Can I rely on Dr. Reef alone for quarantine?

[coralreefer123]

I ordered from the Affordable Aquaria- so not QT but was in the system with meds for a week -or what the website says, and sadly the chromis group had uronema (which can hide internally) and spread to all the other fish in the order and all were dead within 4 days. Dr Reef had given me a really generous discount to begin with so I didn’t ask for a replacement or email to say the whole order died. Maybe in the future I would..?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

I ordered from the Affordable Aquaria- so not QT but was in the system with meds for a week -or what the website says, and sadly the chromis group had uronema (which can hide internally) and spread to all the other fish in the order and all were dead within 4 days. Dr Reef had given me a really generous discount to begin with so I didn’t ask for a replacement or email to say the whole order died. Maybe in the future I would..?

Send us an email. We will take care of you. Don't worry about the time and discounts. Our moto here is we wanna see all our clients happy and make their money's worth.

 

[DexterKarin]

I have bought twice and trusted their quarantine. Say what you will but all fish went straight in the display and all fine.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve read several glowing reviews of Dr. Reef’s Quarantined Fish. Having read their quarantine practice prior to shipment, it’s clear that I can come nowhere close to what they do to assure that the animals are healthy. I can only afford a very small quarantine tank. What are your opinions on just relying on Dr. Reef’s protocol and foregoing a second quarantine in my little tank?

As I often state, after shipping stress and transport times and temperatures, do your own QT and assume the fish have something, even if its for 14 days Disease is on us, not the fish

 

[buzzfin]

I've ordered 20+ fish from Dr. Reef across a bunch of orders, and I also have one order currently in QT with him now. Only had one DOA and one missing fish out of all my orders, which was immediately credited to my account. Only deaths were a yellow watchman goby and a Valentini Puffer, but they died quite a while after they had been introduced, so that's not on Dr. Reef! No disease with any of the fish I've received from him. They even include an extra fish or two free of charge sometimes, especially for those that don't typically do well with shipment.

The only extra process I did after receiving an order was an additional observation period for a group of chromis (at his recommendation), as the stress of shipping can sometimes bring out euronema.

Order from Dr. Reef - you won't regret it!

 

[sky414]

Dr Reefs has worked for me. The issue is, because they put the fish through so much, they often still die in your tank, right after the warranty period. I would not double quarantine, it seems inhumane.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Dr Reefs has worked for me. The issue is, because they put the fish through so much, they often still die in your tank, right after the warranty period. I would not double quarantine, it seems inhumane.

This is very true.
It would be putting a human in a ICU, do bunch of procedures on him and once he starts to recover put him in an other ICU and start over.

Fish are subjected to very harsh treatments so they should be observed to recover.

Again if fish dies outside the guarantee or within few days etc please reach out to us. You will find us on your side.

 

[exnisstech]

It would be putting a human in a ICU, do bunch of procedures on him and once he starts to recover put him in an other ICU and start over.

Unless they are still sick with something that needs treated. With the reports of flukes coming through I think it would be foolish to not QT to at least observe before adding to the DT. Maybe even a FW dip to see if any drop off. JMO

PS It doesn't have to be a stress causing environment for observation. This is one of my observation tanks.

 

[IceNein]

Why not just quarantine yourself instead of spending extra for someone else to do it?

When you pay someone else to quarantine your fish, you are amortizing failure rates. That is instead of rolling the dice and maybe paying for a fish twice, you are amortizing the cost of the fish that don't make it into the fish that do. So if one out of 8 fish dies, you pay 12.5% more instead of getting unlucky and paying 100% more.

Also there's savings in hardware you will use infrequently.

 

[DeathByMe]

I think it depends on the fish. I spent a good bit on a yellow and purple tang with DrReef a couple years ago, mostly because of the reviews and it sounded like he had a good system. It’s kind of scary spending that kind of money for something that could just die in a week, so I set up a 20 long to let them calm down before putting them with the other fish. They were so little. The purple ended up getting some spots that I was able to treat easily because of it. Now they’re huge and living in the display.

 

[EliMelly]

Dr reef is the best can’t say enough good things.

 

[Reef5]

Good to hear that the fluke issue is being addressed. I ran into flukes when I ordered a year ago, which made me hesitant to order again. I was able to treat them successfully, but it wasn’t fun, and I unfortunately lost a flame angelfish that didn’t arrive in the best condition. Quarantining is tough, so kudos for recognizing the problem and improving protocols.

 

[blazn]

I've ordered multiple fish from Dr. Reef several times and would do so again without any hesitation. He goes 'above & beyond' in making sure that his customers are satisfied. His level of direct customer service is well above an average vendor, much less for one that deals in livestock. The fish I've received from Dr. Reef have not only been disease free, but they've been extremely healthy and never thin. Although I perform my own QT most of the time, all pre-QT fish I order will be with Dr. Reef...I'd go no where else.

 

[Fury808]

We dont try to make a quick sale, If something is hard to qt or doesnt do well, we are the first to tell the customer, its not a good choice, maybe change it or delete it.
We could just send the fish, make money and let it be customers problem if it lives or not, but in our moral conscience we couldnt do that to anyone.

Do you blue gudgeons do well with shipping etc? Are they hardy?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Do you blue gudgeons do well with shipping etc? Are they hardy?

Most all dartfish ship well and we normally add 1 extra just in case.

 

[Jbrew]

I personally havent bought from Dr Reef and hes basically local to me. Its not because i dont trust it I actually want to get something from him i just become too impatient and just grab it at the LFS.
One thing i dont understand really is the pricing. For instance i can get a Blonde Naso tang Medium sized (2.5-3.5 inches) for $199.99. My LFS is $279 for the same fish not quarantined. One the same token his Ornate Leopard Wrasses are $199.99 and the LFS has them ALL the time for $79.99 So sometimes i look and think Ill risk it for that much of a price difference. I dunno just a random observation ive had but ill def grab something in the future. Probably soon as well.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Reason for that is on the leopards, they normally don't make it through qt and we have to start with many to ship 1. Also every one that orders a leopard wrasse gets 2 because they are bad qt and bad shippers.
Tang on the other hand is not the case and we can pass a better price on it to customer.
Prices are drived from calculating basic business risk on each item.
Bad shippers/ bad to do in qt items will retail for more because of the reason stated above.

Secondly I don't even wanna get into cost and retail. Most hobbyist don't even have a slight idea when it comes to that.
Bigger the seller you are bigger the discounts and lower the cost, specially when you start importing your own fish and have divers all around the world.

Equipment is no different. This is why you find cheaper prices on some of our low mortality fish and our Equipment online is cheaper than most retailers.

Just look at this way. If we were not making money at lower prices, whoukd be be around strong as ever, going 8 yrs commercially.

 

[MnFish1]

I've not had any sick fish from Dr Reef. A couple of DOA, a female tank raise mandarin that disappeared day 2 (maybe mantis food), and a damsel that died a day later.

But all that transitioned into the tank have shown no disease evidence, and I personally would not do extra isolating or QT unless there is a very special case..

There are several negative review about Dr. reef and the fish disease on his fish - HOWEVER - I'm not at all Sure that his fish are the issue as compared to the way they were treated when they were put in the tank. . note - that I am very positive on his site, etc. It's good that you have had good results with his fish. I think the best part of his business is that he refunds and is extremely awesome with customer service - I would still quarantine his fish per protocol

 

[MnFish1]

If you read the Dr. Reef guarantee it says not to do another quarantine. That will void the guarantee. It recommends a 14 day observation then placing into display tank.

I haven't seen this - however it seems to me to be an extremely poor part of the warranty - I would not buy fish from anyone with this warranty

 

[MnFish1]

Reason for that is on the leopards, they normally don't make it through qt and we have to start with many to ship 1. Also every one that orders a leopard wrasse gets 2 because they are bad qt and bad shippers.
Tang on the other hand is not the case and we can pass a better price on it to customer.
Prices are drived from calculating basic business risk on each item.
Bad shippers/ bad to do in qt items will retail for more because of the reason stated above.

Then that should be on the warranty. IMHO