Is quarantine a necessary process? Or does it depend on the type of fish?

[HAAAAAAAA]

I do know that moray eel's and grouper's aswell as lionfish need to be quarantined since they eat live food's in the wild which can make them more susceptible to internal worm's/protozoan's

But, unlike for other fish such as the clownfish which are more susceptible to brooklynella eel's and or lionfish are more so almost "immune" so do different fish have different susceptibilitie's to different kind of parasites diseases etc?

But, do all fish need to be quarantined? Especially the herbivorous tang's or angelfish and or butterfly fish? I am gonna be getting a emperor angel and a sailfin tang soon for my 150 gallon tank so is there a need to quarantine them?

 

[JayM]

Some fish are more or less likely to be susceptible to certain diseases, but it’s safe to say that everything is susceptible to something.

No fish needs to be quarantined, but it’s a good habit to get in to.

 

[kenchilada]

You’ll get fierce opinions from both sides.

If you do decide to quarantine any fish, then all your fish must be quarantined as well as all coral, inverts, live rocks, your pet cat, etc. Parasites can hitch hike in on anything. It is a huge commitment. All my fish are quarantined and have done well the past 4 years, but it’s annoying that I can’t just dump things in.

Just as many others will argue against prophylactic quarantine, often citing the harshness of medications used, the possible damage to gut health and immune system, etc.

 

[EliMelly]

You’ll get fierce opinions from both sides.

If you do decide to quarantine any fish, then all your fish must be quarantined as well as all coral, inverts, live rocks, your pet cat, etc. Parasites can hitch hike in on anything. It is a huge commitment. All my fish are quarantined and have done well the past 4 years, but it’s annoying that I can’t just dump things in.

Just as many others will argue against prophylactic quarantine, often citing the harshness of medications used, the possible damage to gut health and immune system, etc.

Great answer.

 

[Jekyl]

You’ll get fierce opinions from both sides.

If you do decide to quarantine any fish, then all your fish must be quarantined as well as all coral, inverts, live rocks, your pet cat, etc. Parasites can hitch hike in on anything. It is a huge commitment. All my fish are quarantined and have done well the past 4 years, but it’s annoying that I can’t just dump things in.

Just as many others will argue against prophylactic quarantine, often citing the harshness of medications used, the possible damage to gut health and immune system, etc.

Preach

 

[vetteguy53081]

I do know that moray eel's and grouper's aswell as lionfish need to be quarantined since they eat live food's in the wild which can make them more susceptible to internal worm's/protozoan's

But, unlike for other fish such as the clownfish which are more susceptible to brooklynella eel's and or lionfish are more so almost "immune" so do different fish have different susceptibilitie's to different kind of parasites diseases etc?

But, do all fish need to be quarantined? Especially the herbivorous tang's or angelfish and or butterfly fish? I am gonna be getting a emperor angel and a sailfin tang soon for my 150 gallon tank so is there a need to quarantine them?

You often here an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and in this case - it is.
You are in essence utilizing a smaller tank requiring less medication use and allowing you to clearly see fish and avoid the headache of catching it in a display tank, spreading an unknown disease and reducing risk of loss
QT is always an option but a safe option

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

It's all fun in games until you put an un-quarintined fish into your 150-gallon tank with I assume hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of fish, then get your entire tank sick.

What I am saying is to quarantine.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

nah never have never had an issue, my lfs does quarantine for a month before selling them though so I have comfort in that.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I didn’t quarantine my first round of fish. They all quickly died, but I was lucky to learn that lesson early on.
You don’t have to quarantine fish, but is it really worth the risk, especially with a lot of large, expensive predators in the tank?

 

[eliaslikesfish]

I didn’t quarantine my first round of fish. They all quickly died, but I was lucky to learn that lesson early on.
You don’t have to quarantine fish, but is it really worth the risk, especially with a lot of large, expensive predators in the tank?

yeah, live life on the edge hahaha

 

[Kipp's Corals]

You’ll get fierce opinions from both sides.

If you do decide to quarantine any fish, then all your fish must be quarantined as well as all coral, inverts, live rocks, your pet cat, etc. Parasites can hitch hike in on anything. It is a huge commitment. All my fish are quarantined and have done well the past 4 years, but it’s annoying that I can’t just dump things in.

Just as many others will argue against prophylactic quarantine, often citing the harshness of medications used, the possible damage to gut health and immune system, etc.

Whats your procedure? do you an entire medication regimen or just observe for a few weeks?

 

[kenchilada]

Whats your procedure? do you an entire medication regimen or just observe for a few weeks?

I follow the guides on humble.fish because they are clear and practical to me. I do full prophylaxis… copper power first, prazi pro, etc. Or occasionally I will do TTM on sensitive fish but this is risky. It takes a lot of work, time, space, money, patience, and reading. And you WILL lose fish in quarantine, they won’t all make it through and it’s gut wrenching when you lose one.

I will also buy pre-quarantined fish from Fishotel or Ocean Devotion if life is too busy. I buy from these sources only because they’ve been vetted by the community. You have to be super careful buying from someone that claims they quarantine, because most places are not doing a comprehensive quarantine regimen or don’t isolate properly. No offense.

I once bought an Achilles tang from a vendor in the livestock forum here. He assured me it was quarantined and examined by a veterinarian. Yeah ok. I did my own quarantine and sure enough that fish developed velvet a couple days in and I lost him. You can’t ever let your guard down.

Also, uronema sucks.

 

[i cant think]

I do know that moray eel's and grouper's aswell as lionfish need to be quarantined since they eat live food's in the wild which can make them more susceptible to internal worm's/protozoan's

But, unlike for other fish such as the clownfish which are more susceptible to brooklynella eel's and or lionfish are more so almost "immune" so do different fish have different susceptibilitie's to different kind of parasites diseases etc?

But, do all fish need to be quarantined? Especially the herbivorous tang's or angelfish and or butterfly fish? I am gonna be getting an emperor angel and a sailfin tang soon for my 150 gallon tank so is there a need to quarantine them?

If I’m honest, QT is useless unless you QT everything going in - Rocks, Sand, Coral, Inverts, Fish.
Personally, I’m only going to do a hybrid TTM with my fish before I upgrade - they should be ready to go in by the time the tank is set up.

My tanks have all been done without any QT - My LFSs have all done some form of quarantine but I don’t personally. I mainly find observation best for most fish as chemicals can put them under unnecessary stress. You’re quarantining fish for a disease they most likely don’t have, yes there’s a small chance but I personally find it condemns them to a case of more risk of death from stress than saving them from a disease they likely don’t have.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Interesting reply's and opinion's, it seems more like I would get jumped on if I don't quarantine and I will get jumped on even if i quarantine Lol, but, i guess I would rather choose with the "prevention is better than cure" I would rather lose one fish in quarantine due to stress than to have a chance to lose all my fish because i didn't quarantine that one specimen.

 

[i cant think]

Interesting reply's and opinion's, it seems more like I would get jumped on if I don't quarantine and I will get jumped on even if i quarantine Lol, but, i guess I would rather choose with the "prevention is better than cure" I would rather lose one fish in quarantine due to stress than to have a chance to lose all my fish because i didn't quarantine that one specimen.

If I’m honest, if you know what you’re looking for with disease chances are low that you’ll get a disease. I’ve gone with that for the last 10+ years and only hit ich through adding a coral. So, yes disease is prevented through QT in the immediate phase but long term, it can and usually does reappear if you haven’t QTed everything else.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I didn't QT my first batch of fish in my tank and haven't had issues with them

 

[Flame2hawk]

Quarentine everything. My luck has not been good when choosing to go w/o quarantining. I try to do 3 weeks of copper power while adding 2 doses of prazi pro for the last wk, 6/7 days apart. The last wk is just observation. It’s worth the total of 30 days to also ensure they are eating and adjusting well before putting into DT.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

If I’m honest, if you know what you’re looking for with disease chances are low that you’ll get a disease. I’ve gone with that for the last 10+ years and only hit ich through adding a coral. So, yes disease is prevented through QT in the immediate phase but long term, it can and usually does reappear if you haven’t QTed everything else.

Seriously, you can get disease even by adding invertebrates?! 2 year's into the saltwater hobby and i did not know that, it just show's how easy it was to keep freshwater fish for the last 10 year's

I mainly quarantine the fish which have a high chance of getting a certain type of disease, for example:

Treating clownfish for brooklynella or velvet since they are the more typical ones to get it

Treating grouper's for flukes the most grouper's I've had almost alway's came with fluke's

Eels for internal parasite's since they almost Alway's come in internal parasite's

 

[Sharkbait19]

Seriously, you can get disease even by adding invertebrates?! 2 year's into the saltwater hobby and i did not know that, it just show's how easy it was to keep freshwater fish for the last 10 year's

I mainly quarantine the fish which have a high chance of getting a certain type of disease, for example:

Treating clownfish for brooklynella or velvet since they are the more typical ones to get it

Treating grouper's for flukes the most grouper's I've had almost alway's came with fluke's

Eels for internal parasite's since they almost Alway's come in internal parasite's

Inverts are capable of carrying in certain diseases. They can’t get infected, but the ground stage can hitchhike in. This is, however, rather rare to actually see happen.

 

[jtf74]

I do know that moray eel's and grouper's aswell as lionfish need to be quarantined since they eat live food's in the wild which can make them more susceptible to internal worm's/protozoan's

But, unlike for other fish such as the clownfish which are more susceptible to brooklynella eel's and or lionfish are more so almost "immune" so do different fish have different susceptibilitie's to different kind of parasites diseases etc?

But, do all fish need to be quarantined? Especially the herbivorous tang's or angelfish and or butterfly fish? I am gonna be getting a emperor angel and a sailfin tang soon for my 150 gallon tank so is there a need to quarantine them?

If you skip qt for anything then you risk so much. Even just a simple observation only quarantine where a fish can not be bullied right away is well worth doing. I was religious about it for 10 years and never saw ich until I got a hippo tang from a guy who claimed it was qt'd and he had no new fish for half a year. I skipped QT and 2 weeks later terrible ich on all my fish. Had to break down everything and treat all my fish instead of the one. I lost a 12 year old gramma and a 7 year old bicolor angel during the process of it all and put my butterflyfish and clowns and angels under unneccesary treatment. I still have two more weeks to wait out the ich lifecycle and I am having to manage four smaller tanks now rather than the one larger one. So IMO never ever ever again do I not QT. I am right now qt'ng my macroalgae even.