Do you quarantine?

Do you quarantine?

  • Yes, no medicine

  • No, just drop em in.

  • No, but I observe fish prior to putting them in and do my best to maintain a healthy environment

  • Yes, with medicine.


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huckjai

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I'm surprised it's pretty even. QT can be a lot of work, especially TTM. But for me, better to be safe than sorry, and have all the other fish in the tank suffer.
 

MnFish1

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I'm surprised it's pretty even. QT can be a lot of work, especially TTM. But for me, better to be safe than sorry, and have all the other fish in the tank suffer.
Its really interesting that its really about 70 percent that dont use prophylactic medication (another question would be - how many people need medication during observation) - but it implies that somewhere between 50 and 70 percent SHOULD be fine 'dropping the fish into the tank'. Most of these polls are about 60% dont 'QT' 40 percent 'do' - but there is always the issue of with or without medications'
 

huckjai

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Its really interesting that its really about 70 percent that dont use prophylactic medication (another question would be - how many people need medication during observation) - but it implies that somewhere between 50 and 70 percent SHOUDL be fine 'dropping the fish into the tank'. Most of these polls are about 60% dont 'QT' 40 percent 'do' - but there is always the issue of with or without medications'

Looks like we need a few more polls or a stats tracker.
One for how many ppl QT with/without meds and if they had any outbreaks in the main tank.
And one for how many people that don't QT, and have had any outbreaks in the main tank.
 

Backreefing

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I observe them at the shop and drop 'em in the tank. 20+ years later I'm doing pretty well (had something wipe out a tank around '96-97 but not sure what).
Same here . In 99 something wiped out my whole tank , without any spots or marks on the fish at all .
I woke up half the fish dead , checked all water parameters ( perfect ). Had to quickly remove the dead and went to work. Came home and the rest were dead . Checked water ( perfect ). LFS checked water parameters ( perfect ) .
I stuck to coral
for a long time there easyer.
 

bblumberg

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I typically quarantine new fish for 6 weeks. No medicine other than Prazipro in the last week to make sure there are no flukes. So far, so good.
 

Aussiemarine

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I have lost so many fish in the past from not QTing that I feel I have to QT now... It’s definitely more work and I have lost the odd fish in QT but I’d rather lose them in QT then dropthem into my tank infecting everything and killing the lot.

My priority is the fish in my display. I treat every fish like they have the plague because I am looking out for the rest of the fish in my DT.
 

SMB

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All my fish start in a 20 gal tank before going into the display. I don't treat them, just give them a quiet place to settle down and eat. I get a chance to observe them over time and condition the fish to get them ready for hanging out with aggressive eaters in the DT.
I have a good source for fish and have never treated newcomers, just fattened them up. Average conditioning time is about three weeks give or take. Since the QT and DT have identical parameters I can plop the new fish into the display.
It is rare that a new conditioned fish goes into hiding once introduced and most are eating well that day.
 

raylinds

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I just finished cycling my tank and am prepping for stocking fish. I had a reef 20 years ago and did not quarantine and was lucky. After a lot of thought and research I decided to set up a 20g long QT and quarantine for six weeks with no meds except Prazipro like bblumberg described (unless an illness is discovered). My QT just finished cycling and I have three fish on order and I feel good about my decision.
 
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Murica

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Is prazi and copper the primary meds that the quarantiners do? Or are there more?
 

Samina

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I never used a QT before. I guess I just got lucky before. This time, not so much. Well, I now have velvet and possibly ich in the display that I believe possibly came in on frags from a well known vendor. I will not mention any names because I can’t prove it so it wouldn’t be fair. It all started happening within a day of putting those frags in. But, there is a fine line between causation and correlation, so who really knows.
Anyhow, all of my fish died. 10 died in the display before I could even gather everything to set up the QT within 2 days. I was able to get the 5 that were left out of the 15 I originally had into a QT but I guess it was too late for them as well. Now I am on my fallow period.
This is a huge set back and is devastating. I feel completely responsible and sick knowing that I could’ve prevented this had I just used a QT to begin with. Bitter pill to swallow. Safe to say that I have completely learned my lesson and will use a QT for fish and one for inverts/coral 100% of the time here on out. Lesson learned.
 

Aussiemarine

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I never used a QT before. I guess I just got lucky before. This time, not so much. Well, I now have velvet and possibly ich in the display that I believe possibly came in on frags from a well known vendor. I will not mention any names because I can’t prove it so it wouldn’t be fair. It all started happening within a day of putting those frags in. But, there is a fine line between causation and correlation, so who really knows.
Anyhow, all of my fish died. 10 died in the display before I could even gather everything to set up the QT within 2 days. I was able to get the 5 that were left out of the 15 I originally had into a QT but I guess it was too late for them as well. Now I am on my fallow period.
This is a huge set back and is devastating. I feel completely responsible and sick knowing that I could’ve prevented this had I just used a QT to begin with. Bitter pill to swallow. Safe to say that I have completely learned my lesson and will use a QT for fish and one for inverts/coral 100% of the time here on out. Lesson learned.
Thanks for sharing your story - unfortunately it takes a situation like this above for us to realise how important QT is

I have had tanks with ich in them before and never really worried too much about it - had the odd death of things got overwhelming or the fish may have had some other issue but 90% of the fish were happy and healthy and didn’t really display signs

Velvet changed my life - it took down my tank within a few days and I lost everything. Since that day it’s been 100% QT now
 

Jon Fishman

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My tang I dropped in is doing great!


Another question, or two, or three...... would be, for those who DO quarantine, and prophylactic meds, etc. How many have had fish get sick and die? How many have had a tank get wiped out?

I’m sure there are still plenty of cases of that......
I agree that strict Quarantine will mitigate a lot of risk... but I think the success rate is very over-stated
 

ReefBeta

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It's a measured risk for me, also a function of the price of the fish to be real.

When I was keeping common fish that were cheaper, I didn't quarantine. If I lost a fish, may because of disease or maybe aggression or maybe something else, I got some new fish. It was also nice for keeping things fresh.
Now I started getting interested in trying more expensive ones, it make more sense to start quarantine.

Also available space is big factor. My previous space I will have no place to put a quarantine system even for just 10 gallons. Now I moved into a lot bigger place and it's more practical to setup one.
 

Aussiemarine

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My tang I dropped in is doing great!


Another question, or two, or three...... would be, for those who DO quarantine, and prophylactic meds, etc. How many have had fish get sick and die? How many have had a tank get wiped out?

I’m sure there are still plenty of cases of that......
I agree that strict Quarantine will mitigate a lot of risk... but I think the success rate is very over-stated
I have lost two fish this year in QT both foxface’s - one within 24 hours and got a credit the other was in observation after 4 weeks and went into a Powerhead for unknown reasons

In terms of fish lost over the years due to disease in my displays I would say 30+

since bringing in QT I haven’t lost a single fish from my display

Obviously I’m just one example but I think the mortality rate is very low from QT if done right
 

Qasimja

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i never used to QT in the past but i got some inverts that had marine velvet on them because 3 days after adding them all my fish started getting sick then died within 3 days now i just setup a 55G QT in the garage going to qt everything now
 

jasonrusso

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When I first started, I didn't QT. I fed crap food (bad LFS advice) and lost a bunch of fish. I had a velvet outbreak, and lost 60% of my fish. Since then, I have been doing QT. I treat with CP and API GC for 30 days. That being said, is this good for the fish.

Now, I am really considering the @Paul B method of feeding natural foods and letting the fish's natural immune system do it's thing. I'm still trying to figure out how to replenish the current fish's immune system after QT. I'm not sure how to introduce the method into QT'd fish.

I want to know what is the oldest fish people who use copper (poison) have. What is the oldest fish that people who QT have?
 

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