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!

 

[brandon429]

We can’t verify biosecurity, how people run the tank in addition to the quarantined fish they receive, other than to take people’s word at it. Biosecurity is very tough, very exacting and people are not usually very thorough with it

My evaluation stands among options we have to source pre qt animals. I’m sure errors in prep on the part of the seller occurs, so does unstated biosecurity risks from the buyer.

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Merv49]

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!

I’ve been reefing for five years and have yet to quarantine any of my fish. I currently have a 270 gallon tank wit about 35 fish and have encountered zero problems. No fish disease of any kind. Have lost a couple over the years but none to anything I would consider a disease.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Just fallowed and treated all my fish 6 months ago. Ordered 6 fish from him…4 died either in the bag or over night. Now all of my time and hard work wasted because my tank is now infected with ich all over again. I’ll just have them in a holding tank to make sure they don’t have velvet….I’m not destroying my tank again to get them out.

Sounds like we had similar experiences with him...

Dr reef? Fish came with ich?

I have some captive bred mandarins coming from him.

 

[LPS Bum]

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!

I QT every fish I buy for at least 30 days. Even the pre quarantined ones.

Quarantine does more than prevent disease. It gives new fish time to settle in, start eating and build up reserves without having to compete for food or be subjected to bullying. That’s especially important for mail order fish.

 

[8675309TT]

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!

I QT all fish, but especially those from mail order and/or big box retailers. My LFS has a quarantine process that I mostly trust. I have spent far longer than 90 days trying to fix a tank of sick fish. This hobby is for sure a test of patience.

 

[Marinexx]

I’ve been reefing for five years and have yet to quarantine any of my fish. I currently have a 270 gallon tank wit about 35 fish and have encountered zero problems. No fish disease of any kind. Have lost a couple over the years but none to anything I would consider a disease.

You have been very lucky!

 

[trsmith18]

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!

I do not. you're paying for them to do the work, IMHO too much continued stress to do it all again.

If your gonna QT, save the money and do it yourself

 

[Marinexx]

This is my third endeavor with saltwater aquariums, under-gravel filter, FOLR, LR with fish and softies, and my current effort, which includes dry/live rock mix with fish, softies, LPS and SPS.
My local LFS does not Quarantine and most of the vendors I started buying from online didn’t either.
I ended up with an infected DT and had to treat the fish and fallow the tank. I don’t want to repeat that process again.
I Qt all my new arrivals even from ORA and BIOTA. I am surprised how small the ORA and BIOTA specimens arrive. In fact, I am surprised how many CAPTIVE-bred specimen don’t make it through basic QT procedures.
I test my QT parameters daily and am vigilant in following published quarantine protocols. This is a different time/era in reefing - be careful when adding anything new to your DT and I would recommend QTing all new additions

 

[Costareefer]

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.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Yes when in doubt quarantine even if just for observation!

 

[Mark Gray]

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!

I would not, but I am also one that I do not QT. I don't have time really, I tried it a very long time ago, to me it seems to stress fish and make them weaker. The ocean is full of disease and parisites how do they survive? I believe a lot has to do with diet. I like live foods. But who knows maybe I am wrong. I got out of the hobby about 15 years ago for 2 years got rid 9f 7 tanks started again I have a couple clown fish that are with me 12 years, I have had a few tangs that I rescued and then resold mostly due to aggression, the purple I had would have died at Petco he was covered in Ick but loved black worms and white worms. After he was healthy he would not allow anything new in the tank so it was time to find him a new home. Good luck

 

[54Dutchman]

There is no governing body setting requirements or following up on organizations to follow requirements for QT. This means pre-QT is only what a organization states their QT to be. I have not found any site with guarantees on their QT. Long winded statement to say research each site to get what you want for disease prevention.

 

[Labridaedicted]

I order from some vendors who specialize in QT fish these days because my fish room is limited on space, so it limits the number of QT tanks I need to run. I have a bypass able 55 in the system that I temporarily cut off from the system to observational qt a couple of days when they get in to ensure they eat well and acclimate to my system water but don't medicate unless they show symptoms of anything.

 

[Rkdunn1]

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!

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

 

[albano]

My LFS has a quarantine process that I mostly trust.

Personally, I don’t believe any LFS that says that they do a real QT, if any!
What process does yours say that they do.

 

[ReefEco]

Dr reef? Fish came with ich?

I have some captive bred mandarins coming from him.

Yes. Not ich for me, two DOA, one blind, one not shipped. To his credit, he was very good with communication and offered to replace the fish of course, but I opted for a refund and to get fish elsewhere. Like everything, I'm sure others have had good experiences, but this order was so bad that it really soured by opinion of paying the premium for pre-QT. Paying that premium should really mean something, fish should be VERY healthy. I did get a tang from him previously that was flawless, hence my perception of declining quality - albeit with a very small data set...

 

[brandon429]

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

 

[Tamberav]

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!

I put them in conditioning/observation tanks but do not treat with meds. I leave them there min 6 weeks.

I have seen people say they get flukes or even velvet (once) before. Sometimes mistakes happen or something gets through.

I don't see it as a increase in stress since we are talking about a tank with live rock and all that.. like a normal FOWLR.

 

[brandon429]

So well said, any reefer can make those efforts

 

[Tamberav]

Best QT vender I know of that seems to get consistently positive reviews is Fishotel. The thing is that he sells out quick so you need to be on his website ready to buy during the 'drop' of fish. He does not take requests.