Interest in a Fish QT Service

[abcha0s]

One of the biggest challenges that I find with effective qt is how do you know for certain that you have been successful? Really this must apply to all water in your system at any given point in time. To eliminate the risk of cross contamination you have to consider all of your tanks essentially as one system even if they are disconnected and separate (as mine are). But how can you be absolutely certain?

Qt protocol will supress symptoms. Not just for a two week observation period, but for months, years or forever. I had fish with velvet in a community tank that showed no visible signs or symptoms for over two years. I know it was there because these were the survivors and I don't think velvet magically disappears in a tank with fish. There was ich in that tank as well. These same fish went through QT and never showed any symptoms. They were In an isolated observation tank for months and never showed any symptoms. I know they had velvet and I am now reasonable certain that they don't, but how to be 100% certain of this? I cannot say with complete certainty that I didn't somehow cross contaminat them with something new and they are now carries but still symptom free. I would say the risk is very small. Less than 5%, but am I willing to risk it all on a less than 5% risk? I would like to get that down to less than 1%. I don't think zero risk is possible and if you aspire to that level of discipline then there's no way this is fun anymore.

Fresh water black mollies seem to be one strategy. Perhaps I need to get some.

Brad

[abcha0s]

Hey @Carson.

I was thinking more about this and I think your on to something but I would restack it with a bit of a different perspective.

If you want to sell QT fish on a commercial scale as a business for profit, then there is a market. Just target the rare and collectable fish. You will find your clientele amongst the advanced hobbyist that are searching for these fish and are willing to pay a premium.

For the average hobbyist, I still don't think it's worth the trouble, but...

What about a fish hotel service? The idea is that you take all of the fish that your client has in their system for 6 weeks during which time you treat for disease and they do whatever is necessary to get it out of their tank.

Sick fish/tank - How many people watch all of their fish die because they don't have a hospital tank (or the meds and knowledge) to medicate in. This is the fish doctor model.

Tank Moves - You pickup the fish 2 or 3 weeks before your client is set to move. You treat for disease while you have the fish. They tear down their tank, move, set it back up and after 6 weeks they get their fish back.

Tank Resets - You take all the fish and treat for disease while their tank goes fallow for 6 weeks.

Tank Rebuilds - Same as tank resets but instead of a fallow period, they drain and rebuild.

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In all of the above, the client should have an ich/velvet free tank at the end of the six weeks. This is something that I would pay for.

There are some diseases such as uronema that can't be cured from a tank with a 6 week fallow period. It can be avoided by treating all fish before they ever go into the display, but once it's in there the only real option for treatment is bleach. It's just important to manage expectations.

You could book in advance for moves, rebuilds and resets. The fish doctor services would likely be emergencies and your ability to help might depend on what's in your facility at any given point of time.

You could extend the services to include coral and invert QT for clients that are doing a full rebuild or a move.

You could charge by the tank volume or something like that. A dollar a gallon per week. For a 100G tank with six week treatment, that would be $600. It's debatable whether that's based on the client's tank size or your QT tank size. Perhaps to be negotiated.

$600 for a six week QT is a bargin. I would gladly pay that if I had a sick tank, was moving or wanted to rebuild my system and cycle from dry rock.

I know that such services do exist in the hobby world. It's not really my idea per say. Whether they have exactly this business model or not, I don't know. Our hobby needs more of this.

It's not hard to imagine a hobbyist being successful with dump and pray for a number of years while they build up their fish collection. I was. It's safe to assume that their is ich in their tank, but fish can thrive with disease management. Then something goes wrong and they are faced with losing their tank. At that point, $600 to save all of their fish while they reboot is a really good option.

You could show up at their house, do a fish water dip, put the fish in buckets and rehome to your facility. Personally, I would change an extra fee for pickup and delivery. Otherwise, let them bring the fish to youi.

Perhaps once I bring my final batch of fish through QT, I will offer this service. That's a ways away though.

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Other ideas...

• Established bio media - Pond Matrix or Marine Pure
• Clean Cheato
• Cycled rock

[Carson.]

@abcha0s

Insightful commentary, thank you. Its been sometime since I contributed a post here and I've rethought my strategy partly based on others comments and have found it more inline with some of your comments here. Helpful feedback, thanks to all who replied.

I have my first fish in QT and will be making the listing when it is ready for sale. Much more details will be given at that time, including details of the treatment, any symptoms it displayed, how its been eating, my tanks, protocol, and so on.

I'll upload multiple videos of the fish eating various foods to show its behavior and conditioning, health, etc.

I do agree that the ultimate goal of eradication is only realistic for the most dedicated aquarists. However, conditioning to captivity alone goes a long way in reducing loss, especially with many certain species. The idea of an "all or nothing" approach in regard to QT is true if the objective is absolute eradication, but treating a fish, adapting it to tank life, and getting it eating various foods which will sustain it long term that typical hobbyists can and do feed goes a tremendous length in giving that fish and its keeper the highest odds of success.

As @abcha0s mentioned there is demand for this service, in fact its already provided (marine collectors for instance), just not in Canada or locally as far as I'm aware. I think I'll focus on higher end specimens as @abcha0s
suggested, particularly finicky/sensitive species offering them for sale after successful treatment as I've realized will probably be of most use and sense.

More details to come in the near future. Any further discussion would be appreciated.

[ReEf BoSs]

Id pay double the price of say J&L’s price if i knew it was properly treated for everything. That’s all i can add. Lol.

Which i guess works better for more expensive fish once you factor in time and costs to you. Id love a a store that sold already treated fish. So when i do want one i could browse and see if it was available.