To those of you who DON'T quarantine...

[Albertan22]

Originally Posted by tlo

Do you test the sg of the water of your lfs? Some stores keep their water sg pretty low- if there is a large difference b/t your water and the stores this could account for some deaths.
What size tank is your qt? Depending on the size and type of the fish - if the tank is too small - the stress could lead to death.
Do you have hiding places for the fish?
Are you monitoring water quality? -In a small tank ammonia and nitrates can build up fast.
another thing to think about is the quality of the suppliers that the lfs uses. If a fish is cyanide caught it will appear healthy, then die a few weeks later. Other than buying MAC certified fish, there is really no way of knowing for sure . Your best bet is to buy from high quality fish stores.

I`ve been keeping the sg of the QT tank close to the lfs`, then gradually bringing it up to match my DT by not topping off completly with fresh water in the final week of QT. For all the fish I`ve lost I haven`t made it the step where I`m bringing the sg up though. The QT is 29 gallons with some pvc fittings in it, I would think this would be big enough for the two clowns I lost and the royal grama that is currently in distress. I`ve been watching nitrites and nitrates but my ammonia test kit won`t work on tap water that`s been treated for chlorine and chloramines. I think it picks up the bound up ammonia that results from the chloramine treatment. I`ve been using tap water because there`s no corals in that tank and it`s cheaper than running my RODI given the higher amount of water changes necessary for the QT tank. The fish I`ve lost all came from a combination of reputable stores that are well liked on these forums... I don`t know, maybe these fish just weren`t going to make it. One of the clowns ended up with something growing out of its head the day before it died, I was thankful that fish wasn`t put directly into my DT...