got a 45g that I set up that will now be the permanent QT for all the upcoming additions to my new 240g. Also have a 15g hexagon in the bedroom that I may use for QT too. Its just not worth it to me anymore. A few extra bucks and a little extra time watching the new fish just makes perfect sense now.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I have been in saltwater for many years and have not done QT until recently. Years ago, I had a tank with about $1000+ in fish. I wanted to add one last fish, so i got a flame hawk. About a week later, I wake up and it is dead. I think nothing of it, but get home from work and two more fish are dead. Of course, the LFS is closed, so I have to wait until the next day to do anything. To cut a long story short, I ended up losing every fish within three days. It is no fun flushing $1000 down the toilet. I'm still not sure what it was, but I suspect Marine Velvet. Fast forward to present day...had a 75g set up and had just started stocking it... had an Eibli angel, some Chromis and added a bicolor Foxface. A few days later, the Foxface looks bad, the angel looks bad too. They were gone within 24 hours of me noticing them. This was MV. Not as bad a hit on the wallet, but enough is enough. I've got a 45g that I set up that will now be the permanent QT for all the upcoming additions to my new 240g. Also have a 15g hexagon in the bedroom that I may use for QT too. Its just not worth it to me anymore. A few extra bucks and a little extra time watching the new fish just makes perfect sense now.

I have had similar experience, without a wipe out like you had. If the QT isn't up to spec, you're just stressing the new fish more. But there is no other down side to being cautious. I don't QT, but I have a holding tank off the main system that I use for observation and allowing the fish to get use to the water without additional stress. They can also be caught easily if treatment is required. I have always thought I would use a UV sterilizer on the output of this tank to reduce risk of contaminating the main system, but it has worked so far.

 

[TheTodd]

My gameplan is to observe and only treat as needed. I don't see a need to treat for something that might not be present and since no one thing treats everything, there is always a possibility that blindly treating misses something.

 

[Bray84]

Do uses not even do hypo for ich

 

[Gregcoyote]

Do uses not even do hypo for ich

Nope. Stress sets off ick IMO. Less stress, less likelihood of a disease breakout. I try to give them a quiet spot to "decompress" after the long trip and the LFS. Once their strength is regained and they are eating with no sign of disease, into the reef they go.

 

[Bray84]

Thing is I've never qt and after nearly 18 months I've got ich so how do you know if your fish is ich free if it don't show up during the qt time.

 

[tonedogz]

If it doesn't show up after 4 weeks then there shouldn'r be a problem

 

[Oscarr19]

Yup, I will just observe for 2-3 weeks and only medicate if necessary. I believe the preventative treatment I was doing definitely was a factor in my QT losses.

 

[Bray84]

Don't know if worth the risk from my lfs as there fish don't look good as got tangs and other big fish in little tanks

 

[dmolavi]

Is it better to keep a QT up and running all the time, or just start when a couple weeks ahead of a new addition? I know that doesn't work for sick fish, since you won't have time to plan ahead for it.

Also, do you need to quarantine corals, or just dip them?

I have a spare 10 gallon tank/heater/powerheads that I could use if a permanent QT is the recommended route. Is anything needed in a permanent setup besides topoff, since it's going to be empty most of the time?

 

[tonedogz]

I know alot of people don't but I keep mine running all the time