I always quarantine, no matter where or from whom I buy. Never want to take a chance of losing someone . . .
Do you actually quarantine your fish?
- Thread starter DAVIDFBT
- Start date
A 410 gallon main aquarium with wall to wall plants and 87 fish, including many species that don't respond well to different medications. I would have to be an idiot, in my opinion, to risk the health of that aquarium by not quarantining for at least a month. And can you imagine the cost to medicate that much water (the filter is another 50 gallons)? I have 2 20 highs and 2 29s that I use for quarantine and for experiments with such things as different filters and lights. I am also encouraging a population of trumpet snails in the small aquariums in the hope of establishing them in the 410 - probably a hopeless quest with 6 4 inch plus clown loaches.
Beasts
Beasts
I always QT now. I didn't but dealing with salt drips for ich and treating for intestinal parasitic worms is not fun on a whole tank. The worms didn't show up for a couple weeks so I would recommend at least a 4 week QT period. Its not difficult and I have the QT tank set up where I can see the fish, monitor them for changes and still enjoy them.
I used to say the same thing as the OP. Bought my fish from a great LFS, with knowledgeable staff and nice stock. I'd been watching a group of taeniatus fry for over a month there, before purchasing a pair. They died suddenly within 3 days, and then I started losing my other fish. Went back to the store, and the taeniatus were almost all dead, and they were losing fish in their other tanks also.
It's still not totally clear what parasite was introduced to my tank by those fish. They had wild parents, and the breeder wound up losing all of his stock also. It *seems* to be a really resistant strain of velvet. I've treated with multiple meds, and it goes away, but keeps coming back.
To date, because of that one time with not QT, I've lost a pair of breeding rams, a yo-yo loach, a glowlight tetra, two apistos, a platy, and a pair of nannacara. My female silver angel has recurring infections - she recovers on her own, without medication. My male kribensis (part of a breeding pair) is infected right now - was brought on by stress when he had a tiff with his mate (they had some "custodial" issues over the fry when I cleaned the tank while they had their babies out). I don't think he's going to make it.
It's quite costly to treat a 90g tank, especially when none of the meds seem to work. I've lost some really nice fish, and will probably lose more. I won't be adding any more fish until my tank has been without any sign of the disease for 3 months. What a DRAG. I've been battling this little bug for almost 6 months now.
All could've been prevented with QT. It was sooooo not worth it to skip QT
It's still not totally clear what parasite was introduced to my tank by those fish. They had wild parents, and the breeder wound up losing all of his stock also. It *seems* to be a really resistant strain of velvet. I've treated with multiple meds, and it goes away, but keeps coming back.
To date, because of that one time with not QT, I've lost a pair of breeding rams, a yo-yo loach, a glowlight tetra, two apistos, a platy, and a pair of nannacara. My female silver angel has recurring infections - she recovers on her own, without medication. My male kribensis (part of a breeding pair) is infected right now - was brought on by stress when he had a tiff with his mate (they had some "custodial" issues over the fry when I cleaned the tank while they had their babies out). I don't think he's going to make it.
It's quite costly to treat a 90g tank, especially when none of the meds seem to work. I've lost some really nice fish, and will probably lose more. I won't be adding any more fish until my tank has been without any sign of the disease for 3 months. What a DRAG. I've been battling this little bug for almost 6 months now.
All could've been prevented with QT. It was sooooo not worth it to skip QT
QT for 4 weeks 'After' all signs are clear.
it is not worth the risk of introducing pathogens to a stable tank.
I lost A pbt(Powder Brown Tang) two clowns and nearly lost my tomini Tang when I introduced a fish from a reputable source to my reef. one step further..i no longer feed live tubifex to my angels.
I also now treat all new incoming cichlids for internal parasites.
it is not worth the risk of introducing pathogens to a stable tank.
I lost A pbt(Powder Brown Tang) two clowns and nearly lost my tomini Tang when I introduced a fish from a reputable source to my reef. one step further..i no longer feed live tubifex to my angels.
I also now treat all new incoming cichlids for internal parasites.
A fish can "look healthy" and still be chock full of internal parasites for one, and no matter where, when, under what circumstances I get my fish, they always go through a qt period. I usually do 2 weeks, though it should be longer. I had a new addition wipe out almost a G worth of goldfish because I didn't qt. Figured since all the fish were the same source (breeder/transhipper) there was no need. Lost alot of fish to aero/pseudomonas related ulcers and eventually had to take down the whole tank and disinfect everything. Not quarantining is not worth the risk IMO.
