Not Quarantining Fish

[SinkyShippy]

Why do people choose not to quarantine their new fish?

 

[Hitman]

Most don’t know any better, others do not have the funds or room for a QT tank. It’s definitely not a gamble I’ll take, I QT everything including corals.

 

[ScottR]

Why do people choose not to quarantine their new fish?

Although I agree that fish should be QTd, there’s a thread on here explaining how fish have been living with all of these parasites and other things in the ocean for eternity. I recall the poster seeding his tank with mud from the ocean among other things. The biome in the tank was diverse enough to keep each other in check. Although I wouldn’t try this, there are people that can get away with this.

But with all the threads I see on here about ich, velvet, flukes and so on, I would prefer to qt and copper before adding anything to my tank. This would also include corals, inverts or anything else that is wet. Of course copper is dangerous to inverts so they’d be best kept in a clean qt for 76 days or whatever that waiting period is to let parasites live out their life cycle.

 

[SinkyShippy]

Most don’t know any better, others do not have the funds or room for a QT tank. It’s definitely not a gamble I’ll take, I QT everything including corals.

Idk I just set up a 10 gallon tank on my living room floor. It's got the bare minimum. Just got these two little guys today.

 

[SinkyShippy]

Although I agree that fish should be QTd, there’s a thread on here explaining how fish have been living with all of these parasites and other things in the ocean for eternity. I recall the poster seeding his tank with mud from the ocean among other things. The biome in the tank was diverse enough to keep each other in check. Although I wouldn’t try this, there are people that can get away with this.

But with all the threads I see on here about ich, velvet, flukes and so on, I would prefer to qt and copper before adding anything to my tank. This would also include corals, inverts or anything else that is wet. Of course copper is dangerous to inverts so they’d be best kept in a clean qt for 76 days or whatever that waiting period is to let parasites live out their life cycle.

My concern is velvet. I was looking at a Facebook group and someone posted a picture of their clownfish with what looked like to be infected with velvet. It just seems much better to be safe than sorry.

 

[ScottR]

My concern is velvet. I was looking at a Facebook group and someone posted a picture of their clownfish with what looked like to be infected with velvet. It just seems much better to be safe than sorry.

Clowns also can get a parasite called Brooklynella which is arguably nastier than velvet. Can kill them in a matter of hours.

 

[SinkyShippy]

Clowns also can get a parasite called Brooklynella which is arguably nastier than velvet. Can kill them in a matter of hours.

Interesting. What are the symptoms?

 

[Hitman]

Idk I just set up a 10 gallon tank on my living room floor. It's got the bare minimum. Just got these two little guys today.

That’s all that’s needed and it works for you. Where there’s a will there’s a way and it all starts with someone who truly accepts the responsibility that’s needed in this hobby.

 

[ScottR]

Interesting. What are the symptoms?

They start cupping their mouths open. Their slimy mucous coating starts to shed. Heavy breathing and laying on the bottom. Happened to me with a pair once. Sad. That’s why I don’t just qt fish. QT everything wet going in your tank.

 

[SinkyShippy]

They start cupping their mouths open. Their slimy mucous coating starts to shed. Heavy breathing and laying on the bottom. Happened to me with a pair once. Sad. That’s why I don’t just qt fish. QT everything wet going in your tank.

Wow that sounds so sad.

The pair I got seem fine rn. Swimming like maniacs. God I hope I don't have to go through that.

 

[Salty Lemon]

Oh this is a can of worms that can get messy. Here are a few excellent threads with some separate views. People get sensitive on this topic. It isn't as black and white as it sounds. I just like the idea of doing as much research as you can and then choose the method that works best for your lifestyle. All these threads will provide tons of information with excellent varying perspectives and the people who wrote them are fantastic reefers.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/beginners-guide-to-acclimation-and-quarantine.304980/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-other-way-to-run-a-reef-tank-no-quarantine.534274/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...-quarantine-fish-inverts.602917/#post-6087522
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-hypocrites-view-on-not-using-quarantine.593925/#post-6013052

 

[ScottR]

Wow that sounds so sad.

The pair I got seem fine rn. Swimming like maniacs. God I hope I don't have to go through that.

Mine were fine for months. I added some snails without QT as I didn’t have a QT set up. So I introduced the parasite through the snails. The slightest slip up and you can crash a tank.

 

[SinkyShippy]

Mine were fine for months. I added some snails without QT as I didn’t have a QT set up. So I introduced the parasite through the snails. The slightest slip up and you can crash a tank.

Oh boy. I just added snails to my tank this week. I didn't realize I had to QT them. [emoji52]
The website I ordered them from was recommended by a bunch of people so I'll hope for the best.

 

[ScottR]

Oh this is a can of worms that can get messy. Here are a few excellent threads with some separate views. People get sensitive on this topic. It isn't as black and white as it sounds. I just like the idea of doing as much research as you can and then choose the method that works best for your lifestyle. All these threads will provide tons of information with excellent varying perspectives and the people who wrote them are fantastic reefers.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/beginners-guide-to-acclimation-and-quarantine.304980/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-other-way-to-run-a-reef-tank-no-quarantine.534274/
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...-quarantine-fish-inverts.602917/#post-6087522
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-hypocrites-view-on-not-using-quarantine.593925/#post-6013052

Thanks for this. That second link is the thread I was referring to in my original post. A great read btw. And I was wanting to read it again. ;Shamefullyembarrased

 

[Salty Lemon]

Thanks for this. That second link is the thread I was referring to in my original post. A great read btw. And I was wanting to read it again. ;Shamefullyembarrased

Glad I could help!

 

[OrionN]

Although I agree that fish should be QTd, there’s a thread on here explaining how fish have been living with all of these parasites and other things in the ocean for eternity. I recall the poster seeding his tank with mud from the ocean among other things. The biome in the tank was diverse enough to keep each other in check. Although I wouldn’t try this, there are people that can get away with this.

But with all the threads I see on here about ich, velvet, flukes and so on, I would prefer to qt and copper before adding anything to my tank. This would also include corals, inverts or anything else that is wet. Of course copper is dangerous to inverts so they’d be best kept in a clean qt for 76 days or whatever that waiting period is to let parasites live out their life cycle.

I keep a diverse tank with lots of fauna and flora from the wild. Diversity of the tank result in a strong resilience system. I don't QT my fish but QT all corals, clams and anemones.
My fish are healthy and spawn all the time.
Some pictures from my tank

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I always respect any one for the way they prefer things. However, maybe a neat suggestion. First welcome to R2R (and if your not New well your new to me lol). Anyway it almost looks like your ten gallon with the pvc pipe is a basic qt tank anyway. So here is an idea maybe get a 20 long or 40 breeder and start making that your display tank. The one you have now (but have only seen the one pic) maybe start adding copper and make that a full time qt tank.

Now if your keeping fish only it’s eaier to treat as long as you don’t have live rock or corals inverts. Where it’s hard is when you have a full reef and have to treat the fish and try and catching them. Small tanks I can’t speak on but my 240 is an ultimate nightmare to try and catch fish in.

So I made my own process which is lol I found every fish I wanted first. Then while my tank was cycling for 8 weeks, I had all my fish in a copper qt at my lfs. Then when it came to add fish I did so in groups of three and I only have 14. Now doing that I have also chosen to not add any fish since then. I don’t want the risk and or stress them out, and it works. There was a very small case of stress ick but went away on its own and no new signs and they are all back to normal.

I did a lot of reading and research from other scientific papers etc. Realizing that anything wet can cntsminate your tank makes things just hard. Snails crabs etc and marine velvet ick etc can lay dormant for awhile till habitats are more suitable. Well we can’t qt corals in copper, since there are no fish (the fallow period hasn’t been proven yet). Yes it starves the parasites, but they can go dormant until fish arrive. As of the moment one way to help knock them down and keep them down is running a uv level a or b steralizer. (I’m not talking level c that you get at marine depot or lfs etc). These will absolutely kill bacteria viruses and parasites, except only free swimming and nothing on the fish.

So since my recent little scary of marine ick and knowing I had no plan b, I made one. I actually found a level a or one with ozone on it as well to make sure. They are not cheap (my new one is close to 900), but safe then sorry. Realistically I have soo much in corals and fish that breaking the tank down isn’t ideal. I would also order your own fish trap since when this happened to me (3 weeks ago literally), nobody in Boise owned a fish trap. I had no way of actually transferring corals rock or fish. Some of that has changed, and I I’m still trying to figure out if a 75 or 90 will work because I have tangs and they need room.

But again this depends if your doing a reef or fish only etc.
If your fish only then it’s much easier and less worries (just keep copper on hand at all times and antibiotics as well. If you go reef it may take some additional planning.’

 

[Idoc]

Wow that sounds so sad.

The pair I got seem fine rn. Swimming like maniacs. God I hope I don't have to go through that.

With clowns, it is always good to prophylactically treat the water column with Metronidazole or General Cure before treating with copper in order to clear out the chance for Brooklynella... then go into your copper treatment.

 

[Nyx101]

I did not qt at first; I set-up the equipment but kept worrying about ammonia spikes in my small qt tank 24/7. I mean, when you startup you keep reading about how it takes a full three months of ghost feeding in order to make sure a tank is mature enough for fish and coral. It made no sense to leave my fish in such a limited environment for a month+ without doing daily 50% water changes and I got fed up. I work a hard 8 hours as a full-time patient attendant and having to do this much work in conjunction with managing 2 mature tanks made me want to quit the hobby. Then after a major ich outbreak that had me go fallow 12 weeks while successfully treating the only 4 remaining fish I realized I really didn’t know what to look for when observing fish at the lfs. I got two stores near me and recently ruled one out entirely. My newly trained eyes were horrified on my last visit. Seldom signs of diseases but all tanks share the same water. Sadly that place is overstocked with amazing corals and sick fish. So yeah, I’ll qt for 30+ days now in a 30 gallon very well filtered frag tank and treat in a big plastic container if need be. Also I hate most lfs now.

 

[ScottR]

I did not qt at first; I set-up the equipment but kept worrying about ammonia spikes in my small qt tank 24/7. I mean, when you startup you keep reading about how it takes a full three months of ghost feeding in order to make sure a tank is mature enough for fish and coral. It made no sense to leave my fish in such a limited environment for a month+ without doing daily 50% water changes and I got fed up. I work a hard 8 hours as a full-time patient attendant and having to do this much work in conjunction with managing 2 mature tanks made me want to quit the hobby. Then after a major ich outbreak that had me go fallow 12 weeks while successfully treating the only 4 remaining fish I realized I really didn’t know what to look for when observing fish at the lfs. I got two stores near me and recently ruled one out entirely. My newly trained eyes were horrified on my last visit. Seldom signs of diseases but all tanks share the same water. Sadly that place is overstocked with amazing corals and sick fish. So yeah, I’ll qt for 30+ days now in a 30 gallon very well filtered frag tank and treat in a big plastic container if need be. Also I hate most lfs now.

To add to your “I hate most LFS now” - I agree! Went just yesterday and I check the fish carefully. White dots covering about 1/4 of the fish. So basically all fish are contaminated. Most fish are housed in plain tanks. I don’t know why they can’t just treat the fish in their tanks.