Do you have one set up and what does it look like?

[revhtree]

Happy Monday let's talk about fish disease stuff! HA!! Even though we've had many QT Threads over the years let's start a new fresh topic about it! Also here is the Current QT Protocol from Jay Hemdal.

1. How many of you have a fish quarantine tank currently set up or the equipment to set one up immediately if needed?

2. Will you please share a photo of your fish QT tank and TAG me if you do?

image via @mike89t

 

[i cant think]

I don’t QT fish at all as I feel like I’m most cases it’s just I necessary stress and more likely to kill a fish than a mature reef tank IMHO.
But that’s a strong opinion I hold that could maybe be changed. However until I see a fish that’s healthy, eating, fat and showing 0 signs of disease get a disease I won’t QT and will leave that to my LFS to deal with.

 

[shakacuz]

i don't have the space available for a QT tank, but would love to have one in the future..

 

[dantimdad]

This is a battle subject.

I have been keeping aquariums for decades. Honestly, I lost more fish when I ran a prophylactic tank than without. I honestly have never had a disease outbreak.

I rescue fish that have diseases and cure them with more natural methods (ie, higher temps, lower salinity, garlic, b12, etc.)

Flame all you want, but, I will go with my 32+ years of doing this and keep on doing what I do.

Now, that being said, when I had a store, we did a true quarantine. That is unless someone ordered them and we never even unbagged them. We kept them in a separate system and observed to see if there was disease for 30 days. QT is not medicine. If you use medicine in QT this is prophylactic treatment by definition. If there wasn't then they went into sale tanks.

 

[Sharkbait19]

My first ever fish I did not qt. One month of living fish, 4 dead fish, and 90 days of fallow later I learned from my mistakes.
Even if I bought from a vendor that quarantines, I’d still hold in qt just to be safe.
ATM my fluval 13.5 is serving as a quarantine tank. It just got a coral beauty and longnose hawk out, and is currently housing a clown, fang blenny, and orange spotted blenny. Once done it will be broken down and eventually made into a reef again, but I also have a 10 gallon in storage that I used to use.
Pardon the horrible reflection:

I truly believe that all it takes is an outbreak to teach anyone how important it is. I’m fortunate enough to have learned that early on and not after I have a large system.

 

[Nurfed]

I just lost my entire tank to brook….needless to say I immediately went out and bought a cheap 10 gallon tank and used some spare parts and one live rock to start up a quarantine tank. Cortez angel was fat and healthy when I got it, a week later it was dead and the rest of my fish were already showing symptoms.

 

[Mschmidt]

True answer is just pulled my fish out of quarantine yesterday. It's 2 10 gallon tanks, 1 hob filter and a small sponge filter in the other; hides in both. I'm really glad I have 2 as well; they are next to each other and I had a fish hop out of 1 into the other; he snuck through the gap with the lid.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I just lost my entire tank to brook….needless to say I immediately went out and bought a cheap 10 gallon tank and used some spare parts and one live rock to start up a quarantine tank. Cortez angel was fat and healthy when I got it, a week later it was dead and the rest of my fish were already showing symptoms.

Sorry to hear.
I’d pull the rock from the qt, it absorbs meds (specifically copper).

 

[Sharkbait19]

True answer is just pulled my fish out of quarantine yesterday. It's 2 10 gallon tanks, 1 hob filter and a small sponge filter in the other; hides in both. I'm really glad I have 2 as well; they are next to each other and I had a fish hop out of 1 into the other; he snuck through the gap with the lid.

^ And the winner for most lucky fish goes to…

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Permanent medicated QT setup. 40b run on a Fluval fx4, backup hob, and sponge filter running 24/7.

Non calcerous decorative structure for fish hiding and security.

Below this tank is a 20h, non medicated qt with silica sand for wrasse.

@revhtree

 

[Tankkeepers]

I don’t QT fish at all as I feel like I’m most cases it’s just I necessary stress and more likely to kill a fish than a mature reef tank IMHO.
But that’s a strong opinion I hold that could maybe be changed. However until I see a fish that’s healthy, eating, fat and showing 0 signs of disease get a disease I won’t QT and will leave that to my LFS to deal with.

When you have thousands of dollars in livestock and years of keeping them not qting anything before it entering the tank is just plain dumb

And qt is not just fish its everything before entering the main

Just becouse the fish you are getting is not sick does not mean it's not a carrier of so thing and will wipe the tank

Wrasse for instance are bad about carrying paracites won't show any symptoms themselves alot of the time but will give it to every other fish and kill them

Coral has a whole host of diseases that just by entering the water can kill every type of coral in the same family not to mention the hard to see pests that will eat everything

If I would of qted the stupid green zoas 2 years ago I'd never of had bryopisis

You say you won't intill you see but then you've already killed everything this logic is not logical

That's like saying I'll run after the bomb goes off but untill then I don't belive its real

 

[vlangel]

I voted that I don't quarantine and I can hear the gasps now. At least hear me out.

I have been keeping fish since high school and saltwater since 1997. In those days money and time were in short supply having a young family and all so just having a saltwater tank was all I could manage. I did not quarantine but had excellent success. Working at a reputable lfs taught me much of what to look for in fish to determine health. Then I became a fish tech for their maintenance accounts. None of our accounts had quarantine tanks but I added new fish for our clients when they wanted them.

In the 5 years that I maintained tanks account for the lfs and the 25 years I have had my own tanks, not once did I have an episode of a tank wipe out. That is not to say that my tank or those account tanks never experienced losses. However those losses were generally a one fish loss. Sometimes a new fish just would not eat, sometimes they hid in the rock and just would not come out. Even occasionally they were stressed and came down with ich, but they never infected the other fish whose immune systems could fight off disease. In mature tanks that were established and stable, this was my experience.

Now when I add new fish to my own tank, I do it in multiples. That lessens the bullying by the occupants who have been living in the tank for a while. I also put the new fish in my 20 gallon sump to start out so they can acclimate to my water parameters without dealing with the potential bully's. I can watch them eat and try to get them off to a good start. This has worked very very well for me.

A lot of us old salts do it this way. I suppose there is risks but it has been working for me.

 

[ReefStash]

I considered this at length before starting my current build. I have always quarantined fish and had separate tanks running for this.

I just didn’t feel like messing with it this time around so I opted with a strict regimen of only captive bred fish from a single source.

I went with Biota as my source for fish and I only bring them in direct from Biota so the fish haven’t been exposed to any sort of diseases from fish stores, wild caughts or hobbyists.

 

[Kristopher Conlin]

This is a picture from 2018. Only one I have of my setup. I have all the items for quarantine in a marked 5 gallon bucket and a spare tank ready to go. I will throw some seeded bio balls in a HOB filter when I need to set it up quick.

 

[b breef]

My first ever fish I did not qt. One month of living fish, 4 dead fish, and 90 days of fallow later I learned from my mistakes.
Even if I bought from a vendor that quarantines, I’d still hold in qt just to be safe.
ATM my fluval 13.5 is serving as a quarantine tank. It just got a coral beauty and longnose hawk out, and is currently housing a clown, fang blenny, and orange spotted blenny. Once done it will be broken down and eventually made into a reef again, but I also have a 10 gallon in storage that I used to use.
Pardon the horrible reflection:

I truly believe that all it takes is an outbreak to teach anyone how important it is. I’m fortunate enough to have learned that early on and not after I have a large system.

Is that iron man there with you?

 

[TCoach]

I have a 10g QT tank that can be ready to go at a moments notice. Currently I do a multi week observation in using my 40B frag tank that has black mollies in it. I prefer to only medicate if needed and would use Humblefish's H2O2 HTTM method as my primary QT method. I do run H2O2 in my DT to help clear/prevent any outbreaks. The tank is ~17 years old and I'm the second owner. I can't guarantee it is disease fee.

Currently I have a six-line wrasse, sunrise dottyback, and tomato clown in the 40B for observational QT. (The clown is healing up from being the omega clown at the LFS store). The other residents are a baby convict tang (no tang police, he'll move up when he's ready), the breeding black mollies, a shark nose goby, and a peppermint shrimp.

 

[Nurfed]

It’s just a permanent QT setup now. I leave one damsel in there to feed bacteria. Even if it does soak up copper when I have to treat it isn’t going back in my DT

Sorry to hear.
I’d pull the rock from the qt, it absorbs meds (specifically copper).

 

[Sharkbait19]

It’s just a permanent QT setup now. I leave one damsel in there to feed bacteria. Even if it does soak up copper when I have to treat it isn’t going back in my DT

I figured it wouldn’t go back - it’s more that the absorbing affects function of the copper. Less is in the water to treat fish with, potentially making ich/velvet survive treatment.

Is that iron man there with you?

The Watcher from Marvel’s “What If?”
It was put up as a prank and I never bothered removing it. He serves as a reminder that anything can go wrong at any point lol

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I've never QT'd. I stock my tanks very lightly, and introduce fish slowly and far apart. I keep peaceful fish, and always respect "recommended" tank sizes. Basically, I try to prevent all possible stresses and unhappiness. I've never had any fish disease, or aggression, and no mysterious fish deaths I couldn't explain.

 

[Gtinnel]

Permanent medicated QT setup. 40b run on a Fluval fx4, backup hob, and sponge filter running 24/7.

Non calcerous decorative structure for fish hiding and security.

Below this tank is a 20h, non medicated qt with silica sand for wrasse.

@revhtree

I love the idea of a divider to separate a place for substrate. I just have a small plastic tub in mine that I regularly have to scoop the substrate back into.