Who Quarentines Their Freshwater Fish ?

[Bignose]

I do every time, 6 weeks. And I have NEVER had a disease in my main tanks. I've lost fish in the Q-tanks before, but at least it was only 1-6 fish, not the whole tank. When done properly, quarantining equals NEVER getting disease in the main tank.

i don't but i do have a small 2.5 gallon just in case something goes wrong...

But, the vast majority of diseases, if one fish has it, then they all do. So, there is no reason to separate the one to a small tank. You would need to treat the entire tank anyway.

Please don't take this are rude, but if you follow your entire post here, you are just asking for trouble.

i think of a qt tank as an ideal luxury. of course, its a great idea to have one, but most people don't have the space... i dont, anyway.

It doesn't have to be a "luxury". My QT tank is a plastic tub with a spare heater I have on hand in case one of my main heaters goes. That's it. It doesn't stay up unless I have bought new fish. It doesn't even have a filter -- when I have new fish, I just do a large water change in the morning and in the evening, that's it.

I am going to keep repeating my self here: NEVER had a disease in my main tanks. NEVER! Quarantining is 100% of the reason why!

 

[Larkspur]

It's a luxury I've never had for bigger fish so they simply had to go straight into the main tank in the past. I am trying to get myself to use it though now. Too many fish at this point and money invested.

 

[roadmaster]

who quarentines there freshwater fish before they put them in there main tank??

do you think it should always be done???

if you do how long do you quarentine them for??

Anybody with a lick of common sense and a deep seated dislike of pathogens unknown being introduced to their otherwise healthy tank(s)will use quarantine for ALL new fishes.
Anyone who has ever lost entire stock due to afore mentioned pathogens being introduced by lack of quarantine will quarantine ALL new fishes.
Anyone who has had to resort to treating 75 gal or larger aquariums for any extended length of time, will quarantine ALL new fishes.

 

[Nick16]

I do unless they are fish bought from other hobbyist as these are always healthy.

haha your taking a risk! with the amount of 'help my fish is ill' threads on here, i would still be slightly wary unless you know the person well and have seen the fish in their tanks several times!

i always Q/T.

Its like russian roulette, eventually you will get the 'bullet' and all your fish will be gone.

However, most people Q/T for about a week and think thats it. Thats completely pointless and does nothing. some Diseases can take a month to appear so one week is not even worth the bother. Also, people Q/T and dont even have any medicine if the fishes do get ill. not even a general tonic or salts.

 

[bubble87]

well thanks for all your intersting replys.
i will set up my hospital tank and quarantine all fish for 4 weeks at the least.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

I haven't quaranteened fish because I last bought fish 9 years ago and I didn't quaranteen them. Within the last year I added more fish to the tank - it was a risk but it was my choice.

My other fish a betta I would have quaranteened (but he is in a tank alone so it doesn't make a difference).

The recommendation is to quarantine; but at the end of the day it is your choice

 

[ellena]

It doesn't have to be a "luxury". My QT tank is a plastic tub with a spare heater I have on hand in case one of my main heaters goes. That's it. It doesn't stay up unless I have bought new fish. It doesn't even have a filter -- when I have new fish, I just do a large water change in the morning and in the evening, that's it.

I am going to keep repeating my self here: NEVER had a disease in my main tanks. NEVER! Quarantining is 100% of the reason why!

That is a very good idea, using a tub. As long as you didn't mix paint in it or something in the meantime, it would be ideal!
Don't like the idea of twice daily water changes though. I think I've read that you can keep an empty filter on standby and just take some media from the main tank to Q new fish?

 

[drsquirrel]

No I don't mainly as my freshwater tank currently only has "cheap" species in, and my LFS quarantine their fish.

Does no one else's LFS quarantine their new stock?

I have a saltwater tank I am setting up which I really should, the first few I won't but once I get more stock and more value I will... no space really so will end up on the floor for a few weeks. Considering possible stress of putting larger fish in small tanks, isn't this just egging the fish to get Ich and the like from the stress? Almost like we're stress testing fish

And considering the lengths of time we should QT to get over the cycles of the usual diseases we are trying to avoid, 1-2 weeks is hardly enough. Maybe the title should be "Who quarantines their freshwater fish long enough?", then... what is long enough?

 

[Bignose]

Does no one else's LFS quarantine their new stock?

I'm sure almost all of them do -- but if the LFS has a disease in any 1 tank, most of the have systems that share water in all tanks, so every tank has a disease. And, if every tank is hooked together, unless the LFS treats every single tank, then that disease is still in there.

It is just a risk that doesn't need to be taken.

Don't like the idea of twice daily water changes though. I think I've read that you can keep an empty filter on standby and just take some media from the main tank to Q new fish?

Keeping a filter running in the corner of your main tank is an option. I don't keep big fish, so when there are 6 fish in a large tub, they don't make much pollution, and large water changes are enough to keep the levels good enough for me.

 

[hihi100202]

Please don't take this are rude, but if you follow your entire post here, you are just asking for trouble.

 

[Bignose]

Please don't take this are rude, but if you follow your entire post here, you are just asking for trouble.

I explained why. You wrote that you don't quarantine. I've advocated the reasons why quarantining is such a a positive very heavily in this thread.

You wrote you "have a 2.5 gallon tank in case something goes wrong"? I wrote "But, the vast majority of diseases, if one fish has it, then they all do. So, there is no reason to separate the one to a small tank. You would need to treat the entire tank anyway."

Not quarantining and isolating the first fish that shows symptoms and not treating the rest is a recipe for trouble.

So, like I wrote, if people follow your post, they are asking for trouble.

 

[mtv8dmarine]

i learnt the hard way so all my fish go into quarentine now for anything up to a month its not worth the risk and the hard work of big water changes and chucking med into a big tank

I second this!

 

[Inchworm]

Does no one else's LFS quarantine their new stock?

No. I live in New York and given the cost of tank space, personnel, and utilities, doing so would make the cost excessively high. I don't know of a single lfs that has the facilities to do that.

 

[drsquirrel]

Does no one else's LFS quarantine their new stock?

I'm sure almost all of them do -- but if the LFS has a disease in any 1 tank, most of the have systems that share water in all tanks, so every tank has a disease. And, if every tank is hooked together, unless the LFS treats every single tank, then that disease is still in there.

It is just a risk that doesn't need to be taken.

So from someone that has 100% not had any dieseses in their tanks due to QT, this differs for a LFS?

 

[Tolak]

Does no one else's LFS quarantine their new stock?

Would you bet your existing stock that their procedure is as good or better than your own? How often is the advice from your lfs as good or better than your own? I know exactly what happens with my tanks & fish, I can't say that for any lfs, or other aquarist for that matter.