Quarantine Tanks? Yes or No?

[uscmizzy]

I am about to start a 55 gallon tank and have heard a couple people talk about quarantine tanks and was wondering what people thought? Good or bad idea? I have a 10 gallon I used a while back that I could turn into one if needed but I am not sure what all needs to be in a QT tank and what you don't want? How long do you keep.them in a QT? If you don't use a QT what methods do you use to introduce fish into the tank?

 

[aduvall]

Most everyone here is going to tell you that you need a qt.

 

[honu808]

QT's are very important to the health of all your fish and corals if you go reef tank. Usually qt's are bare bottoms and only have a hob filter, heater and of course lighting. Its bare bottom with no sand and no live rock incase you have to medicate sick fish. You never want to put meds in a display tank. fish are qt'd for a minimum of 3 weeks to check for illness or parasites. Once you have to empty a large tank of most water and live rock and corals if you have any just to get 1 fish out you will see why its so important.

 

[seecrabrun]

Definitely always quarantine your fish before putting them in your display tank. It'll save a lot of heartache down the road.

You don't have to leave it running all the time. You can, but you don't have to. If you know you'll be getting something new, and only that, you can set it up, run it, then break it down and wait until the next time you add.

If you are just starting and going to be stocking your tank you leave it up and running and QT each new fish until you are done bringing new ones in, then break it down.

 

[beth]

For worry-free acquisition and acclimation of new fish to the display it is essential to ensure that the fish be quarantined first. Once any fish goes into the display tank, it should be parasite free, disease free and healthy. Otherwise, you risk contaminanting your display (and other fish) with what you new sick fish has.

 

[seecrabrun]

A common method of bringing a new fish into the home is to do the tank transfer method to treat for possible ich, and then finish out the quarantine time in a dedicated tank. You can dose prazipro while you do the tank transfer method. There are lots of articles on this subject and I find it makes a lot of sense!

There are many other methods though and some may make more sense to you than others. But it is really important to make sure your critters are parasite and disease free before putting them in your main tank.

 

[snakeblitz33]

The morally and ethically right thing to do is to quarantine all new incoming fish. The practical, cheap and easy way is to not and wish for the best. I have only had a very few fish in my care over the years that have died from something preventable like ich. I do not quarantine fish off in my home before adding to the display tank, however I purchase them at my live fish store and have them quarantined for a period of time (for a small fee my LFS does this) and it saves me the trouble of having to maintain a quarantine system. My LFS treats the quarantine tanks with Herbtanna, I believe, and he has very little problems with preventable diseases.

I'm not saying don't quarantine - I'm saying that you could look into other options.

I have also flown by the seat of my pants, made impulse purchases, taken them home and never ever had any problems with at least 97% of the fish that I have purchased.

 

[flower]

Like snake, sometimes I had the fish store quarantine my critters, I also used my own quarantine. I can't imagine anyone saying it a "bad" idea.

To not use a quarantine is either lazy or reckless. In the beginning I didn't quarantine, and I ended up with ick in my 90g display. The fish were too large to put them all into a QT, so I didn't buy new any new fish for nearly two years, and fought to keep what I already had alive...all of my grief could have been prevented if only I had used the quarantine tank as I should have.