How important is fish quarantine?

[Tinklez]

About to start my first tank, how important is it to quarantine all my fish before I put them in my tank? I’m limited on space, and preferably would like to not have to quarantine everything before I put it in.

Is there a reputable online source full recommend to buy fish from?

 

[mfinn]

IMO adding quarantined fish is very important.
Dr Reef sells fully quarantined fish and is very reputable.

 

[lapin]

Quarantine your fish. There are no short cuts. I found the best way to have disease free fish is to use the tank transfer method. TTM. This way no chemicals will go into your tank. Plus you will not stress out your fish with a copper bath

 

[Tinklez]

That’s good to know. What is the cheapest (and smallest tank) way to do this quarantine? Do I need to keep them in there one at a time for a month?

 

[jonelder68]

Current Quarantine Protocol

2024 Quarantine Procedures Jay Hemdal David Scarborough Protozoans (Cryptocaryon/ich, Amyloodinium/velvet) and Metazoan trematodes/flukes are by far the most common parasites found on newly acquired fish. A carefully managed, proactive quarantine process can effectively eliminate these...

www.reef2reef.com

Read through this ^^^

Or just simplify it and order Pre treated fish from Dr. Reef

Home | Quarantined Fish

About Us WELCOME TO DR. REEF We specialize in quarantined fish. All orders are by request. We may have a few very common and fast selling fish on hand that ...

drreefsquarantinedfish.com

 

[jonelder68]

That’s good to know. What is the cheapest (and smallest tank) way to do this quarantine? Do I need to keep them in there one at a time for a month?

I use a 20L tank for quarantine & observation

 

[christinna77]

You can buy pre-quarantined fish, but even those should go into an observation tank for at least 2 weeks. I don't know any vendors that run copper for the full 30 days, and there's a hypothesis that ich can survive and stay attached to the fish even after 2 weeks of copper and transfer.

 

[Euphyllia97]

I learned the hard way. Marine velvet in my tank and lost 8 of 12 fish. Nothing is going in without a QT now.

That being said, if your fish are well-fed, healthy and in good water parameters. Their slime coat might prevent them from becoming ill from certain diseases. However it’s always a guess when an outbreak might take place. Imo if not a medicated QT, aN observation should always be done :)

 

[Bruttall]

From my build thread. MY experience with Not using a QT and why I was forced into setting one up.

Large Build - Bruttall's 96x24x31 300gallon glass cage

Very nice. My upgrade tank is very similar, but not as big. That large center glass on those old Oceanics is kind of annoying. You do seem to be a bit dim on the edges. Might want to move the outer 2 lights out a bit more. Or you could always throw those 2 smaller Spectra’s back on. Like Ryan...

www.reef2reef.com

List of what I had, most of these fish did not survive.
Hippo Tang
Naso Vlimingii Tang
Naso Literalus Tang
Lt Tang
Goldrim Tang
Sailfin Tang
2 spot Kole Tang (Blue eyed bristle)
Diamond Watchman Goby
Gold head Goby
6 line wrasse
Cleaner wrasse
Possum Wrasse
Royal gramma
Pygmy Cherub Angel
Neon Dottyback
Blue Manderin
Pair of Ocellarus Clown's

Out of all those fish, The Hippo, Naso, Lt, sailfin and Pygmy Cherub Angel survive, I lost all the rest of them.

That is why QT is so important. I hope you will learn from Our Mistakes and not have to go thru this yourself.

 

[The Ugly Phase]

i don't use QT but i am not from America and i think the wholesaler where everyone buys fish from here QT's i have never had a problem + the LFS where i buy from don't run copper in there tanks so it does not disguise parasites they do treat for internal parasites and flukes though and they sell big chunky healthy fish this is the regal i got delivered too me getting even chunkier now as i feed him 5 times a day 6 days a week 1 day a week i give the fishes digestive system a rest and only feed twice

 

[exnisstech]

QT everything or nothing. Personally if I medicated in QT I would do it myself. I'm a little funny and wouldn't trust someone else to do it any more than I would trust a lfs to make my saltwater but that's me. From what I've read even QTed fish ship in low salinty which I'm not a fan of. I do observation only unless i see signs of disease or parasite. I leave fish in observation for at least 45 days. I've been through velvet so I'm aware of the risks.

 

[EuphyllinOHk]

Some quarantine period is worth it, especially when you get closer to the end of your stocking. It can be a real challenge to stop an acute infection as it happens and fish loss is pretty demoralizing. Dr. Reef is the go to around here for "pre-quarantined" fish and Marine Collectors offers a quarantine option similar to Dr. Reef's. These are reputable vendors, but the caveat is that they run 14 day quarantines as opposed to the longer period recommended by the fishmedic team. Whatever you end up doing will have some amount of risk associated with it so it's up to what you are comfortable with. If you can clear the space premium, doing a full quarantine is worth the trouble and not as challenging as it may seem.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

TSM aquatics in New Jersey also does a 30 day quarantine, and they use copper and something else for flukes. Highly recommend.

 

[The Ugly Phase]

QT everything or nothing. Personally if I medicated in QT I would do it myself. I'm a little funny and wouldn't trust someone else to do it any more than I would trust a lfs to make my saltwater but that's me. From what I've read even QTed fish ship in low salinty which I'm not a fan of. I do observation only unless i see signs of disease or parasite. I leave fish in observation for at least 45 days. I've been through velvet so I'm aware of the risks.

see my LFS ship in same salinity as me 1.025 i temp acclimate then plop them str8 in bought 5 fish from them now delivered no shock are anything usally in 5 mins they are out exploring eating within 20 mins

 

[exnisstech]

see my LFS ship in same salinity as me 1.025 i temp acclimate then plop them str8 in bought 5 fish from them now delivered no shock are anything usally in 5 mins they are out exploring eating within 20 mins

I'm lucky and have 3 lfs that keep salinty at 1.025. my velvet outbreak was caused by adding a fish that had been housed in low salinity and low dose copper. I now only buy fish that are in tanks with coral and or inverts.

 

[Freenow54]

About to start my first tank, how important is it to quarantine all my fish before I put them in my tank? I’m limited on space, and preferably would like to not have to quarantine everything before I put it in.

Is there a reputable online source full recommend to buy fish from?

Check with Paul B. He is the Quarantine wizard. I Recently asked him to post an Article

 

[Tangdora]

Starting out me would have said no as well. But everything in my latest build has been QTed and wouldn’t think to add without at this point. In the past prior to QTing I was never able to keep a powder blue or brown for longer than a few weeks. Going on 3 years now with my pair

 

[ReefED!]

About to start my first tank, how important is it to quarantine all my fish before I put them in my tank? I’m limited on space, and preferably would like to not have to quarantine everything before I put it in.

Is there a reputable online source full recommend to buy fish from?

Insanely important right now

I'm not being facetious when I say that fish coming from wholesalers and LFS are utterly riddled with disease.

Ich is so common that you're probably introducing it within the first few fish you buy unless from a strict QT vendor.

It will sit in your tank and be fine for months or years until it finds a patient zero and overwhelms the tank and starts to kill half or more of the population.

Velvet is rarer but will wipe your tank out in weeks.

Uronema and Brook will be very common less common but a risk in certain species.

LFS/wholesalers are doing things like low salinity or sub therapeutic levels of copper which result in fish appearing fine and then bringing these parasites home.

You either QT your fish now, or you QT them later after catastrophic losses, or you exit the hobby due to catastrophic losses.

I think Ich is by far the worst of all of these - because it's ubiquitous in the hobby, and also blows up to be extremely deadly

And all you have to do to prevent this from ever entering your tank is by running a simple 14 day copper protocol followed by some observation before it goes into the tank.

Easily done with a cheap 10g, cheap 10g heater, some cheap copper and well tolerated by almost all fish - including the ones people claim can't tolerate copper (Mandarins - hobby myth)

 

[Freenow54]

Happy for you. I Suck at it . i did what was told managed to kill a watchman Goby . So never again . How can you learn other than failing. I bought all my 5 fish at once VERY CAREFULLY . Luckily the one LFS I use has one owner operator . He actually refused to sell me one just because he just got it. I went back and all survived

 

[The Ugly Phase]

Insanely important right now

I'm not being facetious when I say that fish coming from wholesalers and LFS are utterly riddled with disease.

Ich is so common that you're probably introducing it within the first few fish you buy unless from a strict QT vendor.

It will sit in your tank and be fine for months or years until it finds a patient zero and overwhelms the tank and starts to kill half or more of the population.

Velvet is rarer but will wipe your tank out in weeks.

Uronema and Brook will be very common in certain species.

LFS/wholesalers are doing things like low salinity or sub therapeutic levels of copper which result in fish appearing fine and then bringing these parasites home.

You either QT your fish now, or you QT them later after catastrophic losses, or you exit the hobby due to catastrophic losses.

spot on in America QT is mandatory no exceptions