Quarantine: QT, or not QT

[MTShell]

Heyo reefers,

While cycling my first reef, I have been researching and it seems like people are about 50/50 on whether to qt fish or not.

While I do want the best for my future fish, I wanted to ask for your opinion on this here:

The reasons I am doubting quarantining fish: moving fish in and out of qt is stressful which further weakens imune system, no room for a large qt tank if I want to add 4 or more fish at once to avoid agression.

The other aspect I hear people mention, a UV is an effective preventative method for some people against ich and some velvet, which I already happen to have (the UV).

But at the same time, I am scared of the horror stories of people losing all of their aqaurium fish to pest.

Then also some mention main tank treatements like hydrogen peroxide work better for them.

So, talk me in or out of having a qt tank.

Thanks

 

[Paul B]

You are correct about opinions being about 50/50. There are many quarantine threads and all of them just become arguements. Just find someone with an old healthy tank that you like, and follow them, but read both sides.

There is a lot to read.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Heyo reefers,

While cycling my first reef, I have been researching and it seems like people are about 50/50 on whether to qt fish or not.

While I do want the best for my future fish, I wanted to ask for your opinion on this here:

The reasons I am doubting quarantining fish: moving fish in and out of qt is stressful which further weakens imune system, no room for a large qt tank if I want to add 4 or more fish at once to avoid agression.

The other aspect I hear people mention, a UV is an effective preventative method for some people against ich and some velvet, which I already happen to have (the UV).

But at the same time, I am scared of the horror stories of people losing all of their aqaurium fish to pest.

Then also some mention main tank treatements like hydrogen peroxide work better for them.

So, talk me in or out of having a qt tank.

Thanks

Quarantine is also about protecting your existing fish. Moving a non-quarantined fish that is carrying a disease into your display with hundreds of dollars of valuable fish is a disaster.

I'm a retired public aquarium curator, and myself and our team of Fish Medics have developed a quarantine protocol that can be applied by all home aquarists. We recently updated the process to try and shorten the time frame, as people seem to be in such a hurry now days (grin):

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/

Hydrogen peroxide has limited benefit in treating fish diseases, it is popular only because anyone can buy it cheaply at their local pharmacy.

UV sterilizers can limit disease transfer in large systems, where multiple tanks are linked together, but it is not very effective at eliminating disease in a single tank due to the dwell time issue. It also does not control diseases that do not need to leave the fish in order to multiply. finally, hobbyist sized units are not strong enough to kill marine ich tomites.

There are options to quarantining fish yourself; you can buy tank raised fish direct from the breeder. In the US, there are dealers that will pre-quarantine fish for you.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I regard quarantine as a method of prevention. Disease is on us , not the fish

 

[christinna77]

Looking at it from a different angle, quarantine doesn't only apply to fish. Many animals go through quarantine, vaccinations or other preventative measures before they're introduced to a new group.

We have a lot of feral rabbits here and when our shelter receives new ones, they go through a quarantine period. They're also vaccinated against RHDV2 which is a highly contagious fatal virus that can wipe out an entire colony. Of course a virus is different from a parasite like velvet, but the main idea is similar: try to avoid introducing a serious disease when precautions are available. Sadly, we can't vaccinate our fish.

I guess I don't understand why we think fish shouldn't be quarantined and carefully observed before being added to the main tank. Why should we expect them to simply "fight it off"? Moving a fish once or twice may cause some stress, but surely that's less harmful than exposing it and every other fish in the tank to a potentially deadly parasite.

I'm sure someone will have a counterargument, such as saying that fish in the wild also get parasites and fight them off. The same is true for rabbits. They can get RHDV2 in the wild and some may survive, depending on the strain, their immune system and other factors. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't take precautions when we have the option.

I see my fish like any other pets. They're family. Just as I'd never introduce my two rabbits to an unvaccinated rabbit, I wouldn't want to introduce new fish without quarantining it first. Hope that helps, OP!