Do You Quarantine?
- Thread starter ReefRian
- Start date
I currently plan to quarantine everything. After stating this I have to say I hate it because I'm not a patient person by nature and it is extra work. I currently only have a few soft corals from my old nano reef, and 7 fish as my tank is only a year old, but so far it has worked. I did plan for Q though in my initial tank design which does make it much easier. I currently have a two sump system coming off my overflows on my display. One 25G is plumbed so that I can turn a couple of valves and divert both overflows into my main sump and isolate it from the rest of the system for Q. This is especially nice because I don't have to "plan" for Q in advance. (Very handy when you spot that fish you want right now in the LFS!) 
I just plug in the heater inside this sump and run an airstone. I also run a small canister filter off of this system at all times so there is a built in bio filter in this sump. I run this during Q unless I have to medicate (which I haven't had to so far). This way all I have to do is drip-acclimate the new animal to the Q which is the exact water that is in the rest of the system. Once a week I can pump out about 1/3 of the Q tank and after my weekly water change for my system, simply open the valve to the Q tank and refill with water from my system to replace what I took out. I currently keep all new fish in Q for three weeks and if it is eating well and no problems are observed it is transfered into the display tank. I know many would say I should Q for much longer, but there's that impatient part of me coming out again. I purchased a plastic cheesy looking reef rock decoration to provide a secure place for the animal in Q to take refuge. I'm still researching on how to best use this when it comes time for my first SPS or LPS.
I just plug in the heater inside this sump and run an airstone. I also run a small canister filter off of this system at all times so there is a built in bio filter in this sump. I run this during Q unless I have to medicate (which I haven't had to so far). This way all I have to do is drip-acclimate the new animal to the Q which is the exact water that is in the rest of the system. Once a week I can pump out about 1/3 of the Q tank and after my weekly water change for my system, simply open the valve to the Q tank and refill with water from my system to replace what I took out. I currently keep all new fish in Q for three weeks and if it is eating well and no problems are observed it is transfered into the display tank. I know many would say I should Q for much longer, but there's that impatient part of me coming out again. I purchased a plastic cheesy looking reef rock decoration to provide a secure place for the animal in Q to take refuge. I'm still researching on how to best use this when it comes time for my first SPS or LPS.I've bought a lot of corals and never had any problems. I have had problems with some fish like Tangs, etc. Ich of course. THe more I learned about QT the even more I was convinced I wasn't going to do it. To do it right it takes a bit of effort. So I just left some fish alone even though I love Pacific Blue Tangs. Now imagine how many LFS do QT... NONE. They don't care if stuff dies. You'll just come back for me like I did. I tried so many things to keep Tangs... so many poor fish died. NOW I just buy certain fish from LiveAquaria.com b/c they have a multi-step QT process. I've had a Powder Blue and Pacific Blue Tangs for months now with no problems. First time for me. This is a good alternative unless you want to setup a QT routine.
Wow.
Some misguided notions here regarding quarantine.
I won't go on my usual rant, but not quarantining fish purchased at an LFS is rolling the dice - big time. It's not a hassle of done right, and it's NOTHING compared to the hassle and expense of a disease outbreak in your display.
For a while I used a fully set up 7 gallon nano-reef complete with corals. Worked out great, best idea I ever had.
Of course I couldn't medicate in this tank, but I never needed to. Had this been necessary, I would have had to set up a hospital tank.
The notion that quarantine adds to the stress of the fish couldn't be more wrong...if you do it right anyway.
Jim
Some misguided notions here regarding quarantine.
I won't go on my usual rant, but not quarantining fish purchased at an LFS is rolling the dice - big time. It's not a hassle of done right, and it's NOTHING compared to the hassle and expense of a disease outbreak in your display.
For a while I used a fully set up 7 gallon nano-reef complete with corals. Worked out great, best idea I ever had.
Of course I couldn't medicate in this tank, but I never needed to. Had this been necessary, I would have had to set up a hospital tank.
The notion that quarantine adds to the stress of the fish couldn't be more wrong...if you do it right anyway.
Jim
FifeReef":2vejuj8n said:
Good.
Start out doing it right, develop good practices and keep them up.
You'll never be one of those "help, my fish has ich, and it's a reef so I can't medicate!!!" people.
I never feel sorry for those people. The importance of proper quarantine procedure is spelled out in even the most basic of books.
Oops, that was a baby rant...sorry. :wink:
I will say I have never quarantined fish before; however, that is bad judgment and lack of funds on my part; I also have yet to be able to have a large investment in one of my tanks (livestock-wise). However, I plan on quarantining everything that goes into my/moms 120 since I just lost a potter's angel that should have been quarantined (its just so hard to do it right when it is a 45min just to get to the tank and I am poor).
cindre2000":2v6tuirn said:
I can relate to this, I think everyone can.
What I always tell people though, (and I say this for the benefit of beginners) is that the quarantine tank is just as much a part of your system as anything else, and needs to be budgeted in like everything else. So maybe the lighting needs to change, or the size of the display needs to drop a bit.
Most won't do this, and I've certainly made the mistake in the past of not taking quarantine seriously, but not doing so is poor husbandry practice.
One outbreak in the display, and you learn.
When I first started in the hobby, I didn't for the usual reasons. After a year or so I set up a 40 breeder for a Q tank and use it for every fish. It has saved my arse on more than a couple occassions. If you have a rudimentary understanding of marine fish diseases, it's pretty easy to see why quarantine is important and just practical. Introduce a sick fish to your system, and the pathogen can spread quickly. Problem is that sometimes fish appear healthy at the lfs but symptoms crop up after a few days of it being in your display and then your hosed. I purchased a beautiful pair of clowns once. I bought them the day after they arrived at the lfs as I knew they would get picked up fast. I put them in my q tank and within three days they were peppered with crypt. Had they been in my main tank I would have infected all of the others. Since most/all of the so called cures are crap, the only option left is to attempt to treat a whole tank of sick fish. Not good!
I keep my q tank in one side of the basement, out of the way and no fuss/muss. My personal thought is that no matter how long you've gone w/o quarantining and feel you don't have to, someday you'll wish you had.
JMO
I keep my q tank in one side of the basement, out of the way and no fuss/muss. My personal thought is that no matter how long you've gone w/o quarantining and feel you don't have to, someday you'll wish you had.
JMO
Its not that hard to do, nor is it expensive to quarantine if you work it out vs. the cost and time of having a sick tank. Heck, a rubbermaid tub, some PVC pieces, dead rock, heater and an elcheapo HOB filter are all you need. As far as having one cycled, that's not really needed if you have another display tank up and running [note: that tank must be disease free :lol: ]
I used to always have fresh saltwater mixed and ready, and if I decided to buy a new fish I'd setup the Q tank using water from my display tank. Then, I'd just put fresh saltwater in the display. I had a 10 gallon tank lying around just for that reason. Everyday I'd change add freshwater to the Q tank, pull out maybe 3 gallons and replace it with 3 from the display... you get the idea. That's an easy way to keep the water quality good. In a few weeks, the Q tank cycles and I then backed off on the daily change.
I used to always have fresh saltwater mixed and ready, and if I decided to buy a new fish I'd setup the Q tank using water from my display tank. Then, I'd just put fresh saltwater in the display. I had a 10 gallon tank lying around just for that reason. Everyday I'd change add freshwater to the Q tank, pull out maybe 3 gallons and replace it with 3 from the display... you get the idea. That's an easy way to keep the water quality good. In a few weeks, the Q tank cycles and I then backed off on the daily change.
Fish only (have a Potter's in now), no for corals though should as gotten the red acro bugs twice.
What I'm using for the first time is my 20g refugium (macro/LR) which sits above and to the side of my sump as a QT. Just before I put the fish in, I isolated from the rest of the system (existing valves) and added a skimmer and heater. Figure there's less stress and since the ref is normally on-line, there would be no cycle. If the fish develops something like ich, then I'll setup a BB QT with the PVC fitting for treatment and just leave the 20g fish fallow.
The negative is I've lost the macro in the ref for the duration as a nutrient sump and the a reverse daylight cycle for pH swings but if was overly concerned, I could just throw some Chaeto in the sump.
What I'm using for the first time is my 20g refugium (macro/LR) which sits above and to the side of my sump as a QT. Just before I put the fish in, I isolated from the rest of the system (existing valves) and added a skimmer and heater. Figure there's less stress and since the ref is normally on-line, there would be no cycle. If the fish develops something like ich, then I'll setup a BB QT with the PVC fitting for treatment and just leave the 20g fish fallow.
The negative is I've lost the macro in the ref for the duration as a nutrient sump and the a reverse daylight cycle for pH swings but if was overly concerned, I could just throw some Chaeto in the sump.
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