Does fish from a established tank need quarantin?

Sprinting · Apr 9, 2022

I was considering to buy a fish that has been healthy in an established tank for a few years. What is the value of a quarantine in this scenario?

reefingaz · Apr 9, 2022

The value is you don’t know what the current owner has added to his tank today. Fish could be healthy for years and today he added a fish with ick or velvet. My motto is trust no one and QT all fish.

Greenstreet.1 · Apr 9, 2022

I say Qt everything that you can.

threebuoys · Apr 9, 2022

Sprinting said:
I was considering to buy a fish that has been healthy in an established tank for a few years. What is the value of a quarantine in this scenario?

I generally recommend QT for any fish acquired for peace of mind. The only ways I would not QT; if the fish was QT'd by a reputable vendor, or if I know the owner and have a clear believe that his tank is 100% safe.

Uncle99 · Apr 9, 2022

Very very little risk if your confident in the source.
Sometimes QT environments can be trouble as well.

Sprinting · Apr 9, 2022

Yah he hasn’t added anything to His tank in a long time and is just getting out of the hobby. Sounds like I need to weigh the risk considering the quality of his tank and how recent anything may have been added. Thank you all for helping me with this decision.

Jay Hemdal · Apr 9, 2022

Sprinting said:
Yah he hasn’t added anything to His tank in a long time and is just getting out of the hobby. Sounds like I need to weigh the risk considering the quality of his tank and how recent anything may have been added. Thank you all for helping me with this decision.

All quarantine processes are a "risk/benefit" decision. A perfectly run quarantine reduces about 80% of the typical disease load a fish carries, there are some types of disease that quarantine just doesn't screen well for (virus, microsporidians, etc.)

I quarantine all new fish, even those that were quarantined by somebody else. In this case, your risk is certainly much less than if the fish was coming direct from a typical LFS....

Jay

Sprinting · Apr 9, 2022

I have a 100 gallon stock tank that I can house them in for a few weeks. Ill probably focus more on observation than prophylactic medications and adjust accordingly or transfer to smaller qt if treatment is needed. Thank you all for your advice!

This seemed like the logical thing to do, but all the advice I read was relative to buying from stores and the diseases within the supply chain.

Jay Hemdal · Apr 9, 2022

Sprinting said:
I have a 100 gallon stock tank that I can house them in for a few weeks. Ill probably focus more on observation than prophylactic medications and adjust accordingly or transfer to smaller qt if treatment is needed. Thank you all for your advice!

This seemed like the logical thing to do, but all the advice I read was relative to buying from stores and the diseases within the supply chain.

Here is another thought: observational quarantines don't really treat for any issues, just screen for them. Many QT systems are a marginal environment anyway, and can bring on stress induced diseases. IMO - if you aren't going to treat the fish prophylactically, I would just introduce it into your DT, in order to reduce transfer stress....

Jay

reefingaz · Apr 9, 2022

Hey birth control is a waste of time, money, resources and it just does not really feel the same…… for the most part you could be safe chancing it. Until you get a positive test and wonder, should I had just set up a QT for peace of mind.

bruno3047 · Apr 9, 2022

Just wanted to put a comment here about quarantine tanks. Read a post the other day that said that his QT numbers were pretty good “for a quarantine tank”. I smiled at this because the quarantine tank’s numbers should be as good as, if not better than the display tank’s numbers. If you’re going to put your new fish into an unhealthy quarantine tank, then why bother?

HuduVudu · Apr 9, 2022

reefingaz said:
Hey birth control is a waste of time, money, resources and it just does not really feel the same…… for the most part you could be safe chancing it. Until you get a positive test and wonder, should I had just set up a QT for peace of mind.

Sadly STD's don't care about your birth control.

Rmckoy · Apr 9, 2022

In a situation of knowing the tank that the fish is coming from it would depend on the species of fish

again . You will only be told what they want to share .
stress of moving can cause many issues alone.

vetteguy53081 · Apr 9, 2022

Key word is RISK.
Why do we quarantine - to reduce risk. I have bought many fish from private parties and Not knowing the husbandry of the tank in whole, I at minimum will give fish a 45 min bath in Ruby rally pro while acclimating it.

FishOkay · Apr 9, 2022

Trust them, don't bother quarantining.
Trust them, quarantine anyway for some reason.
Don't trust them take the risk don't bother quarantining
Don't trust them, dont take the risk and quarantine.
They are your options you can pick one.

Seriously though this is really Just a question with a common sense answer which is ultimately just going to start ANOTHER debate on the advantages/disadvantages/personal opinions on quarantining.

Sorry lol