Introducing Fish (No Quarantine)

[potatocouch]

To those that don't have the budget (or time) to set up a QT , do you guys do a quick dip (not bath) to your new fish before putting them in the DT?

Stress causes ich and by doing a freshwater dip, aren't we stressing the fish, hence promoting ich? Or am I missing the idea?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The old school method was to either FW dip them and set up a qt with live rock and observe them and also deworm them.

Stress causes ich and by doing a freshwater dip, aren't we stressing the fish, hence promoting ich? Or am I missing the idea?

Ick is a tiny bug so its not caused by anything its a parasite. the FW dip is to kill them and other parasites with osmotic shock.

And many just dump and hope.

 

[Reef2zach]

Dump and hope lol. That's been my method. I'm 6 for 6 on healthy fish, wouldn't recommend though. I usually turn my lights off the let them sit inside the bag their in in the tank water for 30ish minutes. Then dump as much bag water down the drain as I can and plop the little guy in the tank. I'm sure I'd get yelled at by most people on here but it works for me.

 

[potatocouch]

Dump and hope lol. That's been my method. I'm 6 for 6 on healthy fish, wouldn't recommend though. I usually turn my lights off the let them sit inside the bag their in in the tank water for 30ish minutes. Then dump as much bag water down the drain as I can and plop the little guy in the tank. I'm sure I'd get yelled at by most people on here but it works for me.

This is the method that I've adopted for the past 3 years with no failure.

For some reason, something just happened this week, where all my 3 fishes (Kole & 2 Clowns) gone dead; I can see they were pale; can't be sure whether it's Marine Velvet or Ich.
No changes whatsoever, except I introduced few frags (which I'm fairly sure I've filtered all the water out) and the fact that the living room where the tank is, has never been dark as before may have caused the Kole to be stressed; perhaps unable to sleep and stressed ... just my theory.

I'm now at fallow mode and willing to wait for 3 months; not in rush.

HOWEVER, I am thinking of whether I should do a FW dip (a quick one like 10 seconds or so) or I might as well just dump and hope?

Would you think that 10 seconds dip in FW would help (or do anything positive)? Put some methylene blue in it.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Probably velvet I'd guess. That's the quick killer. There's a couple others.

Me thinks you should be doin some reading.

It's really the best way to gain an informed opinion. Asking questions tends to get an opinion formed on others opinions.

 

[Paul B]

I just dump them in after a little acclimation. I also never de-wormed anything but I keep my fish immune from those things your fish have. If you don't keep your fish immune, you can't or should not do that or you will see the problems you now have.

 

[miyags]

Your wasting your money on fish, better spent on QT.If you don't have a budget for a Qt,You don't have a budget for live black worm shipments,to build immune system

 

[ngoodermuth]

A freshwater dip is useful to dislodge most of the parasites if a fish is heavily infested with ich or velvet. It will also tell you if a fish has flukes as you will see them in the water.

A freshwater dip will not kill all of the parasites on it's own however, and whatever parasites are not knocked off by the dip will continue to multiply. Each time you add another fish, you are rolling the dice on what "bug" they are bringing in. Some are more serious than others...velvet will wipe out an entire community of fish in a matter of days.

The only sure way to be certain you are not bringing parasites into your display is QT and prophylactic treatment.

 

[4FordFamily]

Qt or you'll get burned, unfortunately. The difference is how much more prevalent ich and especially velvet is. Velvet used to be pretty uncommon. Now, I see it as frequently as ich, perhaps more often!

 

[4FordFamily]

A freshwater dip is useful to dislodge most of the parasites if a fish is heavily infested with ich or velvet. It will also tell you if a fish has flukes as you will see them in the water.

A freshwater dip will not kill all of the parasites on it's own however, and whatever parasites are not knocked off by the dip will continue to multiply. Each time you add another fish, you are rolling the dice on what "bug" they are bringing in. Some are more serious than others...velvet will wipe out an entire community of fish in a matter of days.

The only sure way to be certain you are not bringing parasites into your display is QT and prophylactic treatment.

Well-put

 

[ngoodermuth]

Or, culture super-fish immunity like Paul B with nutritious, live foods and mud

 

[Reef2zach]

I soak all my foods in garlic. Not sure if it helps but it can't hurt right. One of my friends came over one day when I was gone and dumped a manderin in my tank to "suprise" me. He didn't even acclimate it just cut the bag and dumped in some fish I didn't know about and it's as healthy as can be lol

 

[tj w]

If you continue to do this, you will eventually wipe out your tank. All it takes is that one fish... good luck

 

[Txag96]

So how long do you put them in the freshwater when you do a dip?

 

[Jason mack]

So how long do you put them in the freshwater when you do a dip?

Maximum of 5 mins I believe ,and you will need too warm the freshwater too the same temp as your tank there are many threads on here on how too do a fw dip .. I highly recommend you properly research this first

 

[potatocouch]

Or, culture super-fish immunity like Paul B with nutritious, live foods and mud

You're kidding me, right?

How do one make a fish mutant from all of these diseases? Boost their well-being?

 

[Newtron]

I'm Pretty new to the hobby, But my local reef store I love Quarantines all of its incoming fish for two weeks minimum prior to sale in copper/medicated tanks.
(If you would push him I am sure he would sell you whatever but he warns you of the risk)

But for someone like me he holds the fish in the quarantine with copper and once they are given a clean bill of health he moves them to his main display tank that is copper free.
No fish makes it to the copper free tank without a quarantine first and clean bill of health or to my tank at home.

He dips all his corals prior to sale as well. And still, recomends you dipping the coral again.

I do not have room for a Quarantine tank in my home (Live in Los Angeles near the beach most homes are really small) this setup with my local reef store works out really well.

However some of the flaming going on in the thread are very discouraging and one of the main reasons I don't do forums.
Forums in my mind are to share and help one another and enjoying seeing the triumphs and help people thru struggles. And my #1 reason to look at the bad butt tanks. "Not tell someone you don't have enough money to do it"

(I think there is also a DIY to help save money section on this forum as well)

It is also a place to band together and maybe start to demand that "online retailers only sell healthy fish to customers. Not ones just plucked out of the sea its in my tank it's for sale."
It's also a good place to learn what local stores have good practices and what stores don't.

Sorry to digress.

But I trust certain local reef stores for my fish, and not others.
So I do a 30 min acclimation with a (Microdrop) 60Drop iv drip set to fully open or 1000 gtts/min then net and dump into my main tank. (NO Quarantine because it was done at the store)


~Newtron

 

[Maacc]

You're kidding me, right?

How do one make a fish mutant from all of these diseases? Boost their well-being?

No if you feed whole foods like clams, live blackworms and other foods with live bacterial cultures and feed enough food to keep fish in spawning condition, they will very rarely get sick. However this is an all or nothing kind of deal. If you don't keep them exposed to low levels of pathogens and they are in anything less than spawning condition, you are asking for a tank wipeout.

 

[Mariners]

Qt all the way which is not that expensive in the long run. Just get a small 5 g tank ($10-15), sponge filter $4-5, and a powerfilter $15--qt tank good for new arrivals or even for new corals. Then u can fresh dip for 5-10 min w aerator (fish will lie on side but theyll be fine--praxipro and cupramine. If u have a refractometer to accurately measure salinity use hyposalinity which is best method imo for qt.

 

[cmcoker]

However some of the flaming going on in the thread are very discouraging and one of the main reasons I don't do forums.
Forums in my mind are to share and help one another and enjoying seeing the triumphs and help people thru struggles. And my #1 reason to look at the bad *** tanks. "Not tell someone you don't have enough money to do it"

I haven't seen any flaming in this thread, just the telling of best practices. Best practice, if you don't have PaulBs tank, is to quarantine anything wet before it goes in your display. But it's like any other "best practice" some can't or won't do it. So depending on how risk averse you are, you will decide what you are going to Do or not do.

I rarely see anyone flamed on this forum, while other forums will beat you down if you don't quarantine or take their advice, here people will tell you "this is the risk you are taking" .

I would rather have the knowledge and make my decision, than get a poor result because no one took the time to tell me what I was leaving myself open to.
If statements about "dont need to quarantine" are left uncountered, people that are new to the hobby will not know that they should quarantine.

A quarantine does not have to be expensive or take up too much space, it is temporary after all.
A Rubbermaid tote or small 10g tank, a filter, a heater, pvc to hide. My quarantine cost maybe $50 and I use a 20g.
Saying you can't afford a quarantine.. well you are buying a fish so you have some disposable income, and doesn't it make sense to spend a little on a quarantine to not have your whole tanks worth of fish wiped out..
so I really view the statements about "if you can't afford a qt..." more as speaking the truth. If you have money for livestock, you have money for a quarantine. It just may not be what you want to spend it on. I mean, Who wants to buy a quarantine that will spend most it's time stored away when you could buy a pretty fish or a new coral? (Besides Humblefish!)