QT Bating Average

[Marco S]

I have kept track of all my purchases and loses so far and it seems like I have lost a lot of fish. I just wanted to see if this is normal or is I am doing something wrong. Here is the list of everything I have bought so far and what has died.

2 Black and White Ocellaris Clownfish (In DT alive and healthy)
5 Bangai Cardinals (2 in DT alive and healthy and 3 died in QT because they stopped eating)
3 Coral Beauty (2 died in QT because they would not eat)
1 One Spot Foxface (In DT alive and healthy)
4 PJ Cardinals (2 in DT alive and healthy and 2 died because of my mistake)
1 Purple Tang (In holding tank, done with QT, alive and healthy)
1 Powder Blue Tang (In holding tank, done with QT, alive and healthy)
2 Blue Hippo Tangs (1 in QT alive and healthy, 1 died in QT with bacterial infection and or velvet)
1 Powder Brown Tang (died in QT of bacterial infection)
1 Achilles Tang (In QT alive and healthy)
1 Two Spot Bristletooth Tang (In QT alive and healthy)
1 Harlequin Tusk (In QT alive and healthy)
6 Blue/Green Chromis (1 alive and healthy in QT, 5 died in QT with no symptoms)
1 Splendid Dottyback (In QT alive and healthy)

Note: The multiple Coral Beauty's and Blue Tangs were not purchased at the same time, they were replacements after one died.

I am pretty much done with fish at this time, (granted everything in QT makes it) besides maybe a Lawnmower Blenny and a Green Mandarin in about six months, but just wanted to see if my batting average for QT was on track or if I need to rethink anything in the future.

Thanks in advance for any input and or advice.

 

[DLHDesign]

One thing that I always keep in mind is that we (the average hobby aquarists) are not professional at this. You've QT'ed 30 fish so far, which is barely anything compared to even a single shipment that an LFS might receive. Because most of us do this so infrequently, we shouldn't expect ourselves to be perfect at it. QT-ing fish is hard - it's totally reasonable to expect there to be a learning curve. And since we are the tail end of a chain of events beyond not only our control but also our ability to have visibility into, there's no real way to compare one aquarists results to another's. As an example; you might have a good LFS that you're buying from that happens to have a good wholesale chain behind them, and makes a good effort to only sell healthy fish. As such; your results will be high, since you start with the equivalent of a stacked deck (in this hypothetical scenario). Another aquarist might have a less reputable LFS that will sell anything that isn't dead and makes little-to-no effort to care for their livestock beyond the minimum amount to make the sale. If we also assume they are far from a shipping hub and don't have any good options for ordering online, then that aquarist would have a much harder time getting fish through QT - even if they use the same care and attention that you do.

I wouldn't say that your average is anything to worry about. At least; I'd be happy to have that kind of a list myself. I know mine is much worse, though I'm not going to try to recreate it, sorry. ;-)

 

[Salty Lemon]

I have kept track of all my purchases and loses so far and it seems like I have lost a lot of fish. I just wanted to see if this is normal or is I am doing something wrong. Here is the list of everything I have bought so far and what has died.

2 Black and White Ocellaris Clownfish (In DT alive and healthy)
5 Bangai Cardinals (2 in DT alive and healthy and 3 died in QT because they stopped eating)
3 Coral Beauty (2 died in QT because they would not eat)
1 One Spot Foxface (In DT alive and healthy)
4 PJ Cardinals (2 in DT alive and healthy and 2 died because of my mistake)
1 Purple Tang (In holding tank, done with QT, alive and healthy)
1 Powder Blue Tang (In holding tank, done with QT, alive and healthy)
2 Blue Hippo Tangs (1 in QT alive and healthy, 1 died in QT with bacterial infection and or velvet)
1 Powder Brown Tang (died in QT of bacterial infection)
1 Achilles Tang (In QT alive and healthy)
1 Two Spot Bristletooth Tang (In QT alive and healthy)
1 Harlequin Tusk (In QT alive and healthy)
6 Blue/Green Chromis (1 alive and healthy in QT, 5 died in QT with no symptoms)
1 Splendid Dottyback (In QT alive and healthy)

Note: The multiple Coral Beauty's and Blue Tangs were not purchased at the same time, they were replacements after one died.

I am pretty much done with fish at this time, (granted everything in QT makes it) besides maybe a Lawnmower Blenny and a Green Mandarin in about six months, but just wanted to see if my batting average for QT was on track or if I need to rethink anything in the future.

Thanks in advance for any input and or advice.

Marco, you just said today on another thread that your tank has only been set up for a month. Do you have all these fish in qt waiting to be placed in the tank? These are a lot of fish to be put into the tank at once or even over a couple weeks. I'm not certain the tank could handle the bioload so quickly.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

I think you are doing it right. Maybe you killed a few in qt due to mistakes, but surely some of those losses were inevitable.

I think the primary objective of quarantine is to protect your display population from disease. You have done that. Any one of those fish lost in qt could have potentially wiped out all your fish. That did not happen due to your qt efforts.

Good job!

 

[Marco S]

Marco, you just said today on another thread that your tank has only been set up for a month. Do you have all these fish in qt waiting to be placed in the tank? These are a lot of fish to be put into the tank at once or even over a couple weeks. I'm not certain the tank could handle the bioload so quickly.

I have a couple holding tanks that are not medicated and been up and running for several months that the fish will go in after they are done with QT. I plan on adding the two smallest Tangs and the Chromis and then waiting a couple weeks. Then I will add the three remaining Tangs and wait a couple weeks. Then I will add the Harlequin Tusk. The rest of the fish are already in the DT and I am checking parameters daily and they are fine.