Qt Q

[Meche]

OK, in my tank right now I have fish, crabs, snails, and LR. No corals. If I add some zoos and or Xenia, do I have to QT them?

My logic is; if the incoming zoos have parasites or worms or whatever, there would be no other compatible species for them to attack. And when the incoming zoo died of this infection/infestation the remaining bad living things would die off too since they don't have anymore food.

Does this sound right? Is there any reason the ich parasite would be hanging out in a zoo polyp?

 

[charlesr1958]

The reproductive Ich encystment could be attached to the substrate (rock) that the zoanthids or any other coral is on. Short cutting a quarantine period for anything, in my opinion, is a really bad idea.

Chuck

 

[james734]

To be safe QT anything wet.

 

[ronj]

agreed!! qt any wet additions to your tank!!!!if you add these corals to your tank and there are parasites present on the corals, the fish in your tank will give them a body to infest

 

[steve-s]

To be safe QT anything wet.

Agreed 100%, it's not just for the fish.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17969

Cheers
Steve

 

[jezzeaepi]

I wouldnt QT the xenia personally. They are not the best shippers and dont like changing enviroments.

Whats wrong with just using some of the "coral dips" instead of a qt? I just dont see the point of QTing a coral that came from a perfectly healthy tank.

I play with fire, I never QT =p Then again my tank is only 40 gallons so to each their own.

 

[ronj]

just dont see the point of QTing a coral that came from a perfectly healthy tank.

how can you be sure the tank was perfectly healthy?? i do agree about the xenia being fragile..i've heard that they can pretty much melt..i wouldn't take the chance of not qt'ing though

 

[Meche]

Agreed 100%, it's not just for the fish.

Steve, I understand that QT-ing is, in general, a good idea for all living things going into an established tank. But (not acusing you of skimming my post, just wanting a confirmation that you didn't) in my unique situation described above, would it be necessary to QT? Would it be possible for the xenia or zoos to be carriers of ich (or the like)?

how can you be sure the tank was perfectly healthy?

The xenia would be coming from my friends tank. There are no signs of anything parasite-wise in his tank. Now that I think about it, I guess this question is for zoos only, he doesn't want to give me any of his so they would be coming from somewhere else.

Thanks for the input guys

 

[steve-s]

I play with fire, I never QT =p Then again my tank is only 40 gallons so to each their own.

Nice attitude, it's unfortunate for the aniamls under your care.

Steve, I understand that QT-ing is, in general, a good idea for all living things going into an established tank. But (not acusing you of skimming my post, just wanting a confirmation that you didn't) in my unique situation described above, would it be necessary to QT? Would it be possible for the xenia or zoos to be carriers of ich (or the like)?

Actually if you read the link I posted, it was not in relation to fish parasites.

doesn't want to give me any of his so they would be coming from somewhere else.

And you trust that this "somewhere else" is worth sacrificing your livestock?

Cheers
Steve

 

[jezzeaepi]

Nice attitude, it's unfortunate for the aniamls under your care.

Your attitude is that everything coming in the tank is plagued with invisible killers.

Mine is that I can spend 10 or 15 mins looking over a places coral, tanks, livestock, etc and know wether or not I am going to buy from them. If something is in such bad shape that I have to "QT"-it Ill pass.

If we all had unlimited space, time and funds wed all have QT's. For a number of reasons not all people run them. I never qt because I dont have room for one. Theres no reason to blanketly assume we all have bad "attitudes". We just run our tanks a little different. My quote about "playing with fire" was a light hearted joke. There are many things in the hobby that I would throw in the category of "playing with fire", that more then few people are guilty of and none of it is because we have a desire to harm our animals.

 

[steve-s]

You either realize the benefits of a QT or you don't. Excuses are just that.

Cheers
Steve

 

[james734]

A simple 10g QT tank doesn't take up much space and only needs to be setup when needed. I really think most people would have better out comes if they QT'd. JMHO

 

[jezzeaepi]

For a large tank where you are gonig to be continually adding fish I would defintly agree. For a small tank thats only going to have 2-3 fish tops I think most wont find it to be worth it.

If your constantly tearring your qt down, then your going to have a very uncycled enviroment. I dont know about you but thats the last thing I want to subject a new purchase to that has just been stressed out from changing systems and transportation.

If your not tearring it down all the time, then your leaving it set up, which like I said, a lot of poeple just cant feasibly do. I certainly will not do that for just 2 fish. Ive looked at many pictures of fish disease online, and worked at a FW fish store when I was younger and have seen many a fish disease. I know a sick fish from a healthy one.

Corals are another bag all together. They dont like lots of changing in their lighting/flow/water params. How are you going to simulate your tanks lighting/flow etc in your QT? Id rather have my coral have to make one less flow/water/light acclimation. Spend an extra 10 or 20 minutes examining the coral and make sure it doesnt have any sort of infection, infestation, hithiker, or whatever else. If you really want to be sure, use one of those coral dips like I recomended earlier.

I realise the benefits of a QT but they are greatly dimished with a smaller tank. All of the downsides however remain constant.

 

[steve-s]

I realise the benefits of a QT but they are greatly dimished with a smaller tank.

How are they diminished? Is the potential loss of life acceptable because there is less of it?

Cheers
Steve

 

[Scooterman]

QT anything wet, it is for the better of the existing tank & the new inhabitants coming in, regardless what size tank you have or where you get it, this is coming from experience, please trust that Steve wouldn't suggest it otherwise unless it really was necessary & a very important part of reef keeping responsible.

 

[jezzeaepi]

"How are they diminished? Is the potential loss of life acceptable because there is less of it?"

Its a simple math problem. Lets say your overall risk at getting some sort of disease from a new fish is down around 3-5%. 2 fish x a 5% risk = a whole lot lower chance of running in to a problem then 20 fish x 5% risk. Now consider that setting up and mainting a sufficient QT is going to be a constant amount of work wether your running a 20g or a 200g tank.

It just doesnt make sense for a small tank with only 2 or 3 fish. This is not me choosing to harm my fish, its me dealing with whats worth my space, time and money and whats not. I think I can save both time, money AND my fish by taking extra time to examine my new creatures.

Tell yah what, do you have a generator? Is your generator powerfull enough to run your whole tank for a week(Lights/pumps/heaters/chiller/ the whole shabang)? Maybe im wayyyyyy off base, but im gonig to guess that only 10-20% of the people here do. Is this because people dont care about their creatures? Is it because they are ignorant? No, Im going to say it is because the risk of having the power go out for that long is so low that they wont invest the money and space for a generator. Its the same kind of idea.

"Is the potential loss of life acceptable because there is less of it?"
I dont know why you keep insinuating that I dont care about my creatures in my tank, because I certainly do. I dont think anyone would get in to this hobby if they didn't.

I still disagree on the qting of corals. I wont till I have a frag grow out tank.

 

[steve-s]

Its a simple math problem.

My goodness. How sad for you, that life can be reduced to simple "bean counting". I do however realizing when I'm wasting my time on a particular individual but I don't consider my time wasted in addressing this thread.

I am curious about one thing though, do you work for an HMO?

Cheers
Steve

 

[jezzeaepi]

Diminish is defined as to lessen. The best way I thought to show you how it was "lessened" was via math. Maybe youve never been responsible for risk managment before, but everything you do has an associated risk. Thats what I was trying to explain with the generator idea, but as with everything I have typed here you have skipped passed it then made some offensive comment towards me.

Dont bother "wasting your time" on me, I never asked you to. I dont think Id want someone whos unwilling to listen or respect anyone elses ideas, to give me advice. Youve got to listen to many ideas and experiment for yourself to really get an idea of things in this hobby. There is certainly no right way. There are suggested ways, and even ways that are proven to work well for a long time, but no rule is set in stone. for example... How about If I got a healthy fish out of one of your systems steve? What reasons would I possibly have to qt it?

 

[steve-s]

Dont bother "wasting your time" on me,

I won't...

Cheers
Steve

 

[jezzeaepi]

I won't...

Case and point... I am really suprised you have your own forum here. You may have a wealth of knowledge, but your very rude to people. You bring the caliber of RF down.