What to do when you can't have a QT tank?

[BContos]

An unfortunate circumstance is leading to the likely hood that moving in the near future is a real possibility. I will not be able to have a QT tank at the new place due to size restrictions. I know QT is the BEST method but what do you do if that isn't possible and you are in the process of starting a reef tank?

I also came across someone mentioning on a saltwater Facebook page today that corals can carry ich, velvet, etc. Is this true?

 

[landlubber]

when you can't manage the space for a quarantine system you step the operation down to a quarantine 5 gallon pail.

 

[areefer01]

You have to decide what is acceptable to you and what sort of risk you are willing to accept. The more mature your display gets obviously the risk is higher. Having said that you can do a few things to try and reduce risk:

1. Buy fish from a QT vendor. Few out there that follow Humblefish's guides or worked directly with him to setup shop
2. Buy fish direct from captive bred/raised source without middle holder (BIOTA for example is a good source)
3. Consider TTM using 5 gallon buckets (noted above)
4. Freshwater dip using Fenner's Methylene blue dip/bath procedure
5. Do not add anything else to your system and stop until you can

 

[Tamberav]

For corals... if you stick to aquacultured venders that have some sort of QT in place and avoid maricultured/wild coral places... you have a lot less chance of getting disease on a coral.

Places like Battlecorals, boom corals, cultivated reef, legendary corals etc.

You can certainly try to 'limit' the risk you take.

There are QT venders for fish.

Space shouldn't be a big issue... I do TTM in 3g-5g buckets depending on fish size/number and coral can be QT in 5-10g.

I guess you need bigger TTM if you buying a big naso or something but most fish just need 3-5g.

 

[ying yang]

You have to decide what is acceptable to you and what sort of risk you are willing to accept. The more mature your display gets obviously the risk is higher. Having said that you can do a few things to try and reduce risk:

1. Buy fish from a QT vendor. Few out there that follow Humblefish's guides or worked directly with him to setup shop
2. Buy fish direct from captive bred/raised source without middle holder (BIOTA for example is a good source)
3. Consider TTM using 5 gallon buckets (noted above)
4. Freshwater dip using Fenner's Methylene blue dip/bath procedure
5. Do not add anything else to your system and stop until you can

All this plus only buy cuc and corals from an lfs or vendor from fishless systems so of no fish in there systems then = can't carry ich cysts on there skeletons/ shells etc but this is only true if the coral or cuc you get from them has been in fishless system for certain amount of time for all fish parasites to go through there life cycles and die as no fish.
But if they only just put the coral in there fishless system 2 days before you buy it then comes the small risk of fish parasite etc.
But a small 5 gallon bucket could do for a qt area for certain fishes or a small plastic container in a cupboard or on kitchen worktop or somewhere it can go im sure.
I know if I had to medicate my fish and I thought I didn't have the room im sure I could find somewhere to temporary put up a 10- 20g small qt glass tank or a 5 gallon bucket. I would find somewhere .
My hospital tank running 24/ 7 for a year now in a cupboard just incase need to pull fish from dt and medicate as I don't qt but have it just incase needed ^_^

 

[fishmonkey]

An unfortunate circumstance is leading to the likely hood that moving in the near future is a real possibility. I will not be able to have a QT tank at the new place due to size restrictions. I know QT is the BEST method but what do you do if that isn't possible and you are in the process of starting a reef tank?

I also came across someone mentioning on a saltwater Facebook page today that corals can carry ich, velvet, etc. Is this true?

The Other Way to Run a Reef Tank (no Quarantine)

The other way to run a reef tank (No Quarantine) I was asked by my friend Humblefish to start a thread on my practices of running a tank with no quarantine, hospital tanks, medications, dipping or almost anything else. It is "not" just to take a fish from a store and drop it in your reef...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[vtecintegra]

I don't buy the no space reason. I do TTM for 14 days using two of these 3.75 gallon Husky totes, using 2.5 gallons of water. Each have three plastic plants and two pieces of PVC. And I use a dual outlet air pump with air stones that I rotate with the tote transfer.


The small totes sit in a 7.25 gallon tote with water and heater. That way only one heater is needed and doesn't have to be sterilized. Every night I move the fish into the clean and dried tote with a fresh 2.5 gallons. I treat with prazi three times along the way. Floor tile is 18 x 18 for reference.



For bigger fish, I did TTM using two 5 gallon buckets for my tang. I've got a Hector's goby, Tailspot blenny, and chalk bass in the QT right now with three days to go. They're hanging out in the PVC.

 

[RedoubtReef]

lots of options as folks have shown above that should mitigate the space issue. Heck, if you own an ice chest, you could even use that. My QT is a 20 gal glass tank with a sponge filter. Fits in most any corner of the house.

 

[snorklr]

for fish #1 just threw caution to the wind and bought at LFS...figured if it died i'd just let the tank go fallow 72 days and try again...still dont have fish #2 as TCM temporarily shut down as well as several others and it was too cold over the winter to trust a Fedex delivery...