Is this article true about doubting quarantining?

[xXDiamondNekoXx]

I was researching quarantining when I found this article:
Quarantine Causes More Harm than it Prevents
May the doubts begin!

 

[Andy Sager]

I was researching quarantining when I found this article:
Quarantine Causes More Harm than it Prevents
May the doubts begin!

I say it's a propaganda piece to make sales and increase business. (JK)
But seriously, it does bring up some interesting points. One is that what he describes as a poor QT tank is actually a proper hospital tank for medicating fish if needed. Another is regarding length of time in the tank for disease treatment/ prevention. There is a distinction between a QT tank and a hospital tank. One is short term and one is longer term and each should be set up appropriately for their use.
It really boils down to this: If you are willing to take the chance that no disease or parasite is on or in any new fish you put into your display tank without QTing it, one of 3 things will happen: 1-Nothing 2- it may become sick or make others sick or 3- it will contaminate/ sicken the entire tank at which point medicating the tank may destroy all your hard work getting the tank to where it was. So you need to ask yourself " Is it worth it not to QT? (properly) " For me, the answer is "NO".

There's my 2 cents

 

[Reefer James]

Sometimes even dripping a fish is more stressful for a fish. If you have a healthy tank and you know the fish is also healthy the quick 15min temp acclimation is all you need... I personally care more about acclimating the new fish to the new tank mates haha

 

[Brookster123]

Sometimes even dripping a fish is more stressful for a fish. If you have a healthy tank and you know the fish is also healthy the quick 15min temp acclimation is all you need... I personally care more about acclimating the new fish to the new tank mates haha

Talking with the guys at my lfs.. they thought I was crazy to drip fish from their store to my tank.. they thought I was crazy not to qt either haha.. i float the bag, add a cup of water every 5 min for 15 min. Net em and drop em in.. i will not be dumping lfs water in my tank.. funny thing is.. not that I'm worried about disease.. place is plagued by duckweed.. oh hell noooo

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Reefer James]

QT totally should depend on the fish you're buying. Not every fish needs to go into qt.

I will of course recognize that there are many contagious illnesses fish can pass on if QT is not used. But does everyone know the signs of illness from 2wk of observation.

 

[xXDiamondNekoXx]

Thank you for replying. I can't afford to quarantine so i will just observe my lfs's water and fish, I will look for healthier fish

 

[emmaie892000]

I think the main point the article has was that if you just fill a ten gallon tank with tap water and dump new fish in, they're going to be stressed out, and in that case, quarantine is useless. I feel like this guy has obviously never had a really serious disease or parasite, the kind that can kill EVERYTHING in your tank.
So I would go with a quarantine tank that is always running, gets water changes, is basically a regular aquarium.

 

[PB_Smith]

That article was rather weak. I was expecting some real science, not simple common sense and opinion.
Yes, if you do things as lame and outlandish as presented in the article, you will have problems.
Seriously, what passes as acceptable journalism these days.....

I will admit I rarely quarantine new critters.
so far I've gotten lucky and have only lost the purchased critter if there was a problem.


BUT if anyone wants an example of what can happen, check out Mr.X's thread and what happened to him. He lost just about everything to eye flukes;

So, up till now, I've never quarantined a single fish- I've imported box after box of wild caught fish and sold them to folks and have seen very few deaths over the years- I could count them on one hand. A few weeks ago however, I bought a single box of fish and distributed them to 3 entirely different systems, and they all did fine, until a few days ago.
Out of the entire box of fish, only two remain (the bornonius anythias I imagine was sick and jumped as a result), and of the two fish, only one doesn't appear sick. Besides that, not only did the new fish die, but they took all the existing fish with them. In my own tank at the moment, I have the blue throat trigger, who looks sick, and the flame angel who doesn't, and also my original yellow tang, who shows no signs of illness at the moment.
On all of the fish there was ich present, but this was not the cause of death. The amount of ich was minimal and I'm guessing was a symptom of the parasite that actually killed the fish.
Sea Dwelling Creatures suggested it was eye flukes, and one of my local friends thinks it's brooklynella. Slime coat increased, and it appeared as though the fish was shedding skin- especially in the head area, but the entire body of most of the fish was eventually covered. The eyes got foggy, and at the end, they could no longer see. They did eat up until the day they died though, which I found surprising.
Since being as horrible as it was, it was an extremely isolated incident, I have not changed my practices. I still feel a QT tank is more stressful than my display.
I'm letting this play out and what happens, happens. if the tank is wiped out, I'll ghost feed for a couple months and try again (from a different vendor, of course).

for me, I just always assume that there is at the very least ich in the water/system at ANY store I go to. I will easily spend an hour or more watching a fish or two before I make a purchase. Any questionable anything and I usually walk away. I have passed on some absolutely beautiful fish because of a missing scale or nondescript spot or blemish.
For the first 8-9 months as my system got settled, I would do a drip acclimation.
Now that my system is rolling along consistently and my water parameters are basically the same as the stores, I just temp acclimate them, but I NEVER put water from the store tanks into my system.


but I do have tanks set-up or ready to go if I should need a hospital tank.

 

[PB_Smith]

but as a side note. if talking salt water, always double check the salinity as a lot of stores keep fish at a lower salinity to help stave off parasites.
So if you are putting it into a reef tank, there could possibly be a few points of difference in the salinity, in that case you want to drip acclimate the fish.


and you should always drip acclimate shrimp and crabs, etc. because they tend to have more issues than fish or corals if not slowly acclimated.

 

[Reefer James]

^^^ Very good information above. Drip those inverts, they need it badly. Especially when salinity is a factor, as mentioned. (If you run a nano tank remember to have saltwater to replace your drip)