Don't even think about not using a Quarantine!

[Duddly01]

Please, if you don't remember anything please learn this lesson, it will save you alot of heartache. I recently made the mistake of not quarantining a fish I purchased on a whim. A couple days later he started to show spots. I started treating the tank with Kick-Ick (don't waste your money) and when I could catch the fish without killing the reef into quarantine they went, freshwater dips, etc. In less than a week I have lost all but two fish (so far) including my beloved mated pair of Clarkii clowns and 4" lawmower Blenny named Moe (think three stooges, he was so funny :( ).

[AVALover5498]

Sorry for your losses!:(

[Randall_James]

Well sorry for your loss, but thanks for passing on your advice. Many only go to qt after such a disaster. Setting up a good QT can be as much a pain as a tank in some respects but certainly worth the trouble.

[mollymonticello]

Thanks for posting this.

Most recommend a quarantine time of 4 weeks or more, that's based on the average life cycle of some common pathogens like ich and velvet.

A lot of people don't realize that even if the store or online source quarantines the fish at all, they just can't quarantine for as long as 4 weeks. It's not cost effective, each fish would cost 5 times as much.

Good luck, Duddly, don't give up.

[Snarkys]

good way to do it is set up a frag tank that can double as your Q tank . that way you always have one set up : )

[michaeldaly]

For me it would just not be econommical to keep a QT running for my 65g tank which I might add a fish to every 6 months.

[Randall_James]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8792577#post8792577 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michaeldaly
For me it would just not be econommical to keep a QT running for my 65g tank which I might add a fish to every 6 months. If you are maintaining a typical qt tank, you take it down when not in use. This tank then sits in storage until needed. Even a 65G tank can hold hundreds of dollars of fish and introducing 1 sick fish can wipe it out. I have 1 tank with exess of $1500 in fish, I shudder to think adding a $75 fish could take them all out in a matter of days...

[yakfishin]

I didn't quarantine my first fish and really freaked out when I noticed the maroon clown I placed within my tank had a couple of spots showing on him, literally just a day after adding him to the tank. I figured since it was the first fish I would take my chances on him. Well, I then noticed that the spots were gone an hour later- it was just a couple of free floating particles that got stuck to him. But at least the scare taught me a lesson, and now I quarantine for 4 weeks. My most recent fish addition was a foxface that I did quarantine, and he also came up with a few spots even after quarantining. Again I started freaking out, especially at the thought of having to catch a foxface in a 215G aquarium with all the time I spent of live rock placement. Well, again the spots ended up being particles of sand that were caught in his slime coat- he later shedded the slime coat as rabbitfish tend to do occasionally. So I have had a couple off false scares that really made me a believer in quarantining. But I have also learned that not every white spot that shows up on your fish is an ich attack! I currently have a yellowtailed moray that I have in quarantine waiting to be added.

[baondayko]

How big of a quarantine tank is enough for the avg 3-5 inch fish?

Thanks
Brock

[yakfishin]

Ten would big enough for most smaller fish, but I think 20G is better. The greater water volume would help in keeping your parameters stable, particularly if you need to start medicating any inhabitant.

[joec]

this might be a dumb question, but ill ask anyway -

how many fish can or should be quarantined at the same time? what if you bought a few on the same trip to the lfs?

[Jacsubi]

mm, this only gives me incentive to make a new reef tank=) a 30 gallon with a couple fish, then my sturdy unused 20 gallon for a frag tank/quarantine tank. Are corals susceptible to the same parasites that fish catch?

[cubber]

You shouldnt just quarantine your fish you should also quarantine anything that you put in your tank! I have bought corals from fish stores that have been ich parasite carriers! You will not see white spots on your corals but you can be sure if there was ich in the tank reciently there are probably eggs on the rock that the coral is sitting on. I have also bought corals that introduced some nasty hitchhikers into my tanks. Now I have 2 QT's set up, one for corals and one for fish. This way I can at least inspect my corals well before I add them to the tank to make sure they don't have any unwanted hitchers.

[Duddly01]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8794431#post8794431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cubber
Now I have 2 QT's set up, one for corals and one for fish. This way I can at least inspect my corals well before I add them to the tank to make sure they don't have any unwanted hitchers.

How long would you hold a coral or invert in quarantine? Would you even quarantine an anemone? What about lighting?

Any chance there is a safe cleaning "bath/rinse" for them available? Anemone are rairly in great shape in the LFS and the stress of being in a bare bottom quarantine for 4 weeks would certainly do most of them in for sure.

[cubber]

An anemone would probably be fine, but I deffinitly quarantine anything that comes in on a rock. I have a 20 L for my coral QT and it is lit by a 48" long coralife aqualite with 2 - 65 watt 10k pc's and 2 - 65 actinic 03 pc's. Going to use the extra area that the light hangs over for a phyto station. There are a few dips out there for corals but I prefer a quarantine period first before subjecting them to any medications. I will quarantine anything for at least 2 weeks, more if I think it is necessary.

[Randall_James]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8793889#post8793889 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jacsubi
mm, this only gives me incentive to make a new reef tank=) a 30 gallon with a couple fish, then my sturdy unused 20 gallon for a frag tank/quarantine tank. Are corals susceptible to the same parasites that fish catch? No they are not, but they can not tolerate fish medications in most cases. (hence "reef safe")

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8794556#post8794556 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Duddly01
How long would you hold a coral or invert in quarantine? Would you even quarantine an anemone? What about lighting?

Any chance there is a safe cleaning "bath/rinse" for them available? Anemone are rairly in great shape in the LFS and the stress of being in a bare bottom quarantine for 4 weeks would certainly do most of them in for sure.

Corals I typically plan on at least a week. This is time to inspect (magnifying glass etc) looking for parasites or any other bad news hitch hiker (that first aptaisia came from somewhere)

I do an "iodine" rinse on my new corals before they go into qt. I use enough lugols to turn the water a tinge of brown and give the corals a 5 min soak. This will typically kill off any parasites or hitchhikers.

An Anemone it qt really should not bother it too much, it would be nice if they had decent lighting but making sure they eat is IMO more important. The big issue is keeping water quality up for them. I am not sure it is all the important to qt them in the first place but better safe than sorry I suppose. As I have a couple breeders, the last 2 I purchased only spent 1 week in QT before I decided they looked ok.

QT for the Anemone is going to be a bit different (I have a chunk of indoor/outdoor carpet I lay in the tank for them so that they can be easily and safely removed. I also make sure that they can escape direct water flow by keeping the flow directed to the top of the tank

[Teremei]

You COULD also only buy your fish from reputable sellers. I have yet to QT and for 2 years have yet to have a disaster. I think people overstress the importance of quarantining. I think stores should do it, because they see new fish every day. However in your home aquarium, you will put 4, maybe 5 fish at most, in the span of a year. It also helps to inspect fish, and buy from someone you trust. I buy from a dude who's been in the business for 20 years. The fish are usually at his place for atleast 2 weeks before I pick them up aswell.

It sounds like you had a big problem with ick. I never understood why people have such problems with the stuff. Are you putting your fish in healthy systems, with more than enough room to swim? Are you chasing them with a net the first signs of a spot? (bad idea, as you are only stressing them). Are you supplimenting vitamin C, garlic? Do you have some cleaners shrimp and fish to help minor outbreaks? I have a Blue Tang, and I always hear Tangs are supposed to be Ick magnets. However he has never had more than 1 or 2 spots on him, in the 5 months I've owned him.

[Randall_James]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8798464#post8798464 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Teremei
You COULD also only buy your fish from reputable sellers. I have yet to QT and for 2 years have yet to have a disaster. I think people overstress the importance of quarantining. I think stores should do it, because they see new fish every day. However in your home aquarium, you will put 4, maybe 5 fish at most, in the span of a year. It also helps to inspect fish, and buy from someone you trust. I buy from a dude who's been in the business for 20 years. The fish are usually at his place for atleast 2 weeks before I pick them up aswell.

It sounds like you had a big problem with ick. I never understood why people have such problems with the stuff. Are you putting your fish in healthy systems, with more than enough room to swim? Are you chasing them with a net the first signs of a spot? (bad idea, as you are only stressing them). Are you supplimenting vitamin C, garlic? Do you have some cleaners shrimp and fish to help minor outbreaks? I have a Blue Tang, and I always hear Tangs are supposed to be Ick magnets. However he has never had more than 1 or 2 spots on him, in the 5 months I've owned him. Wow you are certainly out of touch with most retail outlets, do you have any idea what the cost of fish would be if the retailer performed the quarantine? Most fish are not at a retail outlet more than 7-10 days and that is just how the business is.

With the competition as tight as it is for this market, what happens to your sales if you double or triple the cost of your fish? $60 of a common ocellaris? you would starve to death, however if you are going to keep all fish for 3 or 4 weeks, you are going to have far greater losses of fish, require far more tank room than you have now, maintain and feed the fish for this additional time. 3X price increase may not even cover the expense... There are some that claim to qt fish, but isolation is not qt and 7 days is also not qt.

I would also venture that most retailers that have been around for more than a year or two are "Reputable" and do what they can for their customers, those who do not, do not survive

Your luck with not having introduced a pathogen to your system is not uncommon but it is also a rather nonchalant brand of husbandry that is not typically in the best interest of an established tank.

Read the first post of this thread, that is the typical cost of no quarantine and probably the experience of most who are religious about making sure new livestock is healthy prior to introduction to a community tank.

You will not find a single public aquarium that does not abide by strict quarantine practice for the same reasons.

[JOSEPHLB]

Where does everyone keep their QT's? Is it possible to keep a 10g QT underneath the tank stand?

That could also possibly keep the fish's stress levels down, correct, since they are hidden from view and home traffic??

[cubber]

I agree with randall and would like to add that whenever I go to a fish store most of the new arrivals are gone that day! People know when thier LFS get thier new stock in and try to get there hands on the best stuff first! Things rarely stay in the tanks long after they arrive, unless they have a problem and no one wants them. There is one LFS that I frequent that is about an hour away from me, yah that is local for me! When they get in new stuff there is always one rich guy that is there before everyone else that buys out all the best stuff, and everyone else just gets sloppy seconds...

[cubber]

JOSEPHLB: I have a small closet size room under my stairs in my basement that I have set up as my fish supply room. I have both my QT's in there on shelving that I built as well as all my salt, buckets and supplies. It is also the backside of a wall to my finished off basment rec room area and it was the perfect size to put a 29 gallon in wall tank, so that is also in there and holds a few african cichlids.

[cristhiam]

I was lucky too for 2 years, and then BOOM!! fish died with ich. I QT now and put the fish throug hypo for 4 - 6 weeks depending if I see any signs. They go from the store right into the QT and drop the salinity to 1.009 in about 4 hours. I have 13 fish now and they all survied :)

[Duddly01]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8798464#post8798464 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Teremei
It sounds like you had a big problem with ick. I never understood why people have such problems with the stuff. Are you putting your fish in healthy systems, with more than enough room to swim? Are you chasing them with a net the first signs of a spot? (bad idea, as you are only stressing them). Are you supplimenting vitamin C, garlic? Do you have some cleaners shrimp and fish to help minor outbreaks? I have a Blue Tang, and I always hear Tangs are supposed to be Ick magnets. However he has never had more than 1 or 2 spots on him, in the 5 months I've owned him.

You have been playing russian roulette and have been very lucky, so far. I only buy from the shops I have frequented regularly and made sure they took very good care of their tanks, feeding and cleaning regularly. I don't know any the will not sell fish as soon as they arrive, without a quarantine period in store. I do not chase fish with a net in my tank. It would be impossible to catch them if they had any strength at all. Sadly all of the fish I had die were dead within a couple hours of showing any symptoms at all. I soak their food in kyolic garlic at least once a week for 20 minutes. I hope your luck doesn't run out any time soon so your don't fish pay the ultimate price.