Who uses quarantine tanks?

[surgeonfish]

Originally Posted by justinl

i QT and dip. i mean really, the dip takes at the most ten minutes. real easy and a precaution that we should all be taking.

How do you do your dip? Does anyone use any commercial products?

[Der_Iron_Chef]

A Lugol's dip?

[Parker]

In the past I didn't QT anything. I recently went through a bout of ICH and lost my Regal. I have since learnt my lesson and now have a QT. My justification for not having was it's only a 75 I can get a fish out without a problem..while true, I had no where to put it! Now that I recently upgraded to a large tank, I won't take the risk of putting anything in that hasn't been QT'ed. I simply won't be able to get things out as easily.

[hawk]

Originally Posted by surgeonfish

How do you do your dip? Does anyone use any commercial products?

For corals I have used Lugols. It's not a complete answer but what it does do is make the parasites if any leave the coral. You can then at least see/identify them in the dip container and proceed accordingly. My last few frags I used TMPCC as a dip rather than Lugol's but same idea.. For fish I have used Formalin, Prazipro and fresh water.

[i have crabs]

after killing a whole tank full of fish everything goes in the qt

[andrewsk]

I use a QT tank as well. I cannot imagine killing my fish due to my impatience.

[justinl]

I just do a standard freshwater dip. mind you, lugol's would be nice, but i think the FW dip is sufficient. oh, and i dip before and after QT.

[michika]

I dip all my frags going in, and if I can, I dip them on the way out as well. I use Tropic Marin Coral Pro Cure, and Interceptor (only if I feel a need, and only on incoming frags). I never used to dip frags, but after a complete tank wipe out, frags, and fish in 2005 due to red bugs, I am compulsive about it.

I don't currently use QT because I'm not adding anything anymore, and I have a severe space restriction. However, I used to QT and did hyposalinity on fish when possible.

[Reefer Rob]

Fish get quarantine.

Acros get quarantine and red bug treatment.

All my corals are going to get Flatworm Exit as well from now on.

[Gordon H]

I had been using a quarantine for about six months, and then was advised against it by my LFS. It appeared that about 1/3 of the peopleworking at the LFS did baths and used a quarantine and the other 2/3 did not. I discussed the issue at length with a group of people working at the LFS and at the end of the day, concluded that I would not dip or use a QT. While everything on the Internet and in the books strongly suggests a quarantine, the arguments against using one seem equally as strong. The main argument is that the strongest determinant of fish health is water quality and that it is almost impossible to get as good a water quality in your QT as it is in your display tank. Unless you are willing to basically duplicate the equipment from your display on your QT, you might be doing the fish more harm than good by using a QT. This seems to be the conclusion reached by most of the people working at the LFS.

Am I the only one that has come to this same conclusion? Not according to the results of the poll ;-)