For those that don’t QT, why not

[ReefGeezer]

I don't QT myself because I lost more fish in QT than I ever lost in the display tank. I'm a picky buyer though. That helped. It took me forever to stock my 90. I've stocked the tank so far without QT but used some old school techniques to reduce the associated risks... but I knew it was still a risk. I have a few more fish to buy once the supply chain stabilizes. I'll buy QT'd fish from here on out. I have a lot of healthy fish in the tank now, so extra money is certainly worth it. It's like insurance. You pay a little bit, but shift the risk of paying more for a loss during QT to someone else while still greatly reducing the risk of bringing something bad into the population.

 

[Paul B]

I just bought two of these an hour ago.

They are in my tank with 6 or 7 others just like them. I love those guys.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I just bought two of these an hour ago.

They are in my tank with 6 or 7 others just like them. I love those guys.

What is that Paul?

 

[Paul B]

I call them green clown gobies but I know there is a real name for them.
Here is a baby one



You need a lot of them because they are about an inch long and stay in the branches of the coral pretty much until you feed them. Very cool, no maintenance fish and here they are about eight bucks.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I use to not worry about QT until I got burnt not doing it. Losing nilly $1000 in fish is not fun and it only takes one.

Ich can come back stronger over time and overwhelm your fish. Velvet will kill your fish within 48 hours and your fish will swim at the surface suffocating. Its horrible to watch. LFS can use low salinity to suppress disease thinking you've got a clean fish.

I personally would highly recommend QT if your going to keep tangs or butterfly fish and especially if you plan on heavy stocking. Feeding your fish well and having fat healthy fish in my experience will not keep them alive once the disease is in. And if the first wave doesn't kill them the second most likely will. At the end of the day it's upto the fellow reefer, but I now believe it's more cruel to not QT. My fish that survived have never been happier and seem to swim around more then before (and less sporadic)since QTing them and being parasite free.

QT doesn't have to be stressful or expensive depending on the size of the fish you can get a smaller tank(don't worry about the tang police). Air pump and stone and a cheap light. I personally use copper sulfate and seeded rock. I slowly work upto 0.20 and it holds around .18 - .22 and haven't lost a fish yet. They all seem to eat during the 35 days as well. So far so good. I also now QT corals in a fishless system after dipping. No more risks. The money and hassle you save long term from QTing and being patient will pay off long term and will most likely reduce the number of hobbiest that quit due to failure. I almost did but after a tear down and QT I'm willing to give it another shot now.

This is just my 2 cents from my experience and believe me I was very against QTing and never bothered until the dreaded day.

QT from day one make it a habit, it's easier then you think. Hanna copper checker will make your QT even easier. If not then please support the LFS that care and make the efforts to sell you the healthiest pet possible. You might pay a bit more, but believe me it's worth it and the fish is less stressed as it's going straight into QT on arrival at the LFS giving even better survival rates and being slightly less cruel after being taken from the ocean.

Happy reefing as always

(Edit) Oh your fish will also look way more vibrant once there parasite free.

Is there a thread here anywhere on how to quarantine corals and inverts? I'm in the process of setting up my first tank. I am also setting up a 10 gal QT for fish, but have an empty 5 gal I was thinking I could use for a coral/invert QT. I'm hoping to purchase as much coral as I can from local reefers (not really impressed with anything I've seen at LFS), but still treat them as if they could have anything on them (because they could). My main worry with corals is whether they would do ok under a basic light during quarantine? I really REALLY don't have room for 2 QT... but I don't want to be silly either - quarantining fish but then not anything else. Or, is there a recommended method of dipping/inspection for corals that when combined with a full fish quarantine, would PROBABLY be ok (as in skip QT corals?) Thanks in advance! Just trying to learn, and it's a little overwhelming.

 

[polyppal]

I'll tell you the problem with the QT knowledge that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you bought it and dipped it and slapped it in you display tank and now you're selling coral, you want to sell coral!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I just bought two of these an hour ago.

They are in my tank with 6 or 7 others just like them. I love those guys.

Cool little fish!

 

[Paul B]

Cool little fish!

LOL, I just brought 2 more of them home 15 minutes ago. They are in my reef making friends with everybody else.

 

[sp1187]

LOL, I just brought 2 more of them home 15 minutes ago. They are in my reef making friends with everybody else.

still $8?

 

[Silverfish]

I am not a believer in quarantining my fish. A couple of factors that must be considered. First is the initial health of the fish. Always look for the most healthy specimens! Don’t choose a fish bc its the one you always wanted and they only hv one left but it doesn’t look that great and you buy it anyway. The fish you are buying should be vigorous, alert, hv bright colors and clarity( no fin flaying or rough scales). if you’re not sure ask someone who knows. Secondly, only buy from a reputable Local reef store. Not a box chain store. I can almost guarantee you will get a case of ich if you put one of these fish in your tank.
Here is the crux of my case which has probably been written here many times. Ich is in your fish already. If your fish become stressed their immune systems become compromised and ich rises to the surface. The infection can soon spread.
My belief is you start with a healthy fish and put into a stress free established tank and your fish will not get diseased. The fish is already compromised so it doesn’t take much for it to succumb to a malady. This is why it is important to make sure your fish husbandry is spot on and the right group of fish are living together. A bullied fish is not a happy fish, and fitting in is already hard enough.
So, having said this, I don’t believe putting a fish into a sterile tank with a pice of PVC and add chemicals will be healthy for the fish.
This is my humble opinion on the matter. Bottom line is read about it and you do you!
Happy Reefing!

 

[MnFish1]

What I find interesting about the site in general - and this question specifically. (both corals and fish). Why are people repeatedly buying fish and coral (not you @PaulB) - in general - I have the feeling that a lot of the people not QT'ing have losses not reported.

 

[MnFish1]

Cool little fish!

Of course there was not an answer to the OP question -

For those that don’t QT, why not​

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Of course there was not an answer to the OP question -

For those that don’t QT, why not​

Yeah. I didn't answer that bc I DO quarantine. I can tell you why I think it's essential and not QTing will most likely end in tears.

 

[sfin52]

Yeah. I didn't answer that bc I DO quarantine. I can tell you why I think it's essential and not QTing will most likely end in tears.

Do you qt everything?

 

[Paul B]

still $8?

Yes.



Today I decided to go to my favorite LFS just because I could. I did good even though I have way to much in my tank. He has 2 nice and small Copperbands but I resisted because I have a large filefish and I want to catch it to give away.

I did get this aprox 10" rock covered in blue mushrooms and a big leather coral plus a clown gobi and a green clown gobi all for $80.00.

I have 3 of these Ladies and they are always pregnant.

Why are people repeatedly buying fish and coral (not you @PaulB) - in general - I have the feeling that a lot of the people not QT'ing have losses not reported.

I am sure we all lose fish. I lose fish and I normally post about them. 2 weeks ago I lost two small fish. I removed all the rocks from my reef to eliminate an invasive sponge. I had probably a hundred pounds of rocks in a vat and inadvertantly 2 fish were still in the rock. That rock was outside in the cold and dark to kill the sponge. Those fish had no sense of humor and died.

I also lost a bunch of corals that got covered in my encrusting, invasive sponge. I am now replacing some of them.

I also lost one of these ruby reds because like many of them, they get egg bound and die. I "never" lose any fish from a communicable disease.
2 months ago I gave to a LFS a large Koran Angel which I posted about. The LFS sold him for $69.00

This guy.



He was big so I replaced him with about 8 very small fish. (which I also posted)
I now have (I think) almost 40 fish. As you know, those small fish as I prefer only live about 6 years. If I get them full grown they may only live 3 or 4 years then they disappear. That is a normal and natural way to lose fish.

If we lose anything to a disease, that is not normal and not preferred and it is always our fault.

I have 6 of these guys. But they stay small.

 

[Paul B]

Of course there was not an answer to the OP question -

For those that don’t QT, why not​

I think I answered it. I feel it severely shortens the life span of the fish and I posted and entire thread about that.

 

[Troylee]

Because it’s stressful for me and the fish lol.. a bigger head ache than anything..

 

[MnFish1]

I think I answered it. I feel it severely shortens the life span of the fish and I posted and entire thread about that.

I was asking Sfin... Because I already know your rationale. It's also the rationale of 50-60 percent of the people on R2R. So it's hard to argue. Unless people are underreporting their losses (which is why I specifically said not you @Paul B ). There has to be a reason that multiple people have success with QT - and others fail without QT - and vice versa. EDIT - I meant - 50-60 percent do not QT.

 

[happyhourhero]

I don’t because I am lazy and back in the day when I did, I lost far more fish than getting them right into the reef. Understand that my time is coming but I am not willing to QT snails or corals and all that so I just do what I do and hope for the best. I also want to be Paul.

 

[Smite]

I've both QT'd and not QT'd. Both methods I've lost fish. I wasn't going to set up multiple QT systems for fish and coral/cuc. That left me asking why bring these guys inches from death? Eventually QT turned into observation which is now picking a healthy fish that's not flashing, FW dip to check for flukes and if clean plopped in an acclimation box in the DT. I feel the acclimation box has brought me more success than anything. QT'd or not.

I still have losses but usually in the form of disappearances. They'll make it through the time in acclimation and eat, so I'm left to assume an aggression issue or spooked and injured itself once released. It is similar to number of losses I had introducing a QT'd fish to a QT'd tank. Occasionally I'll see a spot pop up on a tang since any fish resets the pecking order for me. The stress allows it to pop up, but subsides in a few days. I feed very heavy and quality foods. TDO on an auto feeder 2x a day , Cool Mysis flakes once a day and Rod's Reef multiple times a day. If I see a spot, I'll soak Rods in brightwell fish amino or some selcon just to bump the immune system. If I see stringy poop I'll work in metroplex/focus to frozen. If something is real picky I'll feed live worms from the LFS. I've had great success for the last few years doing this. I'm buying my fish from the same LFS I always have but much more choosy and really take my time watching them and all other fish in the system for anything very off.

To each their own in my opinion but I've found good success doing what I'm doing, it makes sense to me, so I'll continue on with it.