LFS Quarantine Process (or lack thereof)

[phpwebdev]

When I ask an LFS (Local Fish Store) to describe their quarantine process, is this an adequate response?

"Our vendor quarantines everything for us before we get it and we treat all of our tanks with copper so we don't really need to quarantine"

I get this at almost every LFS. I am probably just a bit naive about the challenges of running an LFS so my question really is just to adjust my normalcy bias a bit if I am not living in reality.

I also see this a lot with corals. I will get the same response about their coral stock while at the same time seeing bubble algae, aiptasia, hair algae, etc. all over in their frag tanks. Is it just impossible to have pristine stock + pristine displays in a LFS?

 

[DeepSouth]

I doubt a LFS, paying for retail space, could fully quarantine fish, and sell at an even close to reasonable price. Space and length of time would cost a fortune.

 

[Auquanut]

Many LFS's do buy from reputable sources, and treat fish with copper when they bring livestock in. But there are no guarantees. The only way to ensure the best protection to your tank is to QT everything. That being said, I'm guilty of not quarantining everything. I've been lucky up to this point, but anytime you don't QT, you're taking a risk regardless of the source.

 

[dantimdad]

I think that an LFS should at least do an observation for at least 30 days, if not 60.

Customers are willing to pay for healthy livestock.

That being said, there are a very few suppliers that pre-quarantine livestock but, these should still be observed for at least a few days in my opinion.

 

[Bob Weigant]

My LFS which I’ve had really success with does treat their tanks but still I say to always qt no matter what. It only takes 1 fish to destroy a tank