Do you quarantine new fish / corals?

[Anonymous]

Do you quarantine new fish / corals?

If so how? Do you leave a bare QT tank running all the time?

 

[Anonymous]

I have not in the past. I plan on doing it for the new tank. I think just a bare tank with some plast or PVC hiding places for the fish would be fine. I do not plan ot QTing corals.

 

[Anonymous]

Doesnt a qt tank need to be established?

 

[Anonymous]

Not that I recall. You just need to stay on top of the water changes.

 

[Anonymous]

Always, ALWAYS quarantine new fish.

The best system I've come up with for quarantine is a seperate, fully running reef tank. I use a 7 gallon nano fully stocked with live rock and corals. Obviously this is for small fish only, and no medicating can take place. I've found this method works much better for me for several reasons. One, the environment is much less stressful to the fish than a bare tank with a few pieces of PVC, meaning any compromises to the fish's immune response are better mitigated. Two, the tank is a great looking display when no quarantine is needed. Finally, I'm never tempted to remove the fish from quarantine early, in fact I tend to leave them in there for a few months. When a fish goes into my display, I KNOW it's completely clean.

I haven't had to medicate a fish in years, but if it were necessary I'd have to use a hospital tank.

The one caveat here is that if you do introduce a pathogen into a small reef, it will be some time before you can use it for this purpose again...so it does have some drawbacks. For me though the advantages outweigh the negatives, and it's worked like a charm.

 

[Anonymous]

anyone else?

 

[Anonymous]

I have QT'd some fish in the past, but not always.

Some fish just aren't made for QT-ing. I bought a Sohal a couple of weeks ago, and I don't know anyone who has a QT tank large enough for that fish.

Running a UV helps.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I have not in a good while. I buy my fish locally and have time to check them out.

 

[Anonymous]

I have left some fish at the LFS for several weeks to make sure that they are healthy before bringing them home. That's somewhat of another way to make sure fish are healthy before being added to your display. You LFS should be able to treat a fish too, if necessary.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

No. I've done it in the past, and hastened their death.

:lol:

You are most definitely doing something wrong... :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

...[milzed]...

 

[Anonymous]

I think unless you have a well-established dedicated reef tank as a QT, then you stress the fish out.

I've had 100% success adding healthy looking fish directly into the new tank. I don't even aclimate them. Just net and release, avoiding transfer of water.

That's like saying I have a 100% success rate driving without a seatbelt, just because you've been lucky enough to not have been T-boned or rear ended...sure, but you may hit something next time out and then what? My next question to you would be what is your span of time in this hobby, and how many displays have you set up and maintained? 100% succesful with how many fish in how many displays? One display? Two? Ten? Doing things your way WILL catch up with you at some point, and the troubles it can cause will make the hassle of a properly set up quarantine tank seem insignificant.

Quarantine is a safeguard procedure to protect your charges from infection, we impliment it for the few times, or even ONE time that an infected fish comes in. I can tell you from many years doing this, it pays off in droves.

Also, you don't have to have a dedicated reef set up. I was quarantining fish years before reef tanks were even in the sphere of possibility for me, as were all other long term succesful marine aquarists. You just need a few sensibilities as to the fish's needs in regards to water quality, and cover. A small tank, some live rock from your sump, some water from your display along with a bit of new water, a small power filter, and some dark paper to block out the back and sides of the tank...done. Aside from not hastening the death of the fish in question, it allows the animal to further acclimate to captivity without being harrased by tankmates, even if it IS clean of pathogens. It takes much longer for a fish's immune resonse to fully recover than casual observation would seem to indicate.

If it is infected, and it happens more often than your experience thus far indicates believe me, you're just saved yourself and your display a whole lot of headache.

 

[Anonymous]

I don't quarantine anything, and have not had any infectious disasters.

I think if you're careful with what you buy, and are willing to take some risk, then it is not as necessary as many would have you believe.

The key factor is that you're willing to take the small risk. This risk can be lessened by other factors, such as maintaing a stable tank and buying from reputable LFSs with healthy, stable livestock.

 

[Anonymous]

I am more worried about fish living. I bought 2 clownfish last Friday. One died 3 days later the other 6 days.

Now I am out $50 and no fish.

If I attempt fish again I want a better way to make sure they live.

 

[Anonymous]

I am more worried about fish living. I bought 2 clownfish last Friday. One died 3 days later the other 6 days.

Now I am out $50 and no fish.

If I attempt fish again I want a better way to make sure they live.

I'm guessing there's an underlying problem that even QTing would not have solved. What size is your tank, what's in it and what are its specs? And how reliable is the LFS where you bought the clowns? Also, did they die of any obvious disease?

Good Luck

 

[Anonymous]

I dont know what the ydied from. The tank is a 58G reef thans been running since January. (Used to be running for 2.5 years but tore down and rebuilt due to bad algae).

These were the first fish in the tank,

 

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

I don't quarantine anything, and have not had any infectious disasters.

I think if you're careful with what you buy, and are willing to take some risk, then it is not as necessary as many would have you believe.

Again, you're saying "I haven't worn a seatbelt for a year, and I'm still alive. Therefore seatbelts are not very necessary" A rather narrowminded approach methinks.

I will again ask how long you've been doing this, and how many displays you've maintained.

Many people sing the same tune, for quite a long time, until the day they face a C. irritans infection in their 250 gallon fully stocked display, with no practical way to deal with it.

Yes, you're assuming some risk, a foolish risk given the potential problems it can cause, and how easily it's mitigated. There are two ways to learn this...the easy way which is learn from those with vastly more experience, or the hard way.

I learned the hard way, years and years ago.


Jim

 

[SnowManSnow]

ive not bought a new fish in over 2 years so, no,,,, i dont

B