Do you quarantine?

[pinkertd]

If you've got fish stock that you want to lose and you want to throw a ton of money into medicines just spin that old roulette wheel and skip the QT. Especially from any pet/fish store. It doesn't matter that you've known the owner for ages and he gets "good stock". "Good stock" gets sick too. I never heard of camillanus worms until I joined this forum. The idea of live worms coming out of the butts of my fish is a vision I hope never to encounter. So many people post about buying fish from a shop with camillanus too. I think I'd never ever again comfortably put my hand in my fishtanks after something like those worms!

 

[Hebily]

So, It took a while, but I learned my lesson, and now, I always QT for a month symptom free. First, I introduced 4 otos, and lost 6 otos and two upside down catfish, to something that I could never diagnose. No symptoms, just dead fish. I had kept the two USD's and two oto's for many months before that with no issues, and the one usd had been in my tank for a year. Then they all died w/i 3 days. None of my other fish were affected, fortunately. After that I set up a qt. When I bought my next fish, two pearls, I qt'd them for a week. They both died a day apart, 1 week after being in my main tank. The only symptoms were severe bloating and white, stringy poop hours before they died. Again, I was fortunate that other fish weren't affected.

I always QT for at least a month.

 

[Madding]

If you've got fish stock that you want to lose and you want to throw a ton of money into medicines just spin that old roulette wheel and skip the QT. Especially from any pet/fish store. It doesn't matter that you've known the owner for ages and he gets "good stock". "Good stock" gets sick too. I never heard of camillanus worms until I joined this forum. The idea of live worms coming out of the butts of my fish is a vision I hope never to encounter. So many people post about buying fish from a shop with camillanus too. I think I'd never ever again comfortably put my hand in my fishtanks after something like those worms!

I disagree to some extent. If you're dealing with a non-chain LFS and know the owners and how they run their business, you can navigate yourself around QT'ing in probably 99% of the fish you buy (if you are prepared to administer a lot of patience before bringing the fish home). I think comparing it to roulette is a bit strong, seeing as some owners go their entire lives without QTing and never experience a problem.

Sure, you're still taking a risk, but when the odds start becoming overwhelmingly in your favor I think it is feasible to say it's a risk worth taking. Medicating for ich once every five years without any losses beats weeks of waiting around for your subconscious to tell you that your fish is as well as it was the day you bought it so it's time to put it in the tank.

Maybe that's just me, but like I said in the second post of the thread, I have a dedicated schedule with new fish that involves 2-4 weeks of the store marking it as sold and QTing it for me before I bring it home. I also just plain don't buy from Petsmart or Petco.

 

[bazil323]

I have good intentions to QT and always tell people to QT, but in reality, I almost never do. I am terrible at that. Mainly because the only spot for my QT tank is in the spare bedroom, which is mainly used for storing junk right now. It's really hard to get into (the tank goes on the built-in dresser on the far side of the room, so I hardly ever go in there. It kinda defeats the purpose of observing them, etc. Plus, that room is very cold in winter and very hot in summer (trailer house, ugh), so the tank temp is hard to regulate. Once I get my mom's tank to her, I will probably move the QT tank out there when I need to use it. That is a much better spot in the dining room, where I would walk past it several times a day but still be in a relatively quiet area.

So, yeah, I'm a bad girl. Fortunately, I have not had any major problems, but I do believe that it is good practice to QT every fish. I mainly get my fish from trusted small LFSs, and they usually have good stock. But, it's still an unknown quantity, really. There's still a chance that there is something lurking. If I happen to buy from Petco, Petsmart, etc., I always QT them no matter how nice they look. I just don't trust their suppliers, and most of the time the staff don't know what they are talking about.

 

[bluekrissyspike]

i chose Most of the time, but I do skip it sometimes because alot of the time i am starting new tabks when i buy fish, but i guess that is almost like qt because they go into a tank without fish in it. i wouldn't add any to my new main tanks without doing a qt. i don't qt feeders either

 

[BioHazard]

This is very interesting! Keep voting, and I'll run an excel graph on it.

 

[Star_Rider]

I disagree to some extent. If you're dealing with a non-chain LFS and know the owners and how they run their business, you can navigate yourself around QT'ing in probably 99% of the fish you buy (if you are prepared to administer a lot of patience before bringing the fish home). I think comparing it to roulette is a bit strong, seeing as some owners go their entire lives without QTing and never experience a problem.

Sure, you're still taking a risk, but when the odds start becoming overwhelmingly in your favor I think it is feasible to say it's a risk worth taking. Medicating for ich once every five years without any losses beats weeks of waiting around for your subconscious to tell you that your fish is as well as it was the day you bought it so it's time to put it in the tank.

Maybe that's just me, but like I said in the second post of the thread, I have a dedicated schedule with new fish that involves 2-4 weeks of the store marking it as sold and QTing it for me before I bring it home. I also just plain don't buy from Petsmart or Petco.

actually a comparison to Russian Roulette is pretty accurate.

non chain stores often employ community sumps for filtration. they also get stock from outside sources. the odds are simply not in their favor to avoid some sort of transported illness.

many internal parasites may hitch a ride and not show Sx for weeks .


If you have ever lost expensive stock to to improper QT practices you are simply lucky .

chances are something will get by and you run the risk of losing all of your stock.

 

[Hebily]

That is another question to post:
For those that feed live fish, do you QT your feeders? Do you grow your own?
In the interest of not hijaking this thread, I will start a new one.

 

[Madding]

actually a comparison to Russian Roulette is pretty accurate.

non chain stores often employ community sumps for filtration. they also get stock from outside sources. the odds are simply not in their favor to avoid some sort of transported illness.

many internal parasites may hitch a ride and not show Sx for weeks .


If you have ever lost expensive stock to to improper QT practices you are simply lucky .

chances are something will get by and you run the risk of losing all of your stock.

But you have to take into account the fact that so many people don't QT without losses. The numbers don't lie--most inexperienced people don't even know QTing exists, yet they still unknowingly buy healthy fish.

For the people that do QT every single fish, how many of these show actual symptoms? If the answer is anything more than 1-5% than you are buying bad stock.

I'm only defending the non-QT'ers in the interest of the debate, I have no qualms with people who do QT, I'm actually QTing three fish right now before adding them to my 150 gallon (a Datnoid and two Bichirs). I just take a lot into account before deciding to QT.

 

[pinkertd]

I can tell you from personal experience, the fish you bring in do not have to be sick themselves to get the rest of your fish sick. And unfortunately it is how you learn. I had existing discus in the 72G tank, bought within state. Bought a few more from someone else and had them shipped. I set up a QT tank in another room. At least I had read not to keep the QT discus tank in the same room as existing tanks. Why is that? I read something about some bad stuff some people swore could be airborne between discus tanks within the same room. And, there was one little piece of information that I had never run across.....don't mix domestics with imports. Why not? Seems imports carry things totally normal to them from their native land that do not make them sick, but domestics having never been exposed to these foreign "germs" get deathly sick. (Like drinking the water in Mexico is fine for Mexicans but not to people from the US). And I'm thinking silly little common ailments passed from new fish to existing fish when you don't QT so I'm definitely keeping them in QT out of the main tank. Enter....Mr Python......Use it in new tank for water change, use it in old tank for water change......all I can say is Holy Toledo! What followed over the next 30 days was nothing short of grueling. I was so stressed about trying to save my old fish from the kind of illness you've never seen in your life with none of the experts really having a for sure cure, that I almost picked up an axe to throw thru the tank. I changed 95% of the water in that tank every day after work for 30 days because the slime coat being shed by my now black discus would clog the filters. And those beautiful healthy imported discus swam around like nobody's business. By some miracle I never lost a fish. Threw the imported's in that tank after this mess and they lived happily ever after.