Most are tried and tested methods and reason why it is not healthy to jump site to site. Right now you get 3 conflicting methods and go on three more and you then have 6. While research is a part of this hobby, you need to stick with the source you find reliable. It often puzzles me when people come on here and says person XXX says i should be doing this raising question, then why are you on R2R and questioning experienced aquarists?
That’s a good example of a simple question with a complicated answer(grin). Quarantine is a compromise between expense (time, money, risk) and efficacy. In some special cases, you need to customize the protocol for a particular species, but the protocol we list and update here is a solid general protocol. I developed it during my career in public aquariums - THEN the Fish Medics and other members here have refined it to have a better focus on home aquariums. I think it’s the best process, but we continually update it as new information is developed.
There are also many people (on this site) who do not quarantine at all. IMHO - there is no 'right' and no 'wrong'.. Look at the source, decide which protocol you want to follow and follow it. The problem comes in Usually when people say I was doing x but ended up doing x +y for 1/2 the time. I would say consider the source. (This is not a slam against anyone or any other site). Consider the logic - and consider the types of places you're buying fish from.
Thank you for your time answering my questions over on the dedicated thread - a question I had about the current QT protocol vs the BRS one, but didn’t want to clog up the thread or risk injecting debate so perhaps this is a better place to ask…
Tough to say - I don't know their rational for saying that. With coppersafe or copper power, there is no reason not to go 30 days. With ionic copper, such as copper sulfate/citric acid or Cupramine, the higher toxicity indicates a shorter time frame is warranted.
TTM doesn’t work for velvet or flukes unless you go with the modified method, and then it still falls a bit short. The extra handling really stressses the fish out at a time they really need time to settle in and start eating well. Finally, almost all TTM set ups lack lateral viewing of the fish - never do that with new fish, you miss too many issues.
Thanks, Jay.
Many people run TTM in buckets or other opaque containers - that is grave error. If you do it in clear tanks, that’s better. I still don’t like the extra handling of the fish.
That really isn’t long enough to effect a complete cure in every instance. Since copper doesn’t kill the tomonts or trophonts, if you miss them, the disease will start again. Moving the fish out removes some of the risk, but not all.
Coppersafe is slow to cure, there can be trophonts on a fish that you can’t see….that extends the time. Then, there is always some risk of moving tomonts over any time something “wet” is moved from tank to tank. Is it a great risk? Probably not, but we see enough failures to know that the life cycle of ich is not as cut and dry as people believe - lots of slop in the timing, thus best practice is to go 30 days.
