I don't QT any longer. I don't consider it living dangerously, nor do I buy that I'm incurring more risk than those who do. I've been in SW for 2+ years (no QT for 18 months) some 15 fish total. Much longer in FW (oddly QT isn't really debated as much in FW).
I buy from reputable suppliers. My thoughts are that stress will damage immune systems and can kill fish without additional disease and parasites. When I had a small 20g QT tank, the fish looked pale and stressed (either no motion or too much) and never had any symptoms of disease. And I wasn't doing prophylactic treatments - just observation. It got to the point that I just moved them to display tank after a week and watched them "unstress" with a coloring up and behaving normally.
To me, this is the healthiest thing I can do to the fish I'm getting in within reason....put them in a large stable healthy system as quickly as possible. Ideally if I had a very large QT system for observation where fish behaved normally I would go back to OQT (versus PQT) but I simply don't have the room. I do a visual check for any symptoms during acclimation and if found will go to hospital tank (or return). I do run large UV continuously because I assume there's more in my tank than I can visually see including pathogens and feel that level of control is good husbandry.
I don't consider myself as "lucky" I haven't had any outbreaks. I also don't consider those who have fish die in QT or have a disease outbreak as "unluckly" or worse "irresponsible". My next fish could bring in ich. Someone's next fish could die during preventative treatment in QT. That's not luck nor is it failing and I would never shame anyone for having those type of issues. That's the hobby. We're all doing the best we can within our means.
I buy from reputable suppliers. My thoughts are that stress will damage immune systems and can kill fish without additional disease and parasites. When I had a small 20g QT tank, the fish looked pale and stressed (either no motion or too much) and never had any symptoms of disease. And I wasn't doing prophylactic treatments - just observation. It got to the point that I just moved them to display tank after a week and watched them "unstress" with a coloring up and behaving normally.
To me, this is the healthiest thing I can do to the fish I'm getting in within reason....put them in a large stable healthy system as quickly as possible. Ideally if I had a very large QT system for observation where fish behaved normally I would go back to OQT (versus PQT) but I simply don't have the room. I do a visual check for any symptoms during acclimation and if found will go to hospital tank (or return). I do run large UV continuously because I assume there's more in my tank than I can visually see including pathogens and feel that level of control is good husbandry.
I don't consider myself as "lucky" I haven't had any outbreaks. I also don't consider those who have fish die in QT or have a disease outbreak as "unluckly" or worse "irresponsible". My next fish could bring in ich. Someone's next fish could die during preventative treatment in QT. That's not luck nor is it failing and I would never shame anyone for having those type of issues. That's the hobby. We're all doing the best we can within our means.
