How important is fish quarantine?

[Freenow54]

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.

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)

I guess you can say I quarantined mine in the main display , and my LFS guy is the only one I will trust. That said from what you say then QT for 7 weeks is not enough ?

 

[ReefED!]

I guess you can say I quarantined mine in the main display , and my LFS guy is the only one I will trust. That said from what you say then QT for 7 weeks is not enough ?

Once you introduce ich into your display it's a nightmare to get rid of it.

You can have ich in your display and not know it until one day when a stress event causes it to blow up. Or you decided to keep a really pretty species that has to be sensitive.

There are plenty of hobbyists that will tell you it's no big deal and you can manage it with UV - and that may last for months to years.

Like me, if you asked me a year ago. Until I learned the hard way.

It's so much easier to just QT in a 10g with some water changes and copper.

 

[Freenow54]

Believe me I have no intention of adding any more fish for that very reason. If I could guarantee no deaths I would do it. As I said I tried and failed miserably. Need more education obviously. Mean while I have found Paul Bs approach useful. I have a new build so maybe try again. I'm not arguing just ticked at my own failure. So tell me and others how you do it since you know how. Don't keep pressing the point its not a popularity vote

 

[ReefED!]

I am a big fan of the Humblefish guides, and the SR QT method which is a very basic method that will do a good job of preventing ich/velvet/brook/flukes

 

[Freenow54]

I am a big fan of the Humblefish guides, and the SR QT method which is a very basic method that will do a good job of preventing ich/velvet/brook/flukes

Amazing I only found this reply by going back to new posts. It did not show up in my notifications. Thanks for that

 

[Freenow54]

So a lot of opinions thrown around but only one reply. What's up? Thank You ReefED!

 

[MikeReefs]

Very important in my opinion to QT fish. I personally have quarantined all my fish. I don’t QT inverts, urchin, or corals. But I do dip corals

 

[Macropharyngodon]

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?

I would use Dr Reef. It takes significant resources to QT otherwise.

 

[Freenow54]

Very important in my opinion to QT fish. I personally have quarantined all my fish. I don’t QT inverts, urchin, or corals. But I do dip corals

So if you don't mind please tell me how you do it from start to finish if your willing

 

[Tinklez]

Wow this has been so incredibly helpful! For some reason my app wasn’t giving me notifications of all the replies until just now.

Okay, so verdict is to quarantine for atleast 2 weeks, maybe 4. And buy from the two online shops y’all mentioned who also QT their fish. To keep my salinity at 1.025 and use copper.

I am completely new to this hobby, y’all mentioned to me”observe the fish for signs of illness”. How do I even know what to look for? I haven’t had a pet fish in over a decade, and never saltwater. Do you think just having a 5 gallon bucket and QTing 2-3 fish at a time with copper will be good?

 

[Largeangels]

IMO extremely important. Not only for disease purposes but to let them get over the stress of their long journey and eat well the food you feed the rest of the fish in the tanks and put some weight back on. I wouldn't want to put a weak and stressed fish directly in with the rest of the fish and have to compete and get used to aquarium food at the same time.

 

[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?

I would use Dr Reef. It takes significant resources to QT otherwise.

Do you think Dr reef is enough? Or I should QT as well?

 

[Macropharyngodon]

Do you think Dr reef is enough? Or I should QT as well?

Hard to know. Some have success, some still have issues.

 

[MikeReefs]

So if you don't mind please tell me how you do it from start to finish if your willing

The real way would be 2-3 rounds of prazi a week apart and slowly raise Copper to the therapeutic level of 2.25 for 30 days. Ich velvet cannot survive these levels after 2 weeks. Fish should also be fed with metro+focus to rid out Uronema and other parasites. Many use Dr reefs, Fish Hotel, TSMAquatics. They all do full QT for 30 days

 

[Freenow54]

The real way would be 2-3 rounds of prazi a week apart and slowly raise Copper to the therapeutic level of 2.25 for 30 days. Ich velvet cannot survive these levels after 2 weeks. Fish should also be fed with metro+focus to rid out Uronema and other parasites. Many use Dr reefs, Fish Hotel, TSMAquatics. They all do full QT for 30 days

Thank you what about structures in the tank filters circulation ect. I put PVC pipes in for hiding spots the tank was bare bottom. The fish ( one watchman Goby ) just refused to eat > I did not add any chemicals

 

[EuphyllinOHk]

Wow this has been so incredibly helpful! For some reason my app wasn’t giving me notifications of all the replies until just now.

Okay, so verdict is to quarantine for atleast 2 weeks, maybe 4. And buy from the two online shops y’all mentioned who also QT their fish. To keep my salinity at 1.025 and use copper.

I am completely new to this hobby, y’all mentioned to me”observe the fish for signs of illness”. How do I even know what to look for? I haven’t had a pet fish in over a decade, and never saltwater. Do you think just having a 5 gallon bucket and QTing 2-3 fish at a time with copper will be good?

Jay Hemdal made a handy fish disease overview that might help. The common illnesses/parasites that people run into are ich, brooklynella, flukes, and velvet (less common than people think but it comes up). If you can look out for the early warning signs, it becomes far easier to treat. A big problem, I feel, is that there is a lot of overlap in how these diseases show up visually in later stages.

A 5 gallon bucket as a QT can work. It would probably be a little better if you could get a larger, clear plastic tub; more volume available and you can look from perspectives other than top-down. Being able to check for symptoms of disease or injury will be tough, while doable, with only a top down view. 5 gallons is a small volume and a bucket has a small footprint so I would limit the population to 1-2 fish, if you can avoid it. You'll have to be able to test for ammonia and be able to change the water maybe more frequently than once a week. You won't be able to put live rock into the [medicated] QT because calciferous rock absorbs medication and, in the case of copper, can become unusable without serious treatment, if you want invertebrates or corals. People do a 5 gallon bucket QT in a pinch so it's not out of the question, but a bit of a challenge.

 

[LinZ]

I didn't see this mentioned but I'm pretty sure the captive-bred fish from Biota are disease free. I opted to get only Biota fish for this reason and because they are more hardy and have only ever known life in a tank. You can also get species that are known to be difficult to feed who have grown up eating pellets (mandarins, for instance). Just throwing that out there!

 

[exnisstech]

I didn't see this mentioned but I'm pretty sure the captive-bred fish from Biota are disease free. I opted to get only Biota fish for this reason and because they are more hardy and have only ever known life in a tank. You can also get species that are known to be difficult to feed who have grown up eating pellets (mandarins, for instance). Just throwing that out there!

There's a good chance of them being disease free if purchased directly from biota, my 3 yellow tangs were fine. If coming from a wholesaler or lfs all bets are off.

PS. If I had gone through the effort of QTing everything currently in the tank with meds I would probably QT just to be safe.

 

[areefer01]

QT everything or nothing.

While I read this as a bit tongue and cheek, you are correct. Although there is a larger discussion if one chooses to go the route of not doing a form of QT that works for them or purchasing from a "true" vendor. Not doing so, in my opinion, requires an understanding of why one chooses to do it and having a system built around it.

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.

I think that is a viable stance. However there are a couple of vendors out there that ship with our natural reef saltwater and follow QT protocols which include a 14 day after observation period. If anything during that 14 day window is found it starts over.

A lot of it also is building up trust both via the vendor and hobbyist.

I've been through velvet so I'm aware of the risks.

If we are being honest and doing this on our own or paying observation is still plays a vital role. I agree. New tank, few fish, the loss if something goes South is not a huge financial loss. On the other hand each day or year that goes by and the display matures the financial hit may be such that a normal hobbyist cannot recover from.

I sort of liken it to a simple question I ask two different ways. Would buy a damsel and place it directly in your display if you had a Potters Wrasse or say a Clarion Angel? Conversely, would you buy the same Clarion Angel and place it directly in your display?

Usually the two answers are no, I wouldn't and no, because I don't buy those types of fish. Which means they missed the point of the question...

OP - since you stated about to start my first tank I would advise investing in it now and learning the process. There are no shortcuts in this hobby. There is always a tax due and it is better to pay it now than after the fact.

In my opinion.

Also depending on the fish size and quantity PetCo has 50% off sales and a 10 or 20 gallon are dirt cheap. If not in the US something will be local I am sure or just read up on TTM and use 5/7 gallon buckets.

TL; DR - learn the process now since you are just starting. Ignore social media that mostly shows the end state...

 

[areefer01]

There's a good chance of them being disease free if purchased directly from biota, my 3 yellow tangs were fine. If coming from a wholesaler or lfs all bets are off.

PS. If I had gone through the effort of QTing everything currently in the tank with meds I would probably QT just to be safe.

Sorry - I do not mean to seem like I'm picking on your posts :) I am not.

Yes, reduced risk when purchasing directly from Biota.
Also yes to QT - but read Biota's guidelines. I personally would not use chemical treatment or medication on captive bred, raised, fish due to their size. I would, and have, placed them in dedicated observation systems. I feel that is a compromise.