# Do you quarantine?



## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

I have never bother quarantining fish and never had an issue... But keep reading how important it is.

Do you quarantine? If so for how long?


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Pretty annoying to set up a tank for a couple days and then take it down. But since I've had one running for my current fish to wait until their new tank has cycled, I've been throwing new ones I buy into it. I'm contemplating running a 20gal cheaply for a little while as a quarantine tank but also as a place I can collect even more plants....


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

I rarely quarantine but I have once or twice. It depends on where I get the fish from and the state they are in.


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

I never have, and ive never had any problems. But i usually check on the fish daily for about a week in the store before i buy them.


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

I haven't so far, have had a couple issues over the past year, nothing too severe. There were a couple times last year that I wished I had a quarantine tank (when I got the marble hatchets they broke out with ick due to stress). I am "quarantining" plants in another tank several days before adding to the community tank, just to make sure any hitchhikers have evacuated the plant. At this point space for a qt tank is an issue...


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## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

I do it all the time for marine. The marine ich is tougher to get rid of.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I do not really buy much from LFS these days. I like to keep my tank/filter/water very clean. I feel that clean water and healthy fish is the best decoration. I would hate to buy some fish or plant and get my existing fish sick so I definitely qaurantine.
I like to keep new fish in their own tank, bare bottom and just grow them out there. If they are sick at least they wont infect any existing fish and it is easier to treat with barebottom.
When I buy new plant I dip them in a PP solution. I do not like to buy plants with fish in the same tank in case the fish might have problems such as ich or the like.
When I do buy new fish I quantinee for 2-3 weeks in a barebottom tank, using seperate hose and everything. 
I have been thinking of adding some discus but have not done so yet--when I do, I will definitely qt for at least 3-4 weeks then use a little runt to test the water before mixing them.


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

So does your qt just involve a separate tank and finish monitoring. Do you medicate or do anything different or is it just an observe and wait a few weeks thing?


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

My understanding with QT is that idea is to keep them in there for a sufficient period of time to evaluate the health of the fish before they join the main tank. Some people will treat their fish too with meds such as Prazipro or others meds just to try to kill as many possible parasites as possible. You can never be completely sure you've got everything but its a good start. There really isn't a whole lot you can do to guarantee anything.


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## duncangweller (Jun 15, 2012)

I never did until I got a bout of marine ich and now I will do it religiously. Breaking down my tank and leaving it fallow for ten weekday is not something I want to do again.

Quarantine, quarantine, quarantine for me now!

Sent from my HTC Incredible S using Tapatalk 2


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yeah marine diseases are nasty. I lost my whole sw tank to either marine ich or velvet. Fish were dead in 2 days flat.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

shift said:


> So does your qt just involve a separate tank and finish monitoring. Do you medicate or do anything different or is it just an observe and wait a few weeks thing?


I just observe them. If they look listless, hide a lot, turn dark, wont eat, have funny looking poo or things on their bodies or things like that then I will consider medicating...I think that is what most people do when they quarantine but I would love to hear if there are other ways.


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## crimper (Oct 20, 2010)

Always! I even quarantine plants, after I lost almost all in my community tank :bigsmile:


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Pointless considering stress is a trigger for ICH,I observe the fish/coral/plant for obvious signs at the store then give them a quick dip and into the DT....if a fish wont eat and acts ill I will remove and quarantine within 3 days. If the store has ANY sickly looking fish in ANY tank I wont buy there as I'm fairly certain most lfs link their tanks toghether to some extent.
To each their own,the only outbreaks I've had in my 12+years fishkeeping were in established tanks with established fish who had become stressed for one reason or another....never from a new fish
Question is do you want to gamble or play it safe


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

bo in freash water but all my saltys i do


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

dabandit1 said:


> Pointless considering stress is a trigger for ICH,Question is do you want to gamble or play it safe


I have read studies which show that ich are not always present in all fish contrary to popular belief. It is my understanding that if there is no ich present whatsoever in the tank, your fish will not get ich even if they are stressed.


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## Vancitycam (Oct 23, 2012)

See I have been told that ich is in every fish at all times, its just the conditions that are present to aid with other stresses in "creating" ich at any given time not just adding new fish this is why older established tanks with no radical changes or fish added can have a break out also.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Please correct me if I am wrong.

I believe sometimes stress and other factors can trigger ich if ich is present in the tank, which may explain why some established tanks will have an outbreak, but if ich is not present then stress cannot trigger it because there is nothing to trigger so to speak--and it is my understanding that ich is not ALWAYS present in ALL fish.

Below is part of an article (Aquarium Ich: Ichthyophthirius multifilis & Cryptocaryon treatment, identification, life cycle.) I have read regarding ich not always being present:

Does Ich lay Dormant, or is Ich always Present?
Ich is NOT always present in an aquarium, despite many claims to the contrary which is sometimes used to cover up for poor quality stock.
I have conducted tests (and read others) where I killed off any Ich (if there was any depending on the control group) and then subjected the fish to many stressors that commonly bring on Ich such as sudden temperature drops with NO resulting Ich outbreaks.
It is important to note that the Ich protozoan cannot live outside water and if dried, its cell wall would collapse permanently destroying this single cell parasite so this point also makes migration of Ich from anything other than transport via infected fish or similar water transfer impossible. This also goes for marine Ich (Cryptocaryon) which I almost never had problems with in tanks where all fish were carefully added and there were no previous outbreaks.

Test Method:

*Group 1: I used two aquariums as control aquariums where I started the bio cycle using the fish food method so as to eliminate the slight chance of Ich introduction via a media swap method (one tank was started from empty, the other was bleached prior to start). Fish that had been healthy for many months were used as the control group test fish, and yes this is the weak link, but I feel confident based on baths performed and results that there was no Ich introduction with these fish.

*Group 2: One more tank that was used was already running and I treated it with several treatments of Aquatronics Super Ich Plus (Malachite Green/ Quinine Hydrochloride; this product is no longer available) to kill potential Ich parasites.

*Group 3: Four more established aquariums were used where no pre-treatment was used but had ich at a previous time and had been chemically treated, one a mild treatment with Kordon Rid Ich and the other three with Super Ich Plus.

*Group 4: Was a tank that was also established with no pre-treatment but also had a previous Ich infestation that was treated via the heat method

After subjecting these tanks to stressors that included in ALL tanks a drop in temperature from 78 F to 68 F AND heavy bio load stressor fish food and filter removal so as to spike ammonia (approximately 2-3 ppm if my memory serves me correctly, as I did not write this number down);

*Group 1; No Ich outbreaks
*Group 2; No Ich outbreaks
*Group 3; One outbreak in one of the Super Ich groups (none in the other two) and a major outbreak in the Rid Ich group
*Group 4; A minor outbreak of Ich

Before any reader of this rushes out and purchases Super Ich Plus, it is no longer available, however "Sea Chem ParaGuard" and the older "Quick Cure" are comparable products (ParaGuard being my favorite now due to lower side effects on sensitive fish). I also did not use Medicated Wonder Shells in this experiment, but based on subjective use I would expect good results.

I have no firm evidence of how Ich can lie dormant, my anecdotal thoughts here are that the trophozoites (which are the most drug resistant, except for bleach, bare tank) can somehow lie dormant until conditions are right, where as the tomtit stage cannot live more than a few days without a host.

.....

As in many parasite caused fish diseases the fish may need to be stressed due to changes in environment, poor water conditions, and/or stress from other fish to be susceptible to the parasite (this is not to say a perfectly healthy fish cannot get ich, only that often a foothold in a stressed fish is the starting point). Also, the parasites must be present in the aquatic environment (ich is not air borne).
It is not unusual for an aquarium population to have a low level of ich infestation present but not be showing any signs of the disease. Then, once a new fish is placed into the system or a weak/stressed fish becomes the start point for an ich infestation gets a foot hold in the aquarium. Fish can sometimes carry the parasite and not actually be diseased. These carriers can shed the parasite into a new aquarium into which it is placed. If the fish in the new aquarium have never been exposed to the parasite, and they become stressed, they can develop the disease.
Put another way, with healthy fish, they can usually produce enough mucous to prevent the ich tomites from getting started on the fish, but once these tomites get a foot hold on a stressed fish, even the healthy fish get overwhelmed.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

I get what science has to say about the subject. Try telling someone whos kept blue tangs or oscars in too small of a tank that ich isnt typicaly present. Im not arguing the science merely pointing out that after a period much longer than quarantine several years even a fish can still get ich typically by being stressed. Happens all the time quarantine wont stop that. 
I dont quarantine...should you YES!!!
Like I said before depends on if you want to gamble or not.... On a side note I just got my first ever black bug infestation that will likelly kill all my sps coral  so my gamble didnt pay off lol....but im ich free lmao


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Ich is a debatable subject and I understand what you are saying. You can quaratnine for months and still have an outbreak.
Having said that, quarantine is not just about ich, especially in the case of discus. With the high temp usually ich is not the concern, however, there are so many other weird things that can happen personally I just want to do everything I can to give my fish a higher chance of survival. I guess I am not a gambler. LOL


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

So I almost have my new 84G tank ready to go. Its going to be stocked with my (currently breeding CPD' fry) and prob 30 Rummy nose tetras. I have 2KG of media pre cycled in the FX5... If i was to pick up the rummy nose in the next week or so and they were the first inhabitants would you bother to QT them or just put them in? Being they can a bit more sensitivie (so i hear).. should I try poping them in the new tank (with pre-cycled media).. or wait a month or so and stock it with CPD fry for now.

If i do get the Rummys Would putting them in a 15 Gallon bucket for a week or so be good enough for a QT? 
The store im buying from uses individual air filtration on each tank so im not to worried about cross contamination but i'm sure they would be freshly in stock when i get them... so who knows about the supplier.


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## shift (Dec 21, 2012)

So. Qt or no qt new fish in new tank?


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