As someone who does QT and treats all his incoming fish, I can tell you it is not that hard to do. Nor is it that expensive, as my example and the others have shown. I do hyposalinity, and maybe prazipro on occasion, but I do treat all my fish. You can argue to add $45 for a refractometer to the initial cost to set-up, but it's something you need anyway. And once you get started, cost is negligible and the learning curve is not steep. And I don't trust employees at storefronts to do things roperly. I'm sure we all have horror stories about LFS's.
I can understand things from your perspective, though, railcar, where you are home only for 2 days every 2 weeks, and there is no one willing to take the responsibility in your absence. In your case, I agree you'd probably have to look for an LFS or on-line vendor that guarantees a proper QT and treatment when needed, and guarantees a disease free fish, for an extra, say 10% of the cost of the fish. Don't know if you'll find any, though
I can understand things from your perspective, though, railcar, where you are home only for 2 days every 2 weeks, and there is no one willing to take the responsibility in your absence. In your case, I agree you'd probably have to look for an LFS or on-line vendor that guarantees a proper QT and treatment when needed, and guarantees a disease free fish, for an extra, say 10% of the cost of the fish. Don't know if you'll find any, though