Do I quarantine pre-quarantined fish?

[danielankeny]

Hi friends, making rodi water, dry fitting plumbing, rearranging dry rock aquascape before mortaring…exciting times!

Still deciding on what to buy for my first fish but am planning to purchase from one of the online stores that pre-quarantines like biota, Dr Reef or TSM. I have 2 twenty gallon quarantine tanks, one for fish and 1 for inverts.

My question is: do people still quarantine fish from these sites? Or am I just increasing stress to the fish?

Thanks!

 

[Reefer911]

I don’t and I’ve been fine. But it only works until it doesn’t. I know the risks but I buy from reputable quarantine-ers. Again, I’m just telling myself that because I’m lazy. Maybe I’ll start. Or not.

Who are your go to suppliers for pre QT fish? I know of Dr Reef. Who else is out there?

 

[ReeferMadness01]

Dr reef? Fish came with ich?

I have some captive bred mandarins coming from him.

That’s correct

 

[ReeferMadness01]

Sounds like we had similar experiences with him...

Another local here is fighting the same thing. Also they die in shipping, or just won’t eat.

 

[TheReefDiary]

honestly the biggest reason I don't buy fish online is because I can't quarantine my fish. I live in an apartment and my wife won't let me get away with a tank and a quarantine system. I only buy from my lfs because I can observe the fish for a while then get it. also, they run copper and low salinity. I've yet to have any issues this way and it's been 7 months of getting fish from them.

 

[ChadmRoman]

What a great question and I can share my experience this over the past month. I ordered fully QT’d fish from a reputable site. Before receiving the fish I confirmed I could just add them to the DT. So upon recieiving them I acclimated and added to the DT. Needless to say all three fish died within a day, and within the week, I had an outbreak of flukes. I can’t say the outbreak was bc of the new additional QT fish, but I certainly can’t say it wasn’t either.

Now I already QT everything and never had any issues in the DT. Moving forward I will continue to qt, even qt fish, before adding them to gen pop.

 

[ReefEco]

Another local here is fighting the same thing. Also they die in shipping, or just won’t eat.

As with many things in this hobby, luck is a factor with fish too. I don't mean to rag too much on Dr. Reef, he did offer to take care of me as he should have, and I'm sure lots of people have had good experiences, I just REALLY hate killing fish - which is why many times I have opted to pay the premium to supposedly decrease mortality. I just haven't found that my expectations for that premium are met, and the QT'd fish are fat, healthy, and resilient when compared to other shipped fish.

 

[ChadmRoman]

Dr reef? Fish came with ich?

I have some captive bred mandarins coming from him.

He’s very good to work with and guarantees his livestock not like others I have experience with. I do recommend a seperate tank upon arrival for observation and to get eating if it’s possible.

 

[Tamberav]

Who are your go to suppliers for pre QT fish? I know of Dr Reef. Who else is out there?

Full QT that I know of:

Alien Reef Aquatics
Ethical Aquatics (Canada)
FisHotel
High Tide Aquatics
Ocean Devotion
TerraReefs (just corals but I mention them as they do DNA tests on their water for pathogens and QT corals 80 days with no fish)


TSM (I believe the QT process is good but no 2 week observation)

Marine Collectors (I am not familiar with these guys)


and Dr Reef was already mentioned.

 

[ReefEco]

Remember: there's no proof anyone saying Dr. Reef fish had ich is following any basic biosecurity

Click on their name, select find all posts, see if they fallow all entrants before accepting that statement as fact.

You can see how people manage their tank before they bought his fish with some inspection, it's usually evident in thread posts.


Getting ich is usually a shared event, it's not always the vendor they're just an easy pin.

Sometimes vs all the time it will be the vendor, don't forget to factor hundreds of positive testimonies just the same. Doing qt the right way is hard and costly

I think Brandon is largely right that there is a temptation to extrapolate from a single negative instance. I always say that the true nature of a vendor is demonstrated not by when things go right, but when things go wrong. Most vendors try to do the right thing and have policies for at least arrive alive, etc. Dr. Reef is certainly one of those that tried to do the right thing. In my mind I just have higher expectations for paying the premium for pre-QT fish, and honestly think there should be no issues at all - pre-QT fish should be robust, healthy, definitely make it through normal shipping, and be eating already. That, in my mind, is what I'm paying for....

 

[brandon429]

that is a very good fair market demand any seller must reach, that's good for the fish trade to be that discerning. that's the fairest evaluation of the material as humanly possible in fact

 

[MiniCoco]

I would quarantine everything. I started out with nothing in my tank and plan on having only what I intentionally put into my DT to be there. Everyone’s idea of quarantining is different. Simply put, even if a vendor says they qt, that means nothing to someone who has an established tank with a significant investment of time, money and love.

 

[danielankeny]

I don’t think it matters where you purchase from… having good habits will increase your chances for success.

This is my ultimate take home! Buy from a reputable source then maximize chance of success by quarantining and observing in a clean system

 

[ReeferMadness01]

As with many things in this hobby, luck is a factor with fish too. I don't mean to rag too much on Dr. Reef, he did offer to take care of me as he should have, and I'm sure lots of people have had good experiences, I just REALLY hate killing fish - which is why many times I have opted to pay the premium to supposedly decrease mortality. I just haven't found that my expectations for that premium are met, and the QT'd fish are fat, healthy, and resilient when compared to other shipped fish.

The ones he sent me were nothing but skin and bone.

As with many things in this hobby, luck is a factor with fish too. I don't mean to rag too much on Dr. Reef, he did offer to take care of me as he should have, and I'm sure lots of people have had good experiences, I just REALLY hate killing fish - which is why many times I have opted to pay the premium to supposedly decrease mortality. I just haven't found that my expectations for that premium are met, and the QT'd fish are fat, healthy, and resilient when compared to other shipped fish.

I agree. He was very quick to resolve the deaths with credit. But these fish were in very poor health. Extremely thin and boney.

 

[Joe's 220 Reef]

Prequarantined fish and corals are a relatively safe bet if you pick the right vendor. With that stated however you have to very cautious as every vendor is not equal (some are almost failproof and some not so much). With fish specifically most good quarantine vendors will tell you you should still observe prior to putting in you tank. I personally have been trying to buy mainly quarantined fish but still put them in an observation tank first just to be safe. So far no issues have come up but better safe than sorry. Remember it only takes one thing to infect your entire tank.

 

[blazn]

Only quarantined fish are added to my DT, as I 'learned my lesson' years ago when I added non-quarantined fish and lost the entire tank to velvet. Never again! I will quarantine local purchases myself, but I've had very good experiences purchasing quarantined fish from Dr. Reef. I've purchased 10+ fish from him, in 3 separate purchases, over the last 18 months and the fish I've received have been extremely healthy (better than my LFS options!). I add them directly to my DT without any further quarantine and Dr. Reef's fish have never added disease/parasites to my DT.

I would not re-quarantine fish that I've purchased as quarantined, but I'd only purchase quarantined fish from a supplier I trust has quarantined fully/correctly, and Dr. Reef I do trust!

 

[stephydawn]

I don’t quarantine my saltwater or freshwater fish. One store I buy from runs copper in his tanks. When I buy from him, I buy the fish that have been at the store a month or so that have been doing well. Another store I go to is not as clean. I have seen ich in his tanks but I have still bought and not quarantined. The only fish I buy there are fish that are there at least a month and i check in weekly to check them if there’s one I like. My thought process may not be right but if the fish is hardy enough and strong enough to not get infected in the system that long as is thriving I assume it has a good immune system and purchase. It may be luck but I try and pick strong and healthy fish to begin with. I have no time or room for proper quarantine with its water maintenance. I understand the fact I may get issues and I’m willing to take that risk. I will probably not buy fish online , even quarantined, because for me that’s taking more of a risk not being able to watch the fish before I decide to get it since it have no means of quarantining if there is a problem when they come in. I also believe if I can’t quarantine everything , including coral and inverts, than there is no point in just quarantining fish.

 

[NCsalt]

I’ve had more fish die in quarantine than I have had fish sicknesses in my display. I stopped qting because of it. I’ve been reefing 25 years.

I notice this seems to be mentioned a fair amount.

 

[Carlos Fernandez]

Hi friends, making rodi water, dry fitting plumbing, rearranging dry rock aquascape before mortaring…exciting times!

Still deciding on what to buy for my first fish but am planning to purchase from one of the online stores that pre-quarantines like biota, Dr Reef or TSM. I have 2 twenty gallon quarantine tanks, one for fish and 1 for inverts.

My question is: do people still quarantine fish from these sites? Or am I just increasing stress to the fish?

Thanks!

Good morning,
I learned the hard way that you shouldn't place all your trust in a dealer's quarantining process. I do not blame the dealer either, nothing can be 100% in this hobby. I buy both "quarantined" and "conditioned" fish. I now put my pre quarantined fish in an observation tank for no less than 3 weeks before they go in my display. That has worked out well for me up to this point.