Quarantine Time?

[George]

2 weeks are good for some diseases, like velvet. Of course it's not good for marine ich.
I personally would still suggest QT fish on your own no matter where the fish come from, be it DD or else.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by George

2 weeks are good for some diseases, like velvet..

Velvet, I believe, is 42 days minimum. 2 weeks is the same as 2 hours as far as confidence of health goes. I know once you have velvet in the tank, it's suggested that you leave it for 8 weeks.
The fish that brought velvet into my tank was fine for almost 4 weeks before it showed signs. Then it killed everything. Having gone through the loss of all my fish, 2 weeks is meaningless. A nice gesture, sure, but in no way does it give any confidence.

[Aquattro]

The deal on velvet...

"Because of its lifecycle, a general recommendation has been to quarantine new acquisitions for 20 days to avoid introducing the disease (Noga, 2000 and Trevor-Jones, 2004), but I would urge most hobbyists to isolate them for a full month, with six weeks being optimal, for a number of reasons. The first reason is for uniformity. Because it will take at least a month to known if your new acquisition is free of Cryptocaryon irritans, it is better to simply get used to a long period of quarantine. Second, the signs of this infection are not obvious and, in my opinion, most aquarists can easily miss them. A full month or more of quarantine should give you enough time to notice the infestation, or, if you don't pick up on the signs, the fish will likely be dead by the end of the quarantine period."

from http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-0...ture/index.php

[Aquattro]

I guess for me, after having lost all my fish, nothing goes into my tank without full QT. So if a store does 2 weeks, that's meaningless, and I wouldn't buy the fish if it cost more because of the 2 weeks. (As I said, the fish that wiped out my tank was in it's own tank for 2 weeks before I bought it).
If the store can QT it for 6 weeks with no new additions, no water transfer (using separate gear on all contact),then I may consider paying a bit more, but probably not enough to offset the costs the LFS will incur performing this. Therefore, give me a good price on a one day old fish, I'll QT at home and take my chances.
I think a 2 week period just lulls people into a false sense of doing the right thing, and only marginally, if at all, prevent disease.

[Pansy-Paws]

I don't even ask if the LFS has done any QT measures. I figure QT will be my responsibility ... and I implement 8 weeks rather than the usual 4 or 6 that I hear about. I added the additional 2 weeks after I lost almost everything 6 years ago from a combined velvet/ich outbreak (my fault for not quarantining properly) ... and damn, that combined outbreak hit hard

For me, if the LFS does some QT, that, in itself, would not raise the price I would pay. But, if the fish still looked in great condition after say 2 weeks (QT or not), I have more confidence in it surviving in my care, and have paid a slight premium for that assurance.

[burgerchow]

I don't quarantine my new additions. Mind you, I only buy fish from LFS that have been in their tanks for at least 2 mos. I never buy newly arrived fish.
So far, been pretty lucky. Only times I lose a new fish is if my Sohal or Dottyback didn't like them.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by burgerchow

I don't quarantine my new additions. Mind you, I only buy fish from LFS that have been in their tanks for at least 2 mos. I never buy newly arrived fish.
So far, been pretty lucky. Only times I lose a new fish is if my Sohal or Dottyback didn't like them.

Not sure where you shop, but any nice fish I'm interested in wouldn't last 2 days at the store without someone buying it, never mind 2 months -lol

Assuming though that the fish I wanted was in the store for 2 months, the store gets new shipments every week or two, so new fish are going in with it all the time. I'd prefer not to have that happen, it's stressful for the fish, and increases the chance of disease.
I was also lucky for years, and was very vocal against QT, until I was out $2,000 in fish from my luck running out