To quarantine, or not to quarantine?

[Regular_Reefer]

Good evening all,
I’ve been continuing my research on my new build and my topic of interest for today has been quarantine tanks. My question is did you guys/gals quarantine on a new tank for each fish added? Also is there a minimum size tank for quarantine purposes? I recently set up a 60g display (still in cycle) and was curious if a 5 gallon tank would suffice for the livestock I would keep (most likely nothin over 4 inches grown). I’m also limited to space and I don’t know if I could convince my wife on the need for a second tank when I finally just won the battle of getting the 60g. As always thanks ahead for the knowledge shared! Stay safe!

 

[JCTReefer]

I’d honestly go with a minimum 10 gallon. They’re cheap and would be a bit more stable. Even better get a 20 long! That’s what I use. It was like 30-40$ at petsmart.

 

[Regular_Reefer]

10 gallon seems to be the standard that I am seeing in a lot of the videos and forums I’ve gone through. One of my favorites to follow is ReefBuilders YouTube chanel.

 

[fcmatt]

since it is only 60 gallons and I would only go 4 to 6 total fish I would skip the quarantine altogether. It is not like you are buying 2500 bucks worth of fish to stock a huge tank.

 

[Regular_Reefer]

Beside a few inverts I was thinking like max 5 fish. I would mostly have some fish for color and movement but I’m honestly more interested in coral. I just want to do it right from the beginning and establish as healthy a tank as possible. If this can be done without quarantine then great, but I’m fairly new and can not speak of experience.

 

[AmaleeC]

Beside a few inverts I was thinking like max 5 fish. I would mostly have some fish for color and movement but I’m honestly more interested in coral. I just want to do it right from the beginning and establish as healthy a tank as possible. If this can be done without quarantine then great, but I’m fairly new and can not speak of experience.

5 fish will be okay. I’ve seen many others push the limits on mush smaller tanks so you’ll be fine. Just make sure you buy fish that don’t get to big.

Although not many fish, it would suck for you to add the other 4 fish, then add the last fish you want and have that last fish kill all the other ones because of an infectious disease. Happened in my tank and I’m never shopping at that store again (World Wide Corals). Personally, I don’t qt. I just make sure all my fish are healthy before I buy them (I’m usually at the pet store examining the fish for a while before purchasing). Well I didn’t check this one out before buying and I’ve lost well over $150 in fish so far (neon dottyback, royal gramma, blue damsel, female lyretail anthia, and clown goby). I screwed up pretty bad, but I learned from that mistake and never again will I buy a fish without examining it first. But that’s just me.

At the end of the day it is your tank. No matter how many recommendations you get, every decision is up to you and if you have an “it’s better to be safe than sorry” mentality — you may be better off with a quarantine.

Happy reefing man! I’m overcoming some illness and algae in my tank, but there’s no other thing I’d rather spend my money on. It’s a great hobby

 

[JCTReefer]

Beside a few inverts I was thinking like max 5 fish. I would mostly have some fish for color and movement but I’m honestly more interested in coral. I just want to do it right from the beginning and establish as healthy a tank as possible. If this can be done without quarantine then great, but I’m fairly new and can not speak of experience.

Well, you’ll get many mixed opinions on quarantining. Some do, some don’t. There are 1000s of post on it! And that’s just here on reef2reef. Ultimately it’s up to you! Just ask PaulB how he feels about quarantine Me personally, I quarantine.

 

[Difrano]

I don't quarantine, not in my old 32 not in my new 65, I have never lost a fish due to disease. As previous member posted, I only buy from a good LFS (@TopShelfAquatics) that I know their standards and also when onsite I stare at the fish for a good time before buying it. I never buy livestock online, I think the shipping is a super stressful event that weak the fish more than is already due to be cramped in small fish stores tanks. Also I have already stocked my tank with all the fish I want so there is no need to keep a QT system. I have a 10 gal in a shelf in the garage with with everything to setup a hospital tank, but in 5 years keeping saltwater never had to use it.
I practice itch management keeping healthy well feed fish, low aggression, low stress, enough hiding room, and keep utilitarian fish like cleaner goby or wrasses.
I do dip all my corals.

 

[PicassoClown04]

Personally, I don’t. That being said, I only have a 20 gallon tank with 3 fish, two of which were purchased together (pair of clowns). So, for me, quarantine was a waste because I thoroughly inspect my fish before buying (tip: ask the LFS to feed the fish, if the fish doesn’t eat, pass on it. ) and I only have 3. I waited a long time between fish and feed really nutritious diets. Ick is only dangerous if your fish are stressed/malnourished, so I make sure that my fish are as healthy as possible all the time to avoid this. Ick is gonna get in your tank, parasites are gonna get in your tank. It happens, they’re in the ocean too and fish fare okay in there. This method is okay for larger systems too, the key to everything is keeping your fish in top health and to not stress them out. Buying healthy fish from the start is also very important to having a successful tank without QT. This method has only failed me once. I bought a purple tang, I snatched it up because it was a great price and super little. Only did a visual inspection before buying and did not make sure it ate before I took it home... big mistake. It died later that week. It was my fault though, I strayed from the method. Unless you QT every fish, invert, and coral that goes into your DT flawlessly, then you will get some sort of virus/bacteria/parasite in your DT. That’s why I prefer this method. However, I do believe that an observation tank is important to have. Same set up at a QT, but has the purpose of holding online purchased fish/inverts while you do a visual inspection and get them eating. I also highly recommend it double as a frag tank because featureless tanks stress fish which cause them to be more susceptible to ick and other diseases. It also works as a hospital tank if one of your fish gets injured/sick or if you realize you have a bully in your tank and need to get him out before he causes damage.
TL;DR
I do not quarantine. I buy healthy fish from the start and provide them an environment in which they are comfortable and are being fed a nutrient rich diet. However, having a ‘QT’ tank is important because it serves many purposes such as a hospital tank and observation tank for online purchases. I believe that a frag tank can serve this purpose and is actually better for doing so because it provides cover to the fish. Good luck!

 

[Ulm_nano_diybudgetreef]

Theres a product that's called "Safety Stop". Its basically a 2 step quarantine bath for external parasites. I guess it's a compromise.

Heres a product review link.

 

[Kyl]

I never quarantined and was happily oblivious until I got marine velvet from a "trusted" LFS after staring at a fish for 30 minutes that looked fine.

The question really is, do you feel lucky?

 

[Hugh Mann]

Quarantine your fish. Just do it.

I didn't, and I bought all my livestock from a reputable store and all but 3 died of disease. $300+ of fish dead and gone.

Quarantine is easy, and if you don't want to buy a second tank, buy instead a large, heavy duty Rubbermaid bin. Small powerhead, sponge filter, Pvc fittings, air pump, you could probably have it set up for $100. Less, if you omit the powerhead.

 

[JCTReefer]

Here, give this a read.

Quarantining: The pros & cons

Whenever you buy new livestock, you can place it in a QT (Quarantine Tank) or put it directly into your DT (Display Tank). The choice, of course, is yours, and it's important to understand that there are pros & cons no matter what you decide. We...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[K7BMG]

This is a common thread question and there are thousands of them.
Some questions and points that never seem to get into these threads.

Your first tank and fish. Do you know the difference between a healthy and potentially sick fish?
As a new person in the hobby I seriously doubt it.
Do you know who to trust? Again doubt it.
Do you know if you introduce ICK into your tank that if your fish die because of it that the parasite can remaine dormant in the tank and infect your next batch. That if the tank bas ICK and to rid it of ICH you have to go without fish for 76 days?

Do you know that yea the fish ate well in the store but three days later it stopped eating and died. Just because the fish ate in the storefront IMO is not a real determination on its overall health.

I am just telling you some facts. Stuff you can learn to avoid, or learn the hard way with several fish deats that could have been avoided.

I agree that a 10 gal QT tank is a minimum, 20 is better.
Call it what you want its all the same observation, QT, hospital tank.

Make your fish choices, put them in the 10g for two weeks feed and watch them. You will see if there is a serious issue by that time.

But alas there are 100 people that buy bring home and drop them into the DT no aclamation nothing and never have an issue.
But I guarentee for each of thoes hundred thers 250 that are not so lucky.

 

[Regular_Reefer]

This is a common thread question and there are thousands of them.
Some questions and points that never seem to get into these threads.

Your first tank and fish. Do you know the difference between a healthy and potentially sick fish?
As a new person in the hobby I seriously doubt it.
Do you know who to trust? Again doubt it.
Do you know if you introduce ICK into your tank that if your fish die because of it that the parasite can remaine dormant in the tank and infect your next batch. That if the tank bas ICK and to rid it of ICH you have to go without fish for 76 days?

Do you know that yea the fish ate well in the store but three days later it stopped eating and died. Just because the fish ate in the storefront IMO is not a real determination on its overall health.

I am just telling you some facts. Stuff you can learn to avoid, or learn the hard way with several fish deats that could have been avoided.

I agree that a 10 gal QT tank is a minimum, 20 is better.
Call it what you want its all the same observation, QT, hospital tank.

Make your fish choices, put them in the 10g for two weeks feed and watch them. You will see if there is a serious issue by that time.

But alas there are 100 people that buy bring home and drop them into the DT no aclamation nothing and never have an issue.
But I guarentee for each of thoes hundred thers 250 that are not so lucky.

Thanks for the advice, I am definitely leaning towards quarantine. #1 reason, As you mentioned I have no idea what to look for yet and would rather the opportunity to observe and correct issues in a cheaper/smaller environment rather than potentially spoil the DT. I know the possibility of something going wrong is still there but at least if I take the precautions I won’t be ticked off later down the road wondering if that one step I skipped is what did it. Also if I start losing livestock right off the bat, I doubt my better half is going to continue to let me dump money into the hobby. I think I can manage a 10g quarantine for under $100. Now the real hurdle is finding somewhere to hide it

 

[Regular_Reefer]

Also learned something new, I definitely had no idea ICH took up to 76 days to get out of a system (with no fish)!!

 

[Arsenix2001]

Funny this came up. I was never a QT guy and just yesterday got in a coral beauty I had planned on just dumping straight in but it had obvious mild injury and what appears to be a white spot. I dont have very exprensive fish in my 38, 2 plain jane clowns, a yellow goby and a purple fire fish but... Still... Went into emergency mode with the help of members here and got an old fluval spec v tank up and running. Now that hes in there I am so much happier I did it rather than not. Now I can treat, observe, feed and acclimate him however I want, and if he ends up having an appetite for coral then I have a place to lock him up before he goes to the LFS. Seems like a pain but once you do it you will be happy you did. I am... Saw him rubbing last night confirming my suspicion of parasite. Treatment starts tomorrow.

 

[Zenchi]

I just set up a cheap 10 gallon as a quarantine/sick fish tank. For a cheap investment, its a nice safety net if one of my fish is exhibiting concerning symptoms that I can simply isolate them for a period and reduce the risk to my other fish.

 

[tuesdayd]

You could always buy pre-quarantined fish. Let someone else do the work, but they cost a little more.

 

[andrewey]

Sounds like you've gotten some great advice and are leaning towards QT. I think that's a wise move and will definitely set you up well for the future! Happy Reefing!

This was my personal journey with QT:
I used to not QT my fish for the first 5 years in the hobby. I never had any diseases, but that was simply due to luck. Eventually, I decided that I'd be devastated if my fish died and I could have prevented it. To me, my fish are more than the price I paid for them at the store- they are my pets and I have a responsibility towards them. It finally clicked that QTing animals is no different than giving my dogs heart worm medication. Some people don't and never get heart worms, but if you've ever had to put down a dog to heart worm, you quickly start giving heartworm meds to your future pets.