Do you agree with Paul B's method (no QT) ?

[William Mumford]

I find this method wrong and careless. Anyone who follows it is just waiting for the ticking time bomb to go off. I don't want to see my tank with white spots all over my fish worrying about their health constantly. I've lost hundreds in fish in the past for not quarantining. Why take that risk again? Since the saying "nothing good comes fast in this hobby"... why should that exclude quarantining fish? I'll stick to Humblefish's advice.

Good for you. I also think that their is more than one way to do things and what works for you works for you.

 

[S2G]

Most people are pretty tribal about methods. My method is awesome yours is wrong. There's tons of different ways of doing things. Do you're research and find what works for you.

Im not going to dog a method that works for him. However, here's my opinion on quarantine. I will say a quality pellet is one of the best things you can use though.

To me quarantine sounds more logical than managing disease. I don't do the methodical quarantine like I see. I have started fw dips but I don't use copper unless necessary. I have a lot of money tied up in my display tank. A velvet outbreak in a 29g eh not so terrible but a 75+ is catastrophic. Im not willing to risk my hard earned tank for any one animal. Your talking losing thousands for what $100-$200 most times? That's a bad decision in my book. I quarantine & observe for 2 months minimum. Throwing a wild caught fish into an established tank full of fish is asking for trouble as well. I think it's wise to let it settle in and make sure it's eating in a low stress environment then introduce with an acclimation box.

Im not trying to convert or dog anyone this is just my logic on the matter. I will say one thing if you have a velvet outbreak I guarantee you will be pro quarantine lol pain is an excellent teacher

 

[William Mumford]

I hate quarantining fish, but there is something I hate more, losing fish. All the arguments about physical inspection is how diseases is prevented, is flat out wrong. Most stages of a parasitic infection show no physical manifestation. Beyond that, it may manifest purely in the gills and not be easily seen. I wish I didn't have to quarantine, it is a huge headache, but I value my fish too much to not take steps to keep them healthy.

In the ocean parasite falls off fish and the fish can leave the area. Our systems are closed, no where for the fish to escape to.

Qt you still lose fish.

 

[reefproaquatics]

As someone who quarantines thousands of fish a year I can tell you that your head would explode if you saw the parasite loads on fish coming into the hobby both from overseas collectors/wholesalers and even worse US wholesalers.

 

[William Mumford]

As someone who quarantines thousands of fish a year I can tell you that your head would explode if you saw the parasite loads on fish coming into the hobby both from overseas collectors/wholesalers and even worse US wholesalers.

Thousands a year are you the guy draining the ocean of all the beautiful fish?

 

[Squidward]

Qt you still lose fish.

Still better than infecting the whole display with ich and other diseases causing more deaths.

 

[reefproaquatics]

Thousands a year are you the guy draining the ocean of all the beautiful fish?

No, I'm the guy trying to reduce the uneccesarry fish loss in the hobby so that more hobbyists can be successful

 

[William Mumford]

Still better than infecting the whole display with ich and other diseases causing more deaths.

Hopefully we keep good eyes on our tanks to make sure it doesnt. Also after QT this can happen.

 

[William Mumford]

No, I'm the guy trying to reduce the uneccesarry fish loss in the hobby so that more hobbyists can be successful

Good works for you so continue on your path to success.

 

[brandon429]

Here’s one pattern I’m noticing. This is routinely among the top draw topics in reefing, it’s literally affecting the market total kudos. Thousand + eyes want to replicate fish health for the masses, high degree replication thrive without quarantine/tank fallow is a million dollar technique and when it withstands the variation and enduring test of a work thread one million dollars will be paid. By someone other than me but it will be well earned.

Market=see which topics draw the most reads per minute, active participants watching any given time = 100+ someone meet this demand/$
The thread w be 120 pages by lunch. Mine this topic but do something with it
make this a work thread not a technique hashing

Somebody make a thread for new keepers where they’re simply guided into disease free fish keeping to any significant improvement above norms. The same passion driving this thread will get tons of entrants into a disease free no qt work thread.

Five times a day in the new keepers forum a post cycled tank is loaded with fish as proof of end cycle. The plan ends there for protocol bc 76 days wait as fallow, after stocking corals, only sounds reasonable to those who have been burned prior. there’s way more demand for proofing the no wait option

 

[foxt]

Depends on what you mean by QT.

I have no LFS near me, so I buy fish online. Sight unseen. No idea what I will be getting, aside from a WYSIWYG picture. These fish go straight into what I call QT, for 30 days. I don't treat prophylactically, I just observe. During that time, sometimes the fish shows obvious symptoms of something, a wound, a parasite, velvet, worms, etc. Then I will treat it. And after treatment, I will let it spend another 30 days in observation. If I could observe the fish before I buy it, I could weed out 90% of these cases - but I can't do that. So I observe it at home.

Most of the time, the fish spends those 30 days in the QT tank getting used to this environment. I have no idea where the fish has been before it gets here, how long ago it was in the ocean, what it likes to eat, nothing. It just makes sense to me that, before I throw it into a 220g tank with 30 other fish and let it compete, I give it a chance to settle down, start eating, maybe fatten up a bit.

I am not trying to create a disease-free DT. I know I have ich in my DT. Haven't lost a fish to it. I know I have kept velvet out of the DT because I caught it in QT - not sure how many fish I would have lost then?

I do agree with Paul on one very big point he hammers: I feed high quality food, often including live black worms, baby brine, copepods, live clams, and for certain butterflies, live coral (ouch). I think that has also made a huge difference.

 

[brandon429]

I’ve never seen one new keeper with a ready fish load feed that high quality, food training education seems to be a recurring theme as well sounds legit. Junk food health vs diet control health

Most people evolve into feeding such hq feed they don’t start with it, noted.

 

[WVNed]

No I don't QT. If you wish to go ahead.

 

[tdlawdo]

I think 99.99% of tanks have ich and other things in them, so most people are operating like he does. Only when water quality goes down or stress occurs, does it it visibly show itself and start killing things. If you look at what is really required to make sure you don't get ich...it is a lot. A coral tank for incoming inverts and corals that is in a different room from the display, so that they can sit for several months. Another tank in a 3rd room for fish, where they are treated with copper for a few months. Almost no one does it to make sure 100% they are free of disease.

My new MO!

 

[Rick Mathew]

Its not black and white.

I quarantine but my QT tank is more of a conditioning tank, it has live rock and macro algae...and pretty much looks exactly like a DT would (just no corals) whereas others QT everything with pvc and copper.

I use a conditioning tank to overfeed the fish and make sure they are healthy and robust before adding to my DT. It has been wonderful for more picky fish from leopard wrasse to yellow-stripe clingfish which may need special attention to detail and training to foods free from competition of a busy reef tank.

I do the same...not a quarantine but extend acclimation. Giving the pet time to catch its breath before putting in with other Critters that might cause additional stress...

 

[tdlawdo]

It obviously works. He's been running the same tank for over 40 years.

I do not quarantine. I simply do not have the space to set up another system. And don't give me "it's temporary", I see threads about MONTHS of quarantine, that's not temporary.

Maybe if people stopped buying fish without seeing them the issues with sick fish would decrease.

Surely seeing a fish in person first has little to do with getting or carrying a disease. It’s more about immunity and stress and exposure etc. so if my seeing it first means you get to drive it home and not have it thrown around a cargo station that makes sense but just seeing it doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

 

[Rick Mathew]

I do the same...not a quarantine but extend acclimation. Giving the pet time to catch its breath before putting in with other Critters that might cause additional stress...

Kind of like a fish sabbatical

 

[LadyMac]

I don’t qt. I see my marine fish at the stores, I see how they are kept. I only purchase online from people I trust. I have kept many many freshwater species( mostly bettas) and I know the breeders of the fish, I know the people who catch the wild caught ones, I see how long they keep them for observation before offering them up. I see what setups they are kept in (even if it’s someone I don’t know really well) I ask for tank pics and details. I see no reason to take a fish who’s stressed as it is, and add to a very unnatural setup with loads of medication dumped in as a preventative. Grant not every qt does it with meds I just prefer to let them get destressed in their new home. When I have them sent, I acclimate them via temp with lights off. Ambient room light is ok. If I buy from the store, I’ll leave lights on but turn them down.

 

[WVNed]

I jut light a candle for a week when I get a new fish

 

[Mortie31]

And just as a side note: success isn’t those people who maintain a tank with the same fishes over 20 years. Success is those that deal with new fishes on a regular basis and don’t have major losses to parasites.

And how do you keep adding fish on a regular basis? Either your tank is growing, your upgrading regularly or you killing them to make room for new additions, can you elaborate how you achieve this please, a lot of reef fish have life spans of 20+ years so I really don’t understand your point at all