Do you quarantine your new fish?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Komodo

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Sep 19, 2014
Messages
131
Location
Montréal, Canada
Do you quarantine your new fish before introducing them in a new tank?




Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice
 
We did for our first pygmy catfish, but this time we just put them in with the others. We don't have room for a QT tank unfortunately.

I know it usually is recommended to do so though.
 
Do you quarantine your new fish before introducing them in a new tank?




Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

Every time, no exception. We have to make sur the new fish is totally safe and clean to integrate our main aquariums before so we can prevent any disease spreading and ruining our tanks.

55 Gallon- Empty
125 Gallon- CKF and Tiger Oscar
220 Gallon- To come...
 
God yes, as well as being very selective as to where my stock comes from. I haven't had shop fish in my fishroom for years. A quar setup doesn't have to be a tank, a Rubbermaid storage bin works just as well. A bin, a heater, a sponge filter & maybe a couple species specific deco's & you're good to go. I've seen a 100 tank fishroom & 10k angels get wiped out in a week due to a bad quar. It's cheap insurance.
 
If it's the first fish going into your display tank, I'd say it's optional. If not, I strongly recommend quarantining.

I used to not quarantine and, outside of two sick fish that didn't make it, I got away with it with limited damage. That said, I definitely quarantine now. And based upon my previous experience, six weeks is the minimum quarantine time that I do.
 
If it's the first fish going into your display tank, I'd say it's optional. If not, I strongly recommend quarantining.

I used to not quarantine and, outside of two sick fish that didn't make it, I got away with it with limited damage. That said, I definitely quarantine now. And based upon my previous experience, six weeks is the minimum quarantine time that I do.

I’m starting from scratch with my new cichlid aquarium, 104 gallons. I had to sell one of my kids to by the stuff, and I’m not done yet. ;)

I will be introducing six fish a week for three or four weeks. Can I get away with not using a quarantine tank?
 
I would quarantine, and I would not add fish that quickly. Territory disputes could be an issue.

I'd get the first two species of fish, add one to the display tank, and add the other to the quarantine tank. Wait 6 weeks. If both sets of fish look good, add the fish in the QT to the display tank. Then get your third species of fish, add to the QT, wait 6 weeks, etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
Introducing New Fish

Do you quarantine your new fish before introducing them in a new tank?

Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

Hello Kom...

I never have in 11 years. If you do a good job of selecting your fish and keep your own tanks spotlessly clean, a quarantine tank is unnecessary. Active fish at the pet store with good body and color are very unlikely to transmit a disease to a well cared for, healthy fish in your home tank.

B
 
Hello Kom...

I never have in 11 years. If you do a good job of selecting your fish and keep your own tanks spotlessly clean, a quarantine tank is unnecessary. Active fish at the pet store with good body and color are very unlikely to transmit a disease to a well cared for, healthy fish in your home tank.

B

this sounds reasonable to me also, if anything i would add a inline uv just to be sure and help with algae (y)
 
Hello Kom...



I never have in 11 years. If you do a good job of selecting your fish and keep your own tanks spotlessly clean, a quarantine tank is unnecessary. Active fish at the pet store with good body and color are very unlikely to transmit a disease to a well cared for, healthy fish in your home tank.



B


+1 I would actually be shocked if a fish/fishes kept in a rubber maid for 6 weeks didn't become ill. There are an abundance of opportunistic bacteria in our tanks waiting for the right time to strike. A fishy in a sparsely decorated rubber maid for that length of time that is forced to acclimatise to the main after the duration provides a good opportunity for this......in my opinion.

Honestly. Not trying to start something here. Only did this one the other day but this this just kinda makes sense to me.....


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
If it's the first fish going into your display tank, I'd say it's optional. If not, I strongly recommend quarantining.

I used to not quarantine and, outside of two sick fish that didn't make it, I got away with it with limited damage. That said, I definitely quarantine now. And based upon my previous experience, six weeks is the minimum quarantine time that I do.
+1, perfect answer all around.

I’m starting from scratch with my new cichlid aquarium, 104 gallons. I had to sell one of my kids to by the stuff, and I’m not done yet. ;)
This hobby can be addicting. Hopefully your supply of kids will hold up for a while. ;)

I never have in 11 years. If you do a good job of selecting your fish and keep your own tanks spotlessly clean, a quarantine tank is unnecessary. Active fish at the pet store with good body and color are very unlikely to transmit a disease to a well cared for, healthy fish in your home tank.
This is called luck. Fish can look fine in a tank at the store and still be carrying a parasite. I do agree that being careful about where you buy from and carefully reviewing the behavior of all the fish in the tank(and any other tank connected to the water system) will greatly reduce the chance of bringing home a sick fish.

That being said, quarantine is a risk reward analysis. You need to decide if the work of setting up a quarantine tank is worth it given the fish you already have in your destination tank. This is a personal decision and there are many factors in play. How expensive are the existing fish? How rare are they? Are they endangered r extinct in the wild. Are you emotionally attached to them? etc, etc.....

That being said, I would be very careful to qt in appropriate conditions. Ensure that the qt tank is cycled and ready to go before you put fish in. I honestly think it would be fine to qt in a rubbermaid container as long as you had a cycled filter to put in it. IME, most fish prefer the dark and would actually be more comfortable in this situation. However, the thing that would concern me would be how would you evaluate the fish in this environment? Part of the purpose of qt is to keep an eye on the fish and make sure they are behaving and looking good before moving them into the other tank. This would be difficult to do in a rubbermaid container.
 
Hello Kom...

I never have in 11 years. If you do a good job of selecting your fish and keep your own tanks spotlessly clean, a quarantine tank is unnecessary. Active fish at the pet store with good body and color are very unlikely to transmit a disease to a well cared for, healthy fish in your home tank.

B

11 years of one person's luck doesn't mean folks should skip tried & true biosecurity measures as they relate to an aquarium.
 
Hello Kom...

I never have in 11 years. If you do a good job of selecting your fish and keep your own tanks spotlessly clean, a quarantine tank is unnecessary. Active fish at the pet store with good body and color are very unlikely to transmit a disease to a well cared for, healthy fish in your home tank.

B

When i went to the store for my neon tetras the entire tank looked healthy and spot free. Now a week later all my neons have ich. If I had a quarantine set up my display wouldn't have ich.

Moral of the story-it doesn't matter how clean the store tank is you can still get diseases

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
I have done both. I would prefer to qt in a perfect world. But.... Sometimes I run short on space. I have had to treat ich a few times, but other that I have never had any real issues from not quarantining. I agree about risk/reward analysis.
 
My heat is up to 88 now so it is a matter of time...started with 4 fish yesterday and today all 20 neons have spots

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
I wouldn't be so quick to discount 11 years of experience. I would never discount anyone's experiences just because something didn't work for me. I always use different peoples experiences when making an informed decision as well as logic and common sense.

We all know that just because a fish doesn't show signs of illness in the LFS display tank that they are not carrying something. I work in a hospital and come in to contact with equipment and people. On a daily basis. I'm probably carrying all kinds of things. Do I get ill? Yes of course. Do I get ill often? No. I haven't had a day off sick for 4 years. I look after myself, exercise, eat and sleep well. Could I pass things on? Yes. Does this mean the person I pass on to will get ill? No.

Stress is a major cause of depressed immune response and the list of stress factors in humans is endless (don't just think of environmental stress factors).

There are also many stress factors in fish as I'm sure you are all aware. From water chemistry, to temperature, from water flow to incompatible tank mates.

Provide them with all their requirements and a healthy tank should stay healthy and not be compromised by new additions.

I've had infections in my tank. But it was always down to me, not providing stability and security for my fish and their environment. Since I have managed to achieve this I haven't had a sick fish even with many new additions. Call it luck if you want but I prefer to think of it as something else.

I have no grudge bare against people that quarantine, I understand why they do it and that is perfectly logical. Err on the side of caution and all that, great. But don't say that it is a MUST as if people who don't are stupid. Just state what works for you and respect the experience of others. Is Bbradbury telling fibs? What Bbradbury says in this thread is really not that unreasonable. I think that too many people quarantine inappropriately and would see much better results if they provided a quarantine that meets all the fishes needs, including security. Placing a fish in a rubber made for 6 weeks and praising the necessity of 'bio-security' when the fish falls ill on the 5th isn't really accomplishing anything at all. Many of the 'standard' quarantine tanks on subscription channels, forums and websites are grossly unnatural.

Saying quarantining is based on what the fish is worth is really ill placed.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
When somebody tells me that their controversial practices have yielded no sick or dead fish in 10+ years, I tend to not believe them.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
Back
Top Bottom