Fish Quarantine - How Do YOU Do It?

[btkrausen]

Throughout my 'career' in this hobby, I've found that there are many different types of people when it comes to quarantining fish. There are (1) the people that flat out won't do it, (2) the people who understand the need but still don't do it, and then (3) the people who are hard core about it. I've personally had a $30 fish join the community and quickly wipe out the entire tank with velvet. Then I've had a $30 fish enter the tank and spread ich to everybody, causing a huge headache in having to do a hyposalinity treatment.

Quarantining isn't complicated, takes little equipment, and is very helpful is sustaining and extending the life of your fish.

What is your stance on quarantining fish, setting up and maintaining quarantine tanks? Help others help themselves

 

[SDguy]

I QT some fish. I don't QT others. Also depends where they are destined... FO fish ALWAYS get QT. Reef, not so much. Also depends on the fish. Butterflies - absolutely! Anthias? eh, a FW dip, and they get tossed in....

QT is easy once you get the hang of it. Just don't get discouraged if you have some losses at first.

 

[btkrausen]

When I decided to start quarantining fish, I went all out for my setup, as I knew my fish would be (1) expensive and (2) mostly rare/hard to find. I have a 40B tank with a 20gal sump. I have a SRO 1000 on it as well, and run it with filter socks. I also use an AquaClear 50 to run carbon when I'm not running meds.

Right now, I have a baby blonde naso tang, Mitratus butterfly, Eightline Flasher wrasse, and Jewel Leopard wrasse in my QT. They all just went through a quinine sulfate treatment since the butterfly seems to have had ich, and they'll start a preventative PraziPro treatment today or tomorrow. PraziPro is about the only med I will use as a preventative, and will observe for anything else.

Its really hard to not put these fish in the tank, especially the gorgeous ones I have in there now.

 

[SDguy]

Yup, watching my butterflies sit in QT for at least 2 months is tough sometimes. The water changes get annoying, etc. But at the end of the day, having a healthy, disease free fish is SOOOOOO rewarding!

 

[kv2wr1]

I used to not quarantine and just did a freshwater dip (bad lfs advice), but I have learned better since then and I now quarantine everything. I will freshwater dip, de-worm every fish and then hold in quarantine for a minimum of 6-8 weeks to see if anything else shows up. I have had ich and velvet outbreaks on week 4 so then I will treat as appropriate. I won't do hypo anymore since I had a situation where I had a fish with ich that I was treating with Hypo and then marine velvet showed up. The fish died before I could bring up the salinity to treat with Cupramine at the full strength. So now I treat ich with cupramine only since it will kill ich and velvet, but only if they show signs of disease.

 

[ritter6788]

I won't put a fish in my tank without QT. The exception is my mandarin. I didn't QT that one for feeding reasons.

I keep a 10 gallon running even though I don't plan on adding any fish anytime soon. You never know around here when someones tank will pop up for sale or someone wants to trade a fish so I leave it running in an empty closet in the garage.

A simple 10 gallon with HOB filter, sponge, pvc hiding places. I removed the liverock once that sponge was seeded well.

 

[wysiwyg]

depends on wher ei get my fish from if its from my lfs it get quarantined and treated. if its from live aquaria where they quarantine and treat there fish before sale i wont

 

[reefhobo]

I think it's great practice, but honestly it does take a bit of time and extra equipment. I also notice that it's also using up extra electricity. It's already difficult enough to try to keep a reef tank happy. I find it really hard to quarantine myself even though I think it's best for the animals.

 

[btkrausen]

Let's hear from more people on this important subject.......

 

[chort55]

There was your problem.... buying $30 fish LOL

Seriously tho, I've never had any reason to worry about setting up a QT, IMO ich is beatable and if you buy from a good source its not that big of a deal....... or maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[MBG75]

I too had a run of velvet and ich. I now qt all my fish.
20l, heater, koralia, and an aquaclear.
Always keep a sponge for the aquaclear in my sump of my dt. That way when I need to setup the qt I have a seeded filter ready to go, no cycle.
Takes approx 6 weeks to seed the sponge.

 

[typicalwhiteazn]

I'm gonna go with freakin' LUCKY... I hope for the fish's sake it doesn't run out.

There was your problem.... buying $30 fish LOL

Seriously tho, I've never had any reason to worry about setting up a QT, IMO ich is beatable and if you buy from a good source its not that big of a deal....... or maybe I'm just lucky.

I on the other hand am totally guilt of Fish Genocide more than once for sure. I lived in a small apartment in the past and never had room for a second QT thank. I had over a dozen tangs, butterfly and pygmy angles in my system at one point. Than one day I saw this beautiful falcula butterfly that i had to have from a LFS and BAM!!! Ich explosion and everyone dropped dead within 2 weeks.

QT, always from now on... For a QT, I suggest 10-20 gallon DT with a 10 gallon sump. have a decent protein skimmer and heater, make the display as natural as possible. Raise the water temp to increase metabolism and speed up disease incubation period. I would consider using light copper initially in addition to any other meds given symptoms occur and weekly water changes of 20-30%. Drop of prevention will be a gallon of cure.

 

[btkrausen]

I too had a run of velvet and ich. I now qt all my fish.
20l, heater, koralia, and an aquaclear.
Always keep a sponge for the aquaclear in my sump of my dt. That way when I need to setup the qt I have a seeded filter ready to go, no cycle.
Takes approx 6 weeks to seed the sponge.

Exactly what I do. I finally used my big seeded filter from the display when I setup my nano in 90 tank. Once I used it, two more sponges went in for future use

 

[Quinn123]

Went from a 90 gallon to a 144 gallon, kept the 90 for qt now, bought blue tang and did not qt, he wipe my entire tank, lost a 10" imperator, a pair of Hawaii flame wrass, purpletang tang, I now qt every fish, don't care where I get the fish, I qt at least 4 weeks

 

[btkrausen]

Went from a 90 gallon to a 144 gallon, kept the 90 for qt now, bought blue tang and did not qt, he wipe my entire tank, lost a 10" imperator, a pair of Hawaii flame wrass, purpletang tang, I now qt every fish, don't care where I get the fish, I qt at least 4 weeks

I'm glad that you quarantine, but its kind of sad that most people don't "get it" until they've wiped out their previous communities of fish. I admit that I'm guilty of it as well, but the question still lies:

How do we get people to proactively start quarantining without waiting til that $20 fish wipes out an entire tank?

 

[powdermonkey]

When I first got into this hobby 4.5yrs ago I did not qt anything. Of couse I was like most and didnt know anything either. Way back than I bought a niger trigger and a sailfin both from Petco. Both of these fish are still with me and have be through multiple moves, 54g-120-144-180. I have never seen the first sign of disease on any of them. Now with that said, I have known for several years that this has been pure luck and it will run out if I countinued this behavior. So for the past couple years everything gets qt for at least 4 weeks. My qt is a 14g bio cube that I only run when something new is going to be added. I try to feed lite everyday and change the water every 3-4days, 100%. The tank is also kept at 81 degrees. It helps that the LFS formalines and treats with an antibiotics before they put them into their qt.

 

[kes]

For me, it depends on the fish and the condition it's been in. I will most likely not QT if the fish came from another tank (locally) that has been thriving for 6+ mos or more, or if it's a hardy fish such as Yellow 'Coris' Wrasse, Banghai Cardinal, damsels, etc, that appears normal and eating.

I prefer to use hyposalinity 1.010 and prazipro (half dosage) for 2-3 weeks then slowly raise the salinity by the 4-5 week period.

 

[milkman]

Does everyone keep their QT tanks running 24/7 year round? I was thinking of just keeping a aerator sponge seeded in my sump and filling a 20 gal with water change discard just when I buy new fish. I only buy fish once or twice a year for my mature system and can't hardly justify running year round for a couple of fish?

Also, I would like to hear more about what preventative treatments everyone uses. The only issue I have encountered in new fish is flukes which I understand a FW dip would cure. Maybe a list of possible ailments and what is used for the cure.