I have a QT tank but I a very relaxed about QT. I freshwater dip and I wash all inverts. inverts and corals are added after close inspection and clean/dip. fish are put in my frag tank to rest and get healthy and eating. I only acclimate normally if the fish are from an LFS all online orders are floated and then I take a sample of the bag water and make sure to do this quickly then I match a small holding tank to the salinity of the bag. once the holding tank is set up I dump the fish into a net and then put them in the holding tank. next, I do the freshwater dip and then they are put back in the holding tank and drip acclimated to my DT. this method makes sure the fish are never exposed to high amounts of oxidized ammonia and prevents pests along with being the most stress-free process as possible. if a fish is showing any signs of disease it is put in the QT tank that is filled with live rock where it is observed for two weeks. if it still shows signs I will take out the LR and medicate the tank. the QT is mainly used as isolation and hostable tank. this is very helpful when I need to add a peaceful fish to my DT which has some aggressive fish it also works well to dissipate conflict.
Do you Quarantine Your Fish?
- Thread starter HotRocks
- Start date
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I have never QTed my fish, not because I am against it, just because i have never had any issues in 7 years and maybe I Am just lucky.
I have had a one fish get sick, it was a target spotted mandarin. It got some sort of fin rot, i put it in a 15 gallon tank and treated with antibiotics and about 4 weeks later returned to the tank. The fin rot was cured but the fish eventually died, i believe it had another issue. The tank was mature and full of pods. I would seehim eat and he lived for about a year, but find never grew completely back and one day i noticed I hadn’t seen him for a while, not really sure what happened to it. I don’t believe it was due to not quarantining because he was fine for the first 6 months before getting the fin issues. Other than the first couple damsels i put in the beginning that likeley died from ammonia spikes, i have never had any sick fish. I very rarely feel the need to add fish and when i do i buy healthy looking fish that i know are eating and come from a good source.
I’m not saying anyone should or shouldnt QT, I just don’t.
I have had a one fish get sick, it was a target spotted mandarin. It got some sort of fin rot, i put it in a 15 gallon tank and treated with antibiotics and about 4 weeks later returned to the tank. The fin rot was cured but the fish eventually died, i believe it had another issue. The tank was mature and full of pods. I would seehim eat and he lived for about a year, but find never grew completely back and one day i noticed I hadn’t seen him for a while, not really sure what happened to it. I don’t believe it was due to not quarantining because he was fine for the first 6 months before getting the fin issues. Other than the first couple damsels i put in the beginning that likeley died from ammonia spikes, i have never had any sick fish. I very rarely feel the need to add fish and when i do i buy healthy looking fish that i know are eating and come from a good source.
I’m not saying anyone should or shouldnt QT, I just don’t.
ReefHog
Well-Known Member
I didn't quarantine for the first 23 years in this hobby. A temporary case of ICK or two, one Popeye and a bacterial infection is all I remember having in those 23 years. Nothing my healthy, happy and stress free fish couldn't overcome. I have lost a few fish for no apparent reason. Back in the day I attributed it to cyanide poisoning or poor handling during collection. Then 7 years ago a couple fish contracted Flukes after a new addition was added. I lost a Flame Angel and my Juvenal Emperor (My Avatar) lost sight in one eye while in hospital tank being treated. Since then I FW dip and treat with Prazipro two treatments, observe for two weeks and then in the tank. Been working for 7 years without fail. Then, out of nowhere, last Sunday Velvet hit my tank. I lost 8 fish in 36 hours. 9th one this morning. Haven't added a new fish in three months. All fish were eating like pigs acting totally normal on Saturday. How did Velvet get in the tank? Never-the-less the parasite was in the tank somehow. My 220 + 60gal sump is going fallow now. I will be quarantining all fish AND inverts/corals/rock from now on. Don't think I'll be doing copper cause I just don't feel its good for fish unless absolutely necessary. With the help of this R2R forum, I plan on coming up with a quarantine that includes prazipro and probably Chloroquine phosphate. I will keep the other basic meds on hand if needed.
ShaunRobinson
Active Member
Good man. CP is a great med to be honest, kinder on the fish that copper and it’s pretty much a dose and forget medication without the need for the constant testing that copper requires.
It’s only a pain mentally to be honest. It doesn’t take a great deal to set up a small qt. It doesn’t even need to be a tank, a plastic storage box does the job perfectly.
I am actually cutting down on my QT process. In the past every fish was going through a 3-4 month QT.. TTM/Hypo.. prazi/metro.. observe for a month start over if anything popped up..been real strict on it..about 6 months ago added a male and female blue jaw trigger 2 weeks later my hippo tang(not my choice but my little princess had to have a Dory) was showing signs of ich...not about to tear my DT down so probably just going to go with the observe for 30 days or so if nothing is off just add them to the DT
I currently buy my fish from a lfs that quarantines for 2 weeks. I really prefer to quarantine prophylactic, and tried following some people posts from this forum, but after having failed so miserably on a few fish I decided to scratch it.
I have everything for 3 quarantines to be running, I just need someone to give me so good step by step instructions or a good video.
I have everything for 3 quarantines to be running, I just need someone to give me so good step by step instructions or a good video.
mandi29221
Active Member
YES took one time for me to learn I ****** up.
OP
OP
HotRocks
Fish Fanatic!
This is what I do:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/
This thread will be updated Soon as well.
mfinn
likes zoanthids
I always run my fish through 30 days of copper and a week or so with prazipro.
But something happened and now I have ick in my display.
Not sure if it was because of a hiccup in the last round of fish in qt, or from not running a coral qt, but it's there.
Currently setting up a large quarantine tank for all my remaining fish.
But something happened and now I have ick in my display.
Not sure if it was because of a hiccup in the last round of fish in qt, or from not running a coral qt, but it's there.
Currently setting up a large quarantine tank for all my remaining fish.
corky1966
Community Member
Royce White
Active Member
I have been very lucky, I haven't QT and haven't had any problems but I am going to start after seeing all the disease that is out there. I haven't bought a fish in a long time but the next fish will be QTed.
Beardo
Well-Known Member
There was a time I didn't QT but after some losses to disease and having to pull all the fish out of a 240, everything is QTed. All fish go through tank transfer and treated with prazipro followed by observation.
Lfs fish or online order that brought in the velvet.
ReefHog
Well-Known Member
All from my LFS. Never order fish on line. I like to observe them in person and see them eat my choice of food before I buy. Many times that's half the battle. The last fish I bought was a smaller Harlequin Tusk. He was quarantined for one month, albeit without copper. Never even heard of CP prior to this. Then he was in the tank for two months and never looked stressed or showed any issues. I think it was six months or so prior to that the fish before him. I did add three coral frags (two on plugs and one on a rock) three weeks prior to outbreak. Treated with ME coral wash and put them in. Coincidentally, within a week of adding the frags, my Emperor stopped eating for three days. Then resumed back to normal so never paid too much attention to it. Two weeks later the Emperor had fading color patches on his body. A few days later the tank was wiped out. Didn't realize it was Velvet till it was too late. I cruise R2R a lot. Never opened up the Fish Disease and Treatment forum ever. Never had a need to. If I had, I'd probably have recognized symptoms earlier and been better prepared. I feel horrible. I let all my fish down and they paid the ultimate price. Either the velvet hitch hiked in on the frags or it was managed very well for months by healthy fish until there were overwhelming numbers of them and it was just too much. I'll never really know.
ShaunRobinson
Active Member
Sorry to hear this mate. Velvet is a horrible disease, it can be devastating in a tank in a very short period of time.
