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...

[BlueTang<3]

fish listed usualy do better not being quarantined some fish cant handle the stress of being in solitary but thats my experience

[BlueWorldAquatic]

It can also be your acclimation methods, we are trying to get most of our customers used to a "drip method" instead of just adding water every few minutes. It has shown us a considerable improvement in our survival rate of our shipments.

Another product you should consider is anything to increase the fishes imune system, as some members have mentioned, garlic, selconm in their diets, or products like ImmunoVital.

You can also add a small bubbler in the QT tank to increase the oxygen in the water.

These suggestions would definatel help the fishes survival rate.

Ken - BWA

[Black Phantom]

I'm in the same boat. My record for quarantine is not very good. Even with proper acclimation and a well established qt tank.
Now I rarely buy fish from an LFS and wait to find the right one on these forums. That way I know if the fish is healthy and eating, and the stress of a quick move is less.
So far I have never lost a fish from a fellow reefer and no other problems as well.

[fishoholic]

I never Qt'd for the first few years of the hobby. I always thought if the store had the fish for awhile and looked healthy and was eating well then why stress it out by putting it through QT. Then a fish we bought got marine velvet and if I had of QT'd it first (the fish looked ok in the store and was eating) I wouldn't of ended up loosing 90% of the fish in my tanks and I wouldn't of had to go through the horror of watching fish I had for years die slow and horrible deaths. I also ended up having to QT the surviving fish for 8 weeks which was way more of a pain then it would of been to have QT'd the one fish that made everyone else sick. In the end out of 34 fish only 8 survived. You can read through my link to marine velvet in my sig. for all the gory details and some disturbing pic's. If that's not enough reason for QT I don't know what is.

[kien]

Ya, no QTing here either.. Gave up on it a few years ago for the same reasons mentioned by other non QTers. I do not treat my fish before putting them in. Normally a good LFS will have already treated them, made sure they eat and are generally healthy before they release them. Of course you can't always count on that which is why you have to do your part and bug the LFS. Ask them how long they've had the fish, is it eating, has it been treated at all?

In my experience even if they are healthy and eating they can still get ich once put into the Display tank. However, if you have chosen a great specimen then it is already well on its way to recovery. Just help him along with some garlic and lots of food to keep his immune system up. Sure he won't look pretty at first but they have always pulled through for me so long as I keep everything else consistant, like tank parameters etc.

[Delphinus]

My one and only foray into QT'ing new fish was a disastrous experiment. I got scared into trying the QT for fear of introducing something like velvet into the main DT after it happened to a couple friends of mine in the last year.

Before that I had always introduced new fish straight into the DT. Some would develop ich, sometimes a couple spots would spread to other fish but in 2-3 days would be gone.

I'm left wondering if my QT tank "saved" my current inhabitants, or whether the sudden jump in bioload on the QT tank simply crashed the system and left it unable to sustain fish. The latter case is clearly the more likely I would think.

So QT'ing definitely requires a bit of caution in the setup, and definitely needs slow additions as well if there isn't already a steady state cycle in place. Ie., one fish at a time .. and perhaps some long-term inhabitants in that tank as well just to keep the cycle going. Of course this means you already have a pretty good idea that the new fish is probably already healthy. If not then maybe it needs to be passed on purchase, or go into a more hospital type setup (but that may have worse consequences, I don't know).