Question about quarantine

  • Get the NEW AquariaCentral iOS app --> http://itunes.apple.com/app/id1227181058 // Android version will be out soon!

mcsassy

professional fool
Jan 28, 2008
972
0
0
Don't fish stores quarantine the fish themselves before they sell them? The stores I go to have medicine running through their tanks...or so they say. So my question is if they are medicated at the store and all that...why do they need to be quarantined at our homes as well?
 

justahannah

Fascinated newb
Jul 29, 2008
649
0
16
Tacoma, WA
www.myspace.com
Real Name
Hannah
Depends on the store...I work for PetS****, and we don't quarantine or medicate fish (other than with aquarium salt in the whole system) unless they visibly show signs of sickness...the volume we sell is much more than we have quarantine room for. They come in from a distributor somewhere, we temp acclimate the shipping bags for a bit (although we drip the more ph sensitive fish like neons) and then dump them in the show/sales tanks. Even if the water was medicated...no medication prevents against all diseases and constant exposure to medication creates more resistant bacteria/viruses, making treatment when there is a real issue much more difficult. As well, if the sales person can't tell you how long the fish has been around, you have just as much a chance getting a healthy fish that's been in the tank for months waiting for a home or one fresh off the truck potentially carrying something from the distributor, or the fish that's been around can catch something from the new fish... Again, depends on the store, but speaking as a chain employee (not a representative of the store), there are too many variables and I always quarantine my fish. They seem healthy enough, and I talk to a lot of repeat customers that never do quarantine and claim to have no issues...but there's others that come back looking for a cure for ich or what have ya a week after buying their fish. I don't like to push my luck.
 
Last edited:

skene

AC Members
Mar 8, 2008
69
0
0
Fish carry diseases. Medicating a fish at the pet store is not quarantining them. Something like that usually breaks down their immune systems and stresses them so they tend to become more prone to becoming sick.
You want to prevent diseases going into your display tank. This is why fish are put into quarantine.
Wouldn't the world be a better place if all the sick people stayed at home instead of out in public where disease is more likely to spread?
If a sick person coughed on you would you jerk away or say give me what you got? Now think about not being able to avoid a sick person.

Same concept.
 

Jesshika

AC Members
Nov 10, 2007
287
0
0
36
Los Angeles, California
www.myspace.com
Yes, some fish stores will have copper or something like that in their tanks to keep the fish looking healthy and alive until they are bought, but then when you transport the fish and release it into your tank then the stress from the move can make the fish get sick since the immunity is lower. So it sucks because the store got the money from you already, they only care about keeping the fish alive long enough to sell it. As I've experienced, bringing home many what seemed like healthy fish but then a day later had ich. bleh
 

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
Staff member
Nov 8, 2006
18,481
6
89
Staffordshire, UK
seethroughmylens.co.uk
Real Name
Blinky
Makes no odds to me what is done with the fish at the store...fact is, your only going on their word that they have medicated and QT'ed the fish. I feel its in our own best interests to QT ourselves, to be sure...
 

mcsassy

professional fool
Jan 28, 2008
972
0
0
Makes no odds to me what is done with the fish at the store...fact is, your only going on their word that they have medicated and QT'ed the fish. I feel its in our own best interests to QT ourselves, to be sure...
Ok well say it's a trusted LFS and you know for sure that they quarantined the fish you got for x amount of days. Does it need to be re-quarantined at home?

I have gotten fish straight from the shipping bags from my LFS before and yes they do tend to "freak out" more than the ones I have gotten from their cubicles.
 

skene

AC Members
Mar 8, 2008
69
0
0
Unless you are the one that purchases the fish direct from wherever the fish originally came from. Know that you had quarantined the fish for X amount of time before putting them out to sell. Put medication in the tanks themselves with the proper amounts to not stress out a fish completely, I would not trust them.
 

mcsassy

professional fool
Jan 28, 2008
972
0
0
Ok well if a fish gets sick and then recovers from it, shouldn't it be immune to that sickness in the future? How come there could be recurring instances of ich for the same fish?
 

Reefscape

I shoot people with a Canon
Staff member
Nov 8, 2006
18,481
6
89
Staffordshire, UK
seethroughmylens.co.uk
Real Name
Blinky
Ok well say it's a trusted LFS and you know for sure that they quarantined the fish you got for x amount of days. Does it need to be re-quarantined at home?

I have gotten fish straight from the shipping bags from my LFS before and yes they do tend to "freak out" more than the ones I have gotten from their cubicles.
Yes, i would still always quarantine..Its all about knowing the environment. You dont know their procedures or enviroment as you do your own. QT all the way...


Ok well if a fish gets sick and then recovers from it, shouldn't it be immune to that sickness in the future? How come there could be recurring instances of ich for the same fish?
Do you get immune when you get a cold or virus? Nope, afraid its not that easy, fish are the same...There are recurring instances because the Ich parasite can live dormant in fish, and only become apparent when under stress or is ill...
 

BucJason

I drink like a fish
Dec 30, 2006
408
0
0
46
Tampa , FL.
I don't you they HAVE to be quarantined...it's just a precaution most hobbyists like to take, because these fish aren't cheap!
 
zoomed.com
hikariusa.com
aqaimports.com
Store