Well, I still think there's ich in every tank....healthy fish are not affected, so it doesn't matter to me. Each person needs to decide how to manage risks and act accordingly

+1, I too am of the opinion that ICH IS ICH, and all tanks have it. Healthy fish are able to repel the parasite as they have good slime coats. Unhealthy fish, tend to lack enough slime coat or lose it and this allows the parasite to penetrate them.

I have had ich, I have tangs and they are all fine. It probably has been 2 years since I had any ICH episodes. So I believe a healthy environment promotes healthy fish.

So in saying the above, I don't believe in quarantining or treating fish for sickness (except for healthy foods and garlic). Catching a sick fish, just stresses them out more. If you buy a new fish, they are already stressed from capture and transport. Why quarantine them, to just stress them out again when you have to re-capture and move them over. So with new or old habitants, just let them be.... If they are healthy enough, they will make it through.

Just my opinion, don't beat me up too bad!

Why is everyone so obsessed with Ich, there are worse things to worry about then ich. If you are in a position to check a fish out closely before buying then thankfully there is a 99% chance you will never come across those worse things.

I am not in that position, everything I get is mailorder and after once losing half my fish to marine velvet I am not willing to chance going through it again (even if I could check a fish out before buying)

I have also found quarantining a fish easier on the fish then being dumped straight off into the display tank. Fish take less time to get used to eating prepared foods and are quicker to get used to my presence..... just my experience anyway and I have a regal angel, an achilles tang, 2 potters angels and a copperband butterfly :mrgreen:

me, I am not upset with ich, I just don't want my fish to live with fleas if I can do something about it :) Make no mistake though..ich kill fish on regular basis. I read very often fish dying from ich.

how long do you have your copperband and what do you feed it?

why? ever heard of marine velvet?

I just got a copperband butterfly and putting it in quarantine was the best thing to do because the fish ended up needing a huge amount of food to fatten up (was very skinny) and also ended up needing a prazipro treatment for flukes.

The quarantine is the perfect time and place to acclimate a fish properly. It is quiet, nobody bother it and it can be trained to eat certain type of food without other fish jumping all in. Dumping a new fish into a main tank with lots of other fish where there can be aggression is much more stressfull to the fish. Even though no other fish attack it my copperband was much more stressed going into my main tank with other fish moving around than when it was alone and quiet in its quarantine tank. There it could take all its time to eat.

I've had the copperband 3 yrs and it eats anything meaty, mysis and chopped up fish, squid, mussels, clams, prawns.....whatever seafood I can get my hands on

oops :redface:

lol :)

I absolutely agree Marie, as long as the QT tank is not ridiculously small; has appropriate water conditions; and several hiding places. Getting the new fish to unwind from its travels, and eating well is IMO a very important part of quarantining.