Your thoughts on "Ich-Free" tanks - IS IT POSSIBLE?

[MarkoD]

A display tank is larger, has rock and other fish. My fish don't chase each other around because I've provided enough space so they can all establish their own territories. Putting a fish alone in a relatively small tank is more stressful. I've observed in my tank that fish feel more comfortable in numbers.

And since this thread is about ich. Why would adding an infected fish affect all the other fish in the tank? If they're happy and healthy it won't matter. And once you put the new fish in, once it's happy it'll fight the parisite and that's it. (doesn't take 6-8 weeks in a small 20 gallon tank)

[MarkoD]

If you're so sure that you don't have ich in your tank then prove it.

Do a test. Chase your least favorite fish around with a net for an hour or 2.

[Aquattro]

Daniella, the fish can become stressed by being placed in a smaall bare tank with nowhere to hide and no other fish to distract all the predators that the new fish is sure are there, just waiting to get it. This can cause stress.

I always add new fish directly to the DT, sometimes there is a bit of chasing, but there are plenty of places to hide and the fish always settles in much quicker than I've seen in QT tanks.

This is my experience and my preference. It's how I've always operated and I've never lost a fish to ich in 14 yrs of keeping saltwater fish. It may not be your preference, but we'll have to just agree to disagree.

Readers can hear my story and your story and decide. You don't need to sell your story so strongly.

I may have ich in my tank, but my fish are healthy and fight it off. Same as my house..I'm sure there are cold and flu virii here, but I don't have a cold or the flu. I can't quarantine any new person or object coming into my house, and surprisingly, nobody in my house is dying. I just added new fish to my tank, no ich, no death, just happy fish.

This works for me and many others. If you have an established QT system, then great, glad that works for you, but it's not what I would do myself.

[gobytron]

in 7 or 8 years of reefing and maybe 10 different tanks I have never had Ich...

not once.

Mostly have kept basslets though...

[Reef Pilot]

Don't know how you guys can say a QT tank is more stressful than a display tank. I have a few pvc pipes in my QT for them to hide in, where they feel safe, and they are acclimatized to new foods while they go through the hyposalinity. And they are very easy to catch when you remove the pipes and use a big net.

I want them healthy and strong before they go into my display tank, where they get harassed by a bully yellow tang, and a nasty bulldog cinnamon clown. That is where they face their biggest stress for the first few days, as my long time inhabitants don't take kindly to newcomers. Even my normally docile foxface would take a few runs at the new fish.

Like I said before, I lost fish in my DT before I did QT, now I don't with the QT first, and no more ich.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Like I said before, I lost fish in my DT before I did QT, now I don't with the QT first, and no more ich.

And I think this exemplifies the theme here. This is what works for you and I would encourage you to keep doing things this way. This does not, however, work for me, and I've been extremely successful with not using QT tank, and I'll continue doing things that way.

So a person wondering what do do can look at both methods, try them both if that's what they want to do, and decide which works best for them. Pretty easy stuff

[sphelps]

Some good info here on pretty much the same subject if you're interested:
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...ths-facts.html

And FYI quarantine works if done initially, ie before being introduced into the display. It doesn't usually work if the fish is already in the display and then moved over into quarantine due to illness. This is typically where the debate comes from but you're arguing over two different things. Also your QT doesn't have to be small, it can be bigger than the display if you want.

[globaldesigns]

As you can see, certain people are extremists and are not very flexible when communicating on these forums. As I stated prior, take everyones advice and hopefully you can decide how you wish to do things.

Always, remember have fun and play well with others!

[MarkoD]

I have tried both methods. I always wanted a blonde Naso tang. I tried 3 times and all 3 died in quarantine because they wouldn't eat (I did garlic and tried every food I could find)

Since then I have given up on qt. I have since then added a heniochus, copperband, purple tang and hippo tang. At first they all just picked at rocks but now eat frozen and pellet food.

I am convinced if these fish didn't have food to pick at off the rocks Initially that they would have starved to death

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

I have tried both methods. I always wanted a blonde Naso tang. I tried 3 times and all 3 died in quarantine because they wouldn't eat (I did garlic and tried every food I could find)

Since then I have given up on qt. I have since then added a heniochus, copperband, purple tang and hippo tang. At first they all just picked at rocks but now eat frozen and pellet food.

I am convinced if these fish didn't have food to pick at off the rocks Initially that they would have starved to death

Getting new fish, esp picky eaters like copperbands, is definitely a challenge. I found that when there are more than one fish together in a tank, they learn to eat from each other, probably triggering some feeding instinct when they see another one doing it. So maybe this is why you had better luck in your display tank.

In one case, I had two copperbands in the same tank separated by an eggcrate divider, and I am convinced they taught each other to feed, sort of like monkey see, monkey do.