Do you quarantine

[vanquish]

i do not qt either. I have a 20g tank, and to set up a qt on my budget would be crazy. That said, if i had a lot of money, and a massive 100g system i would qt for sure! I have less to risk when i add new fish, but ppl who invest 10s of thoustands or 100s of thousands have a ton to risk... i wouldnt take any chances

 

[teen]

when i wrote i cant afford it, i was basically saying id rather spend the money else where.
i dont need to spend another $30 on a qt now that i plan on adding one more fish to my tank. it doesnt make sense.
a qt, imo, is only neede in larger tanks where you have several larger more expensive fish. ie: you dont want to add a $30 tang to a well established 200gal tank, have it get ick and bring down 5 other fish that were all $30-$100 each.
in my case, i have a 30 gallon tank. a sixline wrasse and GSM clown are the current occupants, a goby of some type will be the next and final addition(besides corals). theres no need for me to go set up a QT now for a $10 fish.
the reason i didnt set one up in the beginning is becasue the six line and gsm were introduced at the same time when the tank was about a month old, they were the first things in the tank (besides snails) so i wasnt worried about ick. my DT was basically my QT when i first started my current tank.

 

[catawaba]

I beg to differ. What about the cost of the live rock, the sand, the corals, and the happiness/health of the existing fish?

 

[renogaw]

it is sad that you care so little for your animals that you would be willing to take the chance of getting them sick. the monetary loss is something you have control over, but those fish you brought into your house have no control over what happens to them. your attitude towards the living animals appalls me.

 

[catawaba]

Originally Posted by renogaw
it is sad that you care so little for your animals that you would be willing to take the chance of getting them sick. the monetary loss is something you have control over, but those fish you brought into your house have no control over what happens to them. your attitude towards the living animals appalls me.
Amen.
All we can do is try to educate, but we cannot make others truly care.
Good thread!

 

[yosemite sam]

Originally Posted by saltn00b
inverts do not need QT. i dont know about clams, i would venture to say not.

I would disagree with this, at least for corals. I am in the process of setting up a coral QT tank, and I know many others who have done the same thing. Corals, both wild and aquacultured, can bring all sorts of nasty things into our tanks, and quick dips do not generally get rid of them. I personally have gotten flatworms (various kinds, from the annoying red planaria to more dangerous acro eating fws), acro eating red bugs, hitchhiking coral-eating crabs, and coral-killing, burrowing sponges just to name a few. The burrowing sponge killed off several large colonies I had before I knew what was happeneing. Most of these have come in from frags I've bought from other people. Fish QT is a must, but corals should be QT'd, too. Obviously, it's a big expense to set up a coral QT tank, but it's worth it if you've invested a lot of money on a display tank.

 

[teen]

who said i dont care for my fish?
if thats what you got out of what i just said, i feel sorry for everyone you come in contact with.

 

[saltn00b]

even though inverts are corals, i guess i was unclear but by inverts i meant, the non-cessile , or mobile ones, like worms, crabs, snails, shrimp etc. i was replying to ninjamini's post where he made asked do inverts need QT? and do corals need QT? seperating the two.
anyway, my fault, i agree that at the very least SPS corals should be QTd, if not all, but i am personally guilty of not QTing my corals

 

[reefkprz]

I admit, haveing a LFS actually quaranteen is rare but these guys will for me. I spend thousands of dollars there not just on marine stuff but supplies for all of my 50 or so other pets too. they treat me right, I sell them corals, I go hang out with the owners, heck I helped the owner remodel his kitchen. this is a rare situation. they held reptiles for me for a month and a half untill christmas, its the kind of service you just cant pay for. they will order me anything legal (for animals), even if they dont stock it. And I always get 20% off everything. (kinda helps being friends with the boss manager and most of the workers). the other stores I sell my exotics to give me discounts too but I wouldnt buy their marine stuff.

 

[catawaba]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
I admit, haveing a LFS actually quaranteen is rare but these guys will for me. I spend thousands of dollars there not just on marine stuff but supplies for all of my 50 or so other pets too. they treat me right, I sell them corals, I go hang out with the owners, heck I helped the owner remodel his kitchen. this is a rare situation. they held reptiles for me for a month and a half untill christmas, its the kind of service you just cant pay for. they will order me anything legal (for animals), even if they dont stock it. And I always get 20% off everything. (kinda helps being friends with the boss manager and most of the workers). the other stores I sell my exotics to give me discounts too but I wouldnt buy their marine stuff.

 

[30-xtra high]

you're missing the point, not just for you're fishes sake, do you realize that if you attempted to medicate your tank for ick your live rock and inverts would die?, and then after they die, and your fish die, you'll have to have an empty tank with smelly dead liverock for a month and a half until you could put in another fish, and recycle your tank due to the ridiculous amount of die off.

 

[renogaw]

in teen's case, where he's never going to add another fish, he basically quarantined the fish in his DT by adding them together. but for those that say put in the fish and let nature take its course and survival of the fittest, that's what appalls me.
teen i think my post was just an unlucky submit reply after someone else had--i should have quoted the "survival of the fittest" post and didn't mean to offend you.

 

[travis89]

Originally Posted by Catawaba
As far as you know......

I'm positive, I was able to see their setup when they changed stores and their quarantine system is completely searate from the display system. They don't sell their livestock unless they are positive they are healthy and eating, I have yet to lose something that wasn't from my own stupidity. I pay a little more for my livestock to get quality stuff. I happen to have a trustworthy LFS by me.

 

[1journeyman]

I've been thinking some more about this and here is what I've got.
Reason not to QT:
*No room
*money
*Don't want to
None of these, imho, are good reasons. Is there a good reason not to QT I'm missing? As has been pointed out, you can set up a QT tank for $50 or so.
Just take a look at the boards on any given evening. You'll find multiple posts on sick/dying/not eating/too agressive so how do I catch it/etc. fish. a QT, in addition to making sure your fish are healthy, also makes sure that your fish is adapting to captivity and is going to eat.
Folks, as a responsible aquarist there is no excuse not to do the right thing and QT arrivals.
The only possible exception would be if your pet store does this already. I highly doubt 99% of the stores who say they do actually do. In order to properly QT a fish it needs a self contained tank with seperate gear. Also, it cannot have any fish introduced to the tank or the QT must begin again. If a fish in the QT tank shows signs of illness it must be retreated until healthy and then the QT must begin again.
Think of the time, room and money a store would need to do this....

 

[catawaba]

Originally Posted by Travis89
I'm positive, I was able to see their setup when they changed stores and their quarantine system is completely searate from the display system. They don't sell their livestock unless they are positive they are healthy and eating, I have yet to lose something that wasn't from my own stupidity. I pay a little more for my livestock to get quality stuff. I happen to have a trustworthy LFS by me.

You are very fortunate!

 

[1fast300z]

Quick question, I have QT before and know how but I am stumped on this. Do you treat them in Hypo no matter what? Or wait to see if they appear to have an ich outbreak ?

 

[1journeyman]

No, I don't treat unless they show signs.

 

[fbm]

What about the LFS's that put all there fish in copper tanks? There is one here that has a fish system with copper in it and a invert system with no copper in it. If a fish comes from copper treated water would you still quarinteen them?
I admit I got lucky and didn't get any fish with ich, but now that my tank is established I will be real careful on what I am willing to put in there.

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by Travis89
I'm positive, I was able to see their setup when they changed stores and their quarantine system is completely searate from the display system. They don't sell their livestock unless they are positive they are healthy and eating, I have yet to lose something that wasn't from my own stupidity. I pay a little more for my livestock to get quality stuff. I happen to have a trustworthy LFS by me.

i cannot see a LFS quarantining a fish for 3-4 weeks. they would have to have hundreds of QT tanks if they sell any fish during the month. Each with it's own filter, each with its own water, water changes, each totally seperate. No way could a LFS make money this way.
no way. I'd never believe it.