So I recently had an outbreak of brookynella that took out all but one of my fish. After doing extensive research I decided to start a quarantine tank and move my one fish there. But I've also talked to experienced reefers who say that they do not quarantine as it simply adds additional stress to the fish which I fully understand. I'm curious about who does not quarantine but has some sort of process to try and keep parasites either out of their display tank or at least from killing their fish.
To quarantine or not to quarantine?
- Thread starter Dmac
- Start date
Depends on the fish.
wrasse,,,,maybe just tank transfer and no med
tangs...you bet
other fishes...depend on how they handle ionic copper
wrasse,,,,maybe just tank transfer and no med
tangs...you bet
other fishes...depend on how they handle ionic copper
I’m with hzheng33. At the very least I’ll put them through Tank Transfer Method.
2Months
Unless you know for a fact that a fish has been treated immediately prior to purchase, or left in quarantine preferably with an appropriately sized UV filter for an appropriate time, then yes I would prophylactically treat the fish.
Also, bear in mind that not all fish tolerate all treatments well. Some are sensitive to copper & others to chloroquine phosphate, in particular.
No question, QT with meds for me. I normally used the 30 days in Copperpower at 2.0 ppm, then transfer to a 2nd sterile QT tank and start 2 treatments of Prazi. If its a wrasse then I use General Cure instead of Prazi. Now I just switched to a 15 day Copperpower treatment and transfer to a sterile tank to continue.
Ok, somebody has got to be that guy and I guess its me. I don't quarantine and never have, and haven't ever really had any problems. I have kept a variety of fish over the years mostly Tangs and never have had to deal with any real problems. Don't know if I've just been lucky or what. I have lost fish before but its been like within a couple of weeks of purchasing them so I think they were sick when I purchased them. Others have jumped to their deaths and some just have disappeared.
I meant a UV for killing pathogens.
Tangs, especially, are known as ‘ich magnets’.
That you’ve had that kind of success is a sign of your reefing skill, imo.
Some may attribute it to good food and low stress.
I’m more inclined to take a preventative approach and treat them all like they are infected, then put them in a display. That way I know it’s pathogen free.
Tangs, especially, are known as ‘ich magnets’.
That you’ve had that kind of success is a sign of your reefing skill, imo.
Some may attribute it to good food and low stress.
I’m more inclined to take a preventative approach and treat them all like they are infected, then put them in a display. That way I know it’s pathogen free.
No, I don't run a UV. Some say that medication kills the good bacteria as well as the bad and lowers the fish's ability to fight off pest and diseases naturally, although that's not the reason I don't quarantine. If I ever have a fish that develops a pest or disease I would remove it and treat it. The purple Tang I have cost me a pretty penny. LOL
Thanks Hubble. I did set up a quarantine tank but don't like the idea of arbitrarily treating fish in hopes that I'm killing something. I never had any issues until I put a blue tang in my tank. Not 100% sure he was the culprit but it seems that way.
I think you are grouping quarantine with medicating. These are two separate processes, and don’t have to be combined. However they do often work well together.
You do not have to medicate your fish when they are in quarantine. Instead, you can simply observe them in a separate but clean system for a period of time to see if any symptoms develop that would require treatment. This period of time should be longer if there is no medication at work. This addresses your concern of not medicating fish unless it’s required.
The reason why many people will medicate during quarantine is simply to be proactive. Some of these diseases have a very high possibility of infection, if the fish is coming from the wild. And some of them can also hit the fish really fast and hard; often times too much so to respond. In those cases specifically, the only option is to be proactive.
I've never quarantined and never had an issue (knock on wood). I always struggled with the idea of taking a fish that needs a 180 gallon tank and putting them in a 20 gallon tank for a couple months.
I think this is also incorrectly interpreting what quarantining is. Big fish (or fish with high demands) always need big QT systems.
Just as pumping every chemical into a fish may be unethical without making decisions based on probabilities or diagnosis... it is also unethical to put a 180g fish into a 20g system. Doing so would have a high likelihood of killing the fish within days, either through limited oxygen, stress from a cramped environment, or high ammonia buildup that a 20g system cant handle.
Quarantine is a process in which we take precautions in the best interest of the fish, not ourselves. This includes the new fish, and existing fish in our systems. And from the perspective of an ex-LFS manager, I can confirm that the vast majority of wild fish come in with parasites, infections, or other malformations, and that many of these have a high likelihood of spreading and infecting and killing other fish. There are two things in the way of these infections spreading: 1) quarantine and/or medication, 2) the disease killing the host too quickly before it can infect others.
I treat my fish like I'm treating COVID: if there's a slight possibility you caught it and are asymptomatic, you ain't coming in my tank. Jokes aside, nothing goes in my tank anymore without being prophylactically treated.
Yes, it may tiptoe the edge of "inhumane" to do so, but I've had a tank crash from introducing one dirty fish from a very reputable store... so I find it more inhumane to kill off a thriving population when I could have done something to significantly reduce that risk.
So far, I've had two fish die while in QT - curiously, both after removing the copper. If they don't make it in the QT, it's not likely they're gonna make it in the DT, either. The minor additional investment (time, additional setup, medications) is worth it for me. You will eventually assess that risk tolerance for yourself.
Yes, it may tiptoe the edge of "inhumane" to do so, but I've had a tank crash from introducing one dirty fish from a very reputable store... so I find it more inhumane to kill off a thriving population when I could have done something to significantly reduce that risk.
So far, I've had two fish die while in QT - curiously, both after removing the copper. If they don't make it in the QT, it's not likely they're gonna make it in the DT, either. The minor additional investment (time, additional setup, medications) is worth it for me. You will eventually assess that risk tolerance for yourself.
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