Quarantine Tank? FW Dip? Is it all really necessary?

I keep my QT tanks low to they can just go right in. I test the salinity of their bag just in case but I think the lowest I've run into 1.019. I don't acclimate fish to a hypo... just when they are going the other way. I've plunked fish into 1.008 from a tank that was 1.023.

I liked the "backing up the the harddrive" analogy.

 

Having space in the case is a slightly different concern than having 3"x.5"x4" anywhere in the house.

Besides, it's really about the will to do it. We had "no space" for a QT - then had a whole boatload of fish die, and suddenly have room for a 29G breeder QT.

 

I have a 10g tank in my closet with all the stuff I would need for a QT.... total cost 50 bucks and I can hfold and store winter sweater in there

I have a 70g in the garage because I keep some large fish and a 10g won't cover them all.

What do y'all do if your fish get sick and have to go into a hospital tank. What do you use then?

 

The odds of me catching a fish in my tank are slim to none. This will sound bad on here and I am sorry about how awful this sounds but...

I will leave them in my tank and treat with reef safe meds, feed garlic soaked food, and set the light time to a shorter period. If the fish die I will be very upset and not put a single fish in my tank for a few months.

I am lucky enough to have the option of bringing any sick fish in to work and putting them in an empty tank we just have running for some reason. If I was to catch the fish I would bring them in and treat them with the most potent meds I can find.

You don't need space in your case to back up your HDD. They make such small external HDDs now and so cheaply you would have to be an idiot not to invest in one. I keep 3 back ups. One on an external HDD, one on an internal SSD, and another backup of my really important files on my flash drive.

My GF and I have 4 ferrets that have reign over most of the apartment, 1 bearded dragon in a 75 gallon, lots of furniture, and probably enough women's clothing to stock a JC Penny for a week during their sales. I am having trouble finding space to put a pico in Bo's room. bedroom has the GF's freshwater tank. The 75 is in the "dining room". If I had a location that could fit a 20 long in a ferret safe area I would set it up as a QT.

 

I dip all my corals.

I haven't QT any fish. Just added Yellow Tang and Achilles Tang, got ich. Been 2 weeks, just trying to fight with garlic enriched food, more frequent water changes, and maintain good water quality, and comfortable environment. I've been warned, yes, but also read many stories of success of beating ich (although it stays in system, but having strong and healthy fish to fend it off)

 

i love alot of money in fish due to marine velvet. So now i QT all my fish in a special 30gal i setup in my office which is really close to my DT and all the fish go visit that for atleast a month. It runs bare bottom and a copper bath. I will take all precautions now after my costly run in with velvet.

 

I haven't in the past QT'd anything and not had problems until recently when I got 2 fish (which went into 2 different systems) from a LFS I've shopped at before and the fish have been fine...but this time they brought in pests, gill flukes to be precise.

I freshwater dipped one that was really sick as a last resort to save it and found a bunch of little things in the water, he immediately colored bak up to near normal. I dipped it 2 more times once with meds and put it into QT and then dipped the other 2 fish & added them to QT.

The first meds I had in the tank for Ich (which I thought it was) were "reef safe" but I almost lost my trumpet coral which is still iffy.

So now I'm treating 2 systems with the proper meds and have to leave my DT fishless for 2 months.

* That said the QT tank WILL be used for all future purchases as well as dips for coarals and new fish (before adding to the QT).

PS
I lost the 2 new fish and 3 (between the 2 tanks)more due to the pest(s) brought in by those 2 fish.

 

Just curious.... if those of you that don't QT but here these stories, does it make you want to set up a QT? If not, why?

Interesting discussion thus far.....

 

wow i probably should have guessed that the horror stories would come out in this thread and they certainly have!! i will for sure be looking into getting some sort of QT or doing some sort of dip. i suppose one method is better than the other? QT is probably the best?

 

haha i was definitely must have been typing that last comment while you were posting ;D