For those that QT and those that dont

[blaxsun]

R2R!

i want to hold a discussion. For those of you that QT, how well has that worked for you guys?

for those that don’t, same question applies.

have you guys ever started with one method and transitioned to the ‘other side’ ?

also, how far do those of you that QT go? Do you QT everything ? Just fish? Coral? Inverts? Heck, even live rock ?

Tried quarantine - it sucked (velvet road in on a fully quarantined and copper-treated fish anyway).

Now the fish go straight into the tank. I run a UV 24/7 and have recently added ozone as well. Zero fish lost to any disease/parasites in over a year.

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

I QT everyting , i dont necessarily medicate everything. I definately visually look at every fish for a few months before adding to my 2 displays. .

 

[blazn]

I used to enjoy putting newly purchased fish directly into my DT until once, about 15 years ago, velvet wiped out all the fish in my DT after I introduced new fish. I had many fish over 5 years that perished. It was painful and 'hurt' bad enough that I left the tank fallow for a couple years (pod population thrived) before I was motivated to start again. Once I repopulated my DT with fish, I started QTing every fish I add, proactively treating with Prazi & copper (Copper Power for the win) and I will always do so. I figure that the fish in my DT have "earned" the right not to be subjected to disease from new additions. I'd much rather lose a new fish in QT (although my QT practices have improved to where I don't lose any) than risk the health of my "family" of fish in my DT. In the last 2 years, I've also purchased pre-QT fish from Dr. Reef, with great success. I also only buy inverts from fish-less tank sourced suppliers, to avoid contamination from inverts.

I understand the viewpoint of those that don't QT, as they don't want to put more stress on a new fish or they just don't want to go thru the hassle of QT (it does take a bit of work), or just don't want to wait that long to view the new fish in their DT. But, I NEVER want to go thru losing a tank full of fish again and I won't put a non-QT fish in my DT.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I also don't find it ethically sound to just gamble with the lives of these organisms that we decided to confine to a tiny box with a high chance of them being exposed to very deadly pathogens. When I take an animal in, be that a dog, a fish, etc., I become the sole bearer of responsibility for this animal's life. A proper QT is not going to stress the fish out that much because its simply another tank. The same can be said about waiting to treat the fish until you see something. That is just not a gamble I find acceptable.

Do you ever let your dog go outside?

 

[Jesterrace]

I don't QT, but I only buy local and any fish that enters my tank generally sits at my LFS for a couple of weeks before it goes in my tank. I also keep my tank on the lighter side for stocking (ie 4 to 5 fish in a 90 gallon) which reduces both stress on the inhabitants and the number of potential hosts for parasites. I just don't have the time, space or funds to do a complete QT and there are enough QT failures that I'm not necessarily sold that it's always better. I wouldn't necessarily recommend my method for everyone though.

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

I've sort of settled on the idea that if a fish comes in healthy and seems healthy for a day or two in observation it's more important to get them into a really healthy environment especially picky eaters. I got a little baby filefish several days ago that won't eat anything prepared but is happily snacking on copepods now. In QT he'd just starve and any disease he has (probably not at this point) would have gotten worse.

On my previous reef tank, my pair of clowns were QT’d and cooper treated from the beginning.

my clowns took almost 6 days to eat. Eventually they ate and the treatment was a success. It did take them about a month to actually eat without being picky what so ever.

my next approach may or may not be like yours, however I want to give my LR time to QT as well. We will see

 

[Angel_V_the_reefer]

I also don't find it ethically sound to just gamble with the lives of these organisms that we decided to confine to a tiny box with a high chance of them being exposed to very deadly pathogens. When I take an animal in, be that a dog, a fish, etc., I become the sole bearer of responsibility for this animal's life. A proper QT is not going to stress the fish out that much because its simply another tank. The same can be said about waiting to treat the fish until you see something. That is just not a gamble I find acceptable.

I can attest by this. In the past I treated fish from the beginning without an effect to their health.

one of my clowns did take a while to eat while the other ate normally. Turns out he had some sort of digestive bacteria that I treated with Metroplex and garlic guard, which eventually ridded the long string poop and got my clown FEASTING.