Is quarantine tank a must for new fish??

[gerry45]

hi, my fish guy insists that I have to put new fish in a quarantine tank for a couple of weeks before going in the main tank.
do most of you agree with this?

 

[jmick]

Yes, I QT all new fish for 5 weeks...better safe then sorry!

 

[reefreak29]

ive never qt and never had a problem

 

[mudplayerx]

It is not a must, but consider this scenario:
You bring a fish home and it turns out that it has ich. All the other fish and some inverts are now infected, along with your live sand and live rock. Sure, you can medicate the tank, but every invert is probably going to die from the medication.
The worst part is once you medicate the tank, you can never get the copper out of the live rock, sand, or the silicone sealant.

 

[yimmy]

I don't QT fish...thats because my LFS does. I think you should get one because A) You can observe the fish so incase of illness you don't have to trap it and buy a QT. It will overall help your fishes survival rate. My LFS only QTs fish for 2 weeks and if you look at my record of fish, I've had 6 fish in the last 5months 3 of them died. I have perfect tank water quality. One fish died from old age but 2 died from disease and could have been prevented and realized if I had quarantined them, so yes I would highly reccomend one. You don't NEED one but it will greatly help you down the road.

 

[joker_ca]

yes qt, alot of the time u can get away with it but do u really want to gamble with putting a sick fish in ur tank
also trying to take the fish out is a pain in the ass, u pretty much would break down ur tank just to get that sick fish out....does that sound like something your willing to chance?

 

[travis89]

Yes you should if the place you get your fish from doesn't or you get them online or something. I don't because my LFS quarantines before they sell.