For those that don’t QT, why not

[Paston1]

With the like Rally pro and other in tank treatment is QT really necessary?

Kana metro focus, one of the few truly reef safe solutions with science lol.

 

[PeterEde]

Kana metro focus, one of the few truly reef safe solutions with science lol.

Trying polyplabs reef medic at moment.
Just remember to dissolve in cup of tank water. Don't add directly to tank.
Instructions don't say that.

 

[PeterEde]

Just reading up about long term ich velvet management using oxydator and h2o2

 

[damsels are not mean]

My LFS seemed to do a good job about it. No issues, maybe I was just lucky. Haven't bought any new fish in years but if I did I would probably spend more time and effort on my own QT at least for observation.

 

[artieg1]

QT for the win

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I see this old thread popped up. With the disease issues in the supply chain, and the poor quality overall of fish available to home aquarists, a comprehensive quarantine is a must. You can do it yourself, or buy pre-quarantined, but I prefer to handle it myself. Here is our current protocol:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

The only time I don't quarantine is if the DT can be treated for disease after-the-fact and if the DT does not contain high value fish.


Jay

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I never have, I just always buy with caution, I stock my fish in the system first along with snails and a few hermit crabs, then slowly bring in coral.
I can't say I've ever q.t anything and I've also never had a bad problem that I could tell from not doing it.
Its up to you but I'd say do it better safe than sorry, but obviously its not necessary for success.

 

[iReefer12]

For me, it depends on the fish and also where I bought from.

Some fish are too stressed in a QT environment, convict tang is an example. I’ve lost 3 convict tangs in QT while the one time I chose not to QT, the convict tang prospered.

In QT its difficult to manage ammonia, so easy to dose medication and also kill off the good bacteria, leading to ammonia spikes and more stress on the fish.

All that said, I do try to do 2 week of observation and Prazi, and slowly bring up salinity levels.

 

[Warpigdave]

I set up a QT, put a couple clowns in it and they looked and acted very stressed. I still have it up for future fish, but I couldn't keep my clowns in the QT, they're doing better in my DT.

 

[Little c big D]

this whole thread is why i can be happy with 4 fish and never plan to buy another lol May the pair of clowns outlive me

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I'll tell you the problem with the QT knowledge that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you bought it and dipped it and slapped it in you display tank and now you're selling coral, you want to sell coral!

 

[this is me]

I don’t have the mental capacity to do so.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

@motortrendz We feed a wide variety of foods including probiotic as well.

I avoid meds for myself and my family and do the same for my fish. As far as I am concerned the least med and chemicals, the better. Less stress for fish. So far I have been lucky and never got to regret it. Fish gets so stressed by all the changes, they need a stable place to settle down, not another temp place.
I may consider buying already quarantine fish from a reputable place, as they have the space, and the know how.. I am also scared to over or under dose and both would be bad. One would way would kill them, the other would be useless and could result in resistance to treatment when needed.

 

[Siberwulf]

I see this old thread popped up. With the disease issues in the supply chain, and the poor quality overall of fish available to home aquarists, a comprehensive quarantine is a must. You can do it yourself, or buy pre-quarantined, but I prefer to handle it myself. Here is our current protocol:

Current Quarantine Protocol

2023 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed quarantine process can effectively eliminate these parasites before...

www.reef2reef.com

The only time I don't quarantine is if the DT can be treated for disease after-the-fact and if the DT does not contain high value fish.


Jay

I would have thought more folks would move over to the TTM. Isn't that much less stress on their fish? (No copper needed)

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I would have thought more folks would move over to the TTM. Isn't that much less stress on their fish? (No copper needed)

TTM has some benefit against Cryptocaryon, ich, but it doesn't control flukes, and may not control Amyloodinium (velvet). Copper is not the boogeyman people make it out to be - that is based on the old ionic copper / citric acid formulations that are rarely sold anymore.

TTM is pretty stressful - keeping the fish in small containers and moving them that often isn't good. A properly set up QT is a much more stable environment...better for new fish, getting them to eat, etc.

Jay

 

[Paul B]

Jay, this week I went to the Riverhead aquarium. I didn't see Joe but they recently emptied their huge coral tank and removed all the fish and corals for "maintenance".

One of the workers told me a coral exuded some toxin so they had to do this. I never heard of that but it sounds like a lot of work for that.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Jay, this week I went to the Riverhead aquarium. I didn't see Joe but they recently emptied their huge coral tank and removed all the fish and corals for "maintenance".

One of the workers told me a coral exuded some toxin so they had to do this. I never heard of that but it sounds like a lot of work for that.

Paul,

Yes - I've seen Joe posting about that on Facebook. I hadn't heard the reason he did the tear-down though. I had just thought it was due to entropy, and he needed to kickstart things. He does like to change things in that tank! He does say that the reboot was due to "detritus and Palythoa" so that would explain both the entropy reason, as well as a simplistic way to describe the "toxin".

He gave a talk about the exhibit reboot to the Brooklyn Aquarium Society. It's on You Tube if you know anyone there to ask if is is sharable (it is set to unlisted, not sure why).

About 95% of Joe's FB posts this time of year are of snowy owls he sees out on LI (grin) so I haven't seen many pics of how the tank looks now.

Jay

 

[Paul B]

OK, snowy Owls. I saw a dead one last week. My boat is behind the aquarium so I go there all the time. That is certainly a huge tank to empty and I have no idea how he removed the dozens or hundreds of corals and anemones or where he put them.

I am glad I never had to do that.

I don't go on FB so I wouldn't hear anything about that.

 

[brandon429]

I’m trying to count back from page one the number of cycle-assisted reefers here who were helped to close out their cycle, warned of disease prep risks, chose not to listen, and are now trying to add powders and liquid to their display tank still in avoidance of qt.

at any moment, listen to Jay for the win


2022 is the year we prioritize disease control as the #1 aspect of reef tank cycling, over ammonia and certainly over nitrite. Those two are handled by the bottle bac, effectively removing any thought process behind the actual cycle (they can’t be messed up)


all efforts for fish preservation involve quarantine and fallow prep display goals, or this hobby will be wasting fish by the bucketload as we currently still do.

 

[Cool tangs]

I use to not worry about QT until I got burnt not doing it. Losing nilly $1000 in fish is not fun and it only takes one.

Ich can come back stronger over time and overwhelm your fish. Velvet will kill your fish within 48 hours and your fish will swim at the surface suffocating. Its horrible to watch. LFS can use low salinity to suppress disease thinking you've got a clean fish.

I personally would highly recommend QT if your going to keep tangs or butterfly fish and especially if you plan on heavy stocking. Feeding your fish well and having fat healthy fish in my experience will not keep them alive once the disease is in. And if the first wave doesn't kill them the second most likely will. At the end of the day it's upto the fellow reefer, but I now believe it's more cruel to not QT. My fish that survived have never been happier and seem to swim around more then before (and less sporadic)since QTing them and being parasite free.

QT doesn't have to be stressful or expensive depending on the size of the fish you can get a smaller tank(don't worry about the tang police). Air pump and stone and a cheap light. I personally use copper sulfate and seeded rock. I slowly work upto 0.20 and it holds around .18 - .22 and haven't lost a fish yet. They all seem to eat during the 35 days as well. So far so good. I also now QT corals in a fishless system after dipping. No more risks. The money and hassle you save long term from QTing and being patient will pay off long term and will most likely reduce the number of hobbiest that quit due to failure. I almost did but after a tear down and QT I'm willing to give it another shot now.

This is just my 2 cents from my experience and believe me I was very against QTing and never bothered until the dreaded day.

QT from day one make it a habit, it's easier then you think. Hanna copper checker will make your QT even easier. If not then please support the LFS that care and make the efforts to sell you the healthiest pet possible. You might pay a bit more, but believe me it's worth it and the fish is less stressed as it's going straight into QT on arrival at the LFS giving even better survival rates and being slightly less cruel after being taken from the ocean.

Happy reefing as always

(Edit) Oh your fish will also look way more vibrant once there parasite free.