Certified Quarantined Fish Shipped To Your Door...

[dhuynh]

Curious - what is your QT process? Thanks

Here's a quick run down of what I do.

1. All fish come into dump tank. There's no medication in this tank. It's just used to acclimate them to my water, temperature, lighting schedule, food, etc.. they are in here for a few days with observations.

2. Afterward, I treat with furan2 and metro. Again, more observation.. they are feed a mix of frozen food, medicated pellets (suppose to help with ich. Idk), and nori.

3. My last stage is usually prazipro. Then office to a clean tank w/o medication.

Copper is reserved for really bad cases in a separate tank all together.

Overall, I have 7 tanks used for QT. 4x90gal and 3x20gal.

 

[FishyDave]

It won't help if you quarantine fish and then feed it flakes or freeze dried TV Dinners.

So true, if we are not willing to feed them what they eat in the wild how do we expect our fish to be healthy. This means live food, algae and other foods. It's an inconvenience to most of us to feed live, but if we demand the wholesaler and LFS do it, why shouldn't we expect the same of ourselves?

 

[FishyDave]

Here's a quick run down of what I do.

1. All fish come into dump tank. There's no medication in this tank. It's just used to acclimate them to my water, temperature, lighting schedule, food, etc.. they are in here for a few days with observations.

2. Afterward, I treat with furan2 and metro. Again, more observation.. they are feed a mix of frozen food, medicated pellets (suppose to help with ich. Idk), and nori.

3. My last stage is usually prazipro. Then office to a clean tank w/o medication.

Copper is reserved for really bad cases in a separate tank all together.

Overall, I have 7 tanks used for QT. 4x90gal and 3x20gal.

So you are medicating without signs of illness and you medicate all the fish, just not the ill ones?

 

[Aardvark1134]

People live over 70 years on McDonalds, soft drinks, and 100lbs overweight. High quality frozen foods mean they eating better than us and will work just fine.

 

[MnFish1]

So true, if we are not willing to feed them what they eat in the wild how do we expect our fish to be healthy. This means live food, algae and other foods. It's an inconvenience to most of us to feed live, but if we demand the wholesaler and LFS do it, why shouldn't we expect the same of ourselves?

I feed flake food (mostly) I haven problems. There are at least a couple articles out there describing the problem with hobbyists trying to feed multiple types of fish with home-made food. The fish will eat anything - but - the question is - are these homemade foods 'healthy'/researched? Answer - no. If you feed newly dead clam to a butterflyfish - that doesnt mean that that butterfly would eat that in the wild. Its a myth IMHO

 

[FishyDave]

Minimum wage and proper teaching are not mutually exclusive. A good LFS owner should be making sure his or her staff is properly trained and doling out sound advice to the customer.

LFS are started by hobbyist because they love the hobby, not necessarily because they are good at it. There is a new fish store opening near me, the guy has been in the hobby 12 months. What good advice can I get from that? It's up to us to learn and know what we need to keep our fish.

Besides where would one educate themselves? Your philosophies are in the minority even on reefing forums like this. If reading actual scientific papers is going to be the barrier to keeping saltwater tanks, then the hobby would end quickly.

I humbly disagree, when I started there were only books to learn from. You had to research what fish were compatible with each other and what you needed to have to care for them That is still a great place to start. The fish are not eating anything different than they did 20 years ago, their diseases are the same, heck the treatments are mostly the same. As hobbyists it is up to each of us to be as educated as possible as the fish we care for depend upon it.

 

[FishyDave]

People live over 70 years on McDonalds, soft drinks, and 100lbs overweight. High quality frozen foods mean they eating better than us and will work just fine.

McDonald's has not been in business for 70 years.

 

[Aardvark1134]

They have been around 64 years and white castle has been around much longer. But white castle may make your fish poop a lot lol

 

[dhuynh]

So you are medicating without signs of illness and you medicate all the fish, just not the ill ones?

I treat them all. Fish that don't show signs could still have bacteria and parasites.

I'm more aggressive with fish with signs of disease, like ulcers, torn fins with fungal infections, worms, etc.

 

[FishyDave]

They have been around 64 years and white castle has been around much longer. But white castle may make your fish poop a lot lol

No that is the truth!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

People live over 70 years on McDonalds, soft drinks, and 100lbs overweight. High quality frozen foods mean they eating better than us and will work just fine.

In all the 48 states, Loma Linda is where people live over 100 years. No where else as a population in the US. Is that seen. Odd? They do like the Mediterranean diet.

 

[Aardvark1134]

My grandma is currently 100 will be 101 in Oct...She likes to make bacon and then use bread to soak up all the left over bacon grease and eat it. She also like all types of desserts and soft drinks...she will probably live another 5-10 years as it was only last year that she finally stopped walking a mile every day and pulling weeds in her garden. My great grandma made it to 105...so its not super rare where I am

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

My grandma is currently 100 will be 101 in Oct...She likes to make bacon and then use bread to soak up all the left over bacon grease and eat it. She also like all types of desserts and soft drinks...she will probably live another 5-10 years as it was only last year that she finally stopped walking a mile every day and pulling weeds in her garden. My great grandma made it to 105...so its not super rare where I am

The French love there butter and wines. Do pretty good

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Oooooo lard. Yum yum.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Now, you go to Copper Canyon(Mexico), 80-90+ year olds running not walking 30 miles per days . Nike came there for shoe ideas.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I don't think most of us are as rich as Rev. Three times? Must be nice. I cannot afford to pay anymore. Saltwater fish are already incredibly expensive as they are. They already have a 100%-150% markup or more on them at normal retail prices. To bump that up, well I don't think the market could bare it. To have a Saltwater fish that is totally disease and infection free though, man, that would be a game changer for the hobby. I consider having to QT fish, and losing fish without QT the biggest factor in people giving up and quitting the hobby. Of course, corals are important, but the average person doesn't want to look at an empty reef tank with just corals in it. Coral care is quite simple compared to all that goes into doing a QT and treating these fish. Anyway, retailers don't want to sit on inventory for months, eat all the costs of the fish that don't make it, meds, feeding, etc. so this discussion is purely for fun. I don't see it being a viable business, well ever.

 

[MnFish1]

I agree with a lot of what you said except for the part about it being our fault and not the LFS/supplier etc...They are the ones most depended on for advice and learning. So if they are not educating properly, are we truly to blame? The average reef newbie is going to take the advice of their LFS, because why wouldn't they? If your philosophies are true, then that is the type of information and education that should be propagated by the entire industry and it's just not.

The average LFS knows what they are doing - (though they might not always do it). In the days of the romans there was a saying 'caveat emptor'. (Let the buyer beware). Pretend I have to feed my family tonight - and I have a lion fish in a tank. Someone comes in and says - can I put it in with 6 chromes? The guy says 'yes'. is that right? NO. Is it ethical? No. Does it feed his family because he cant see aqua clear filters for 3x the price (due the internet) yes - which would you pick. Note - Good LFS do not do this. Im not defending it. But - when you all who buy hard goods from the internet - wonder why your LFS is giving bad information - consider this.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I know what we need, some type of insurance we purchase to cover fish loss, the more months for coverage more we pay. That I would pay for.

 

[MnFish1]

So true, if we are not willing to feed them what they eat in the wild how do we expect our fish to be healthy. This means live food, algae and other foods. It's an inconvenience to most of us to feed live, but if we demand the wholesaler and LFS do it, why shouldn't we expect the same of ourselves?

I liked your post - but I think you're off base - I feed flake food lol.... and some frozen - there Is no magic. Do you go out and shoot the food for your wife/children? There is no difference between frozen and 'live food' except that it makes a good argument. Or? I mean the life expectancy between 1800 and 2000 has made a dramatic increase - yet the use of frozen food/sanitation has increased. Go figure....

 

[Aardvark1134]

Yeah and I don't think people would be too happy if I went to the pet store every week for fish/birds/rabbits/guiena pigs to feed to my cats so they could have live food only. When my friends come over I feed my friends dead food...it's even cooked!