Do I need to quarantine my the first fish I put in my newly cylced tank?

[jwavec]

Aside from live rock and a few snails there is nothing else in my tank. Is it necessary to quarantine my first fish?

[asm481]

You will get many different answers here. Ask yourself why you think you should quarantine....See if new fish eats? See if it is healthy? If it is sick it will conaminate your tank so other fish added later may get sick. A disease like ich can survive in a tank with a fish that doesn't show signs of illness because it built up an immunity.

[Konadog]

One of the ideas behind quarantining is to keep parasites and diseases out of your show tank. Do you need to, NO, should you, YES!

One thing you didn't mention is where the fish came from. Is it a new fish from a LFS or a buddy's tank?

You may get lucky for years, but it only tanks once to learn your lesson.

[jwavec]

So if I put my new fish straight into my display tank and it then shows signs of ich and I then put it into a QT.....will my display tank still harbor the ich parasite and continue to infect any new fish I may add, even if they are not added for 4-6 weeks? On a side note, do fish diseases only affect fish or can they also cause coral and anemones to also get sick?

[Konadog]

Yes, that's what can happen with ich!

No, most if not all fish diseases only affect fish. There are plenty of other things that you will encounter with coral, like red bugs, flatworms, etc.........

[Shagsbeard]

If you're running a small tank, with the ability to hospitalize your entire tank, it's not so important. If you're running a 300 gallon showcase, introducing ich into it can be a disaster. You can run an ich free tank. It takes proper quarentine of anything you add to the tank that has come into contact with a fish within the last month.

People run very successful tanks without quarentine though. Ich isn't leathal in otherwise healthy fish. It's the secondary infections that kill them. You can keep a fish tank with ich in it healthy and happy... it's just harder.

[ThomasinKind]

Do you have a reason to not quarantine your first fish?

[jwavec]

Thanks for the responses. I plan on quarantining all fish that are added to my established tank(once it becomes established). My question has to with adding my first fish to my tank. Does it need to be quarantined? I do not plan on adding any more fish for several months after this initial fish. I am going to concentrate more on corals.

The fish is coming from a LFS.

[Konadog]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9958272#post9958272 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jwavec
The fish is coming from a LFS. Why I asked is because most LFS have only had there fish for a few days, maybe a week and they know nothing about how the fish was handled. Coming from a buddy's tank you at least know something about the fish and the environment it came from.

[jwavec]

Yeah the reason for not quarantining the fish is to get him in my DT now and not 4 weeks from now. I know I know...learn patients, but is my DT not essentially a big QT since there are no other fish in it and there will not be any other fish in it for several months. If he show signs of being sick, then I can put him in my QT and return him to the DT once he has healed.

[Konadog]

Chances are you'll be OK.

One other reason for a QT tank is that you can medicate a QT tank. If you were to try and medicate a tank with LR, you could contaminate the LR and have to start all over again.

[amike5]

You don't have to QT your first fish, if you are willing to take the risk. I lost my first 8 fish because I didn't QT, I have lost none since I started QT and hypo all incoming fish.

[DetectiveTofu]

Some people say you don't need to QT because it would be the only fish in your tank. But if the fish comes down with something, you wouldn't be able to treat with copper because you've got inverts going. And hyposalinity isn't an option either. I would definitely QT a fish before adding it to a display tank regardless; that way any treatment methods taken will done in a QT tank rather than your display. Only my opinion. =)

[jthao]

puttin in my 2 cents, you don't have to qt, but should. For me, just for me- not you, I wouldn't qt my only fish if I'm not going to get another one for months. chances are you'll get a good fish and even if it's not, he's the only one so you can just feed him well and he'll fight off the ich. with multiple fish, the other fishes may, i mean, will get it too, and besides with other fishes bothering the one that's sick, it'll make him more sick. one fish in a tank will do better at surviving a sickness, imo. In my own experience, I didn't qt any fish. got 8 first ones and got lucky. then added a last tang, and he wiped out all my fishes. so in my case I should've qt, regrets, regrets............ I miss my sohal!!! If you're impatient just qt for a couple of weeks. I think you'll be fine. But it's just imo.

[bgiles11]

There are a few factors to consider.
1. Do you have a good skimmer?
2. do you have UV sterilizer (this will stop ich from reproducing)
3. Does your LFS treat their tanks with copper?
4. What kind of fish is it. Some fish are more succeptable to disease.
5. Do you have Cleaner shrimp?
All of these things will increase your odds of not having a QT. I have been succesful for years without one, but I always qt tangs.

[Aquarist007]

I agree that you should quarantine---but as far as ich goes it can be introduced to your tank in a variety of ways---so assume that it is always there----your best solution to this is to start your fish on a good garlic based food---garlic builds up the immunity of your fish.
Real case: I quarantined a copperbanded for one week---no signs of disease---put him in the main tank--developed ich within a couple of days. I started to sweat ---I have two really nice tangs-yellow and blue in there. I was lucky that they have strong immunity systems built up with good garlic feedings---they didn't get the ich(yet)
End of the story------quarantine your fish but start right away to build up their immunity systems because they will come in contact with ich sometime in their hopefully long lives

[Aquarist007]

Ps---soaking your flake food in Garlic Guard---even though the flake food states it has a percentage of garlic in it---is a great way to start to build up their immunity systems.

[Sk8r]

The main reason for qt is to protect your tank, never mind the fish. QT.

[alexb518]

it doesn't really matter since this will be your only fish. you don't have to worry about spreading it to other fish and when or if you do pull it out and place in QT, the parasites die off rather quickly without a host. however, keep in mind that if he does have something that you cannot run copper or hypo in your display tank. so, the big dillema with that is your ability to get the fish out of the tank if you do find that it has come down with something. i'd rather just throw one in QT from day one, that to get all ticked off later on because the bastard fish is hiding in the rocks as i'm trying to net him.

[MSU Fan]

Another reason I have learned for a QT for your first fish is that for a newbie, it is nearly impossible to catch a fish in your display tank. IMPOSSIBLE. Unless they die or are seriously sick. In a QT, there really isn't anywhere for them to hide.

Of course, there are lots of other good reasons up above. In the end, QT'ing is better safe than sorry.

[Aquarist007]

once you introduce an ich fish to your main tank there is no use taking it out to protect the others--kind of like sneezing in someone elses face and then asking for a kleenix