Tyler Caviness
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2016
- Messages
- 110
- Reaction score
- 124
- What state or country do you live in
- Tennessee
Hi all,
My question centers around whether I should quarantine a new addition to my tank, or whether it would be (relatively) pointless if I don't have a fallow period for my tank first.
Here's my situation-
I currently have an 80 gallon reef that's been set up for about two months, though most of the rock in there is around 9 months old, with some of it being closer to a year old.
I've never had a QT set up, so I've been lucky to this point. I've currently got a marine betta and snowflake eel. I had them both six months or so, and It's my understanding that both of them are naturally disease resistant fish.
At various times over the past year, my previous tank (where the rock came from) had a couple clownfish and a scooter blenny, None of which ever displayed any signs of disease while I had them. I had the clown pair about four months before one of them tried to host my showpiece wellso, so they went back to LFS. I had the scooter blenny about six weeks and learned that I couldn't maintain a healthy pod population so it went back to LFS. I think I would have seen disease symptoms in those time periods.
I'm looking to add a bristletooth tang to the tank in the next couple months, and I planned to set up a QT before I got him, and then I realized that since the eel and betta are both disease resistant fish, they could both be carrying diseases, but just not having any ill effects from them, so without a fallow period the QT might be pointless.
So the way I see it, there are a couple scenarios that I'm facing.
Option 1) I might be very lucky and have a disease free tank, in which case, I can QT the tang and when I introduce it I'll continue to have a disease free tank.
Option 2) the eel or betta carry some disease, so even if I QT the tang, it will likely come down with something once it goes in the tank and I'll have to pull it right back out (and in the process tear my tank apart to catch him)
Option 3) I catch the eel and betta, QT them, and go fallow for 76 days, then put them back in the tank, get the tang and QT it, and introduce it into the display tank with much more peace of mind.
Obviously option 3 is the safest, but also a pain. So I'm curious for opinions on the likelihood that my tank is actually disease free currently, rather than the eel and betta are just tough fish.
I'm not opposed to doing things the right way, I'd just like some input.
Thanks!
My question centers around whether I should quarantine a new addition to my tank, or whether it would be (relatively) pointless if I don't have a fallow period for my tank first.
Here's my situation-
I currently have an 80 gallon reef that's been set up for about two months, though most of the rock in there is around 9 months old, with some of it being closer to a year old.
I've never had a QT set up, so I've been lucky to this point. I've currently got a marine betta and snowflake eel. I had them both six months or so, and It's my understanding that both of them are naturally disease resistant fish.
At various times over the past year, my previous tank (where the rock came from) had a couple clownfish and a scooter blenny, None of which ever displayed any signs of disease while I had them. I had the clown pair about four months before one of them tried to host my showpiece wellso, so they went back to LFS. I had the scooter blenny about six weeks and learned that I couldn't maintain a healthy pod population so it went back to LFS. I think I would have seen disease symptoms in those time periods.
I'm looking to add a bristletooth tang to the tank in the next couple months, and I planned to set up a QT before I got him, and then I realized that since the eel and betta are both disease resistant fish, they could both be carrying diseases, but just not having any ill effects from them, so without a fallow period the QT might be pointless.
So the way I see it, there are a couple scenarios that I'm facing.
Option 1) I might be very lucky and have a disease free tank, in which case, I can QT the tang and when I introduce it I'll continue to have a disease free tank.
Option 2) the eel or betta carry some disease, so even if I QT the tang, it will likely come down with something once it goes in the tank and I'll have to pull it right back out (and in the process tear my tank apart to catch him)
Option 3) I catch the eel and betta, QT them, and go fallow for 76 days, then put them back in the tank, get the tang and QT it, and introduce it into the display tank with much more peace of mind.
Obviously option 3 is the safest, but also a pain. So I'm curious for opinions on the likelihood that my tank is actually disease free currently, rather than the eel and betta are just tough fish.
I'm not opposed to doing things the right way, I'd just like some input.
Thanks!
