LFS quarantine

[nycfishy]

Do any of the fish stores in Queens/LI quarantine their fish before selling them?
If not any suggestions for best lfs for healthy disease free fish?
Have a new tank I am looking to slowly stock.
First fish in will be a foxface

 

[Wondering]

It?s impossible for a store to QT fish. You really should have your own QT system.

 

[Spartanwarrior]

Advanced Marine runs low levels of copper. Salgado runs low levels of prazi. +1 to your own system. get a small 20G with a sponge filter, bubbler, heater and ammonia badge. seed the sponge for a month or so with good bacteria. Many good forums on R2R on QT procedures. I fought the prospect of QT for the longest time due to lack of space and laziness, and luckily I haven't had a disease outbreak, but I knew it was only a matter of time so I took the plunge. I feel much better about buying a $225 Achilles tang last week now =)

It really is impossible for LFS to QT their fish. To make any sort of profit in this hobby for them, turnover is the biggest factor. IME, those 2 places I mentioned have the cleanest fish but nothing is ever a slam dunk.

 

[BYU]

advanced marine aquatics is the only place ill get my fish now
they run copper and prazi
but i still do tank transfer method and prazi pro for all my fish anyway
good luck with the new tank
ps when you stock your tank add the most peaceful / docile fish first

 

[pecan2phat]

While probably not impossible but also not likely, a store can quarantine for 7~14 days just to isolate outbreaks but they are not prophylactically treating the fish. They might use "low dose" copper in their quarantine systems but this does not cure parasites, rather it just mask them IMO.
For anyone whether a service or store to prophylactically treat and quarantine a fish, it would take 30~40 days and that is just not practical unless they charge you 3x the cost of retail pricing.

 

[Thatguy96]

hands down, advanced marine aquatics. Andrew and nick take care of those fish.

 

[heuerfan]

Any store can have disease no matter what, better safe to QT yourself. I learned the hard way....

While I agree Andrew & Nick take care of their fish, that does not mean their fish are disease free. In order to treat a lot of marine diseases, it takes time a few weeks at least.

my 2 cents...

 

[heuerfan]

Also prazipro does not work for all flukes especially those that are common in marine angelfish. Only way to get rid of those flukes is hyposalinity...... Ask me how i know

 

[nycfishy]

thanks for all the great feedback. Advanced marine is where I was planning on getting most fish but they obviously don't have everything. I have a really old biocube tank that I think was 8 gallons, is that too small to use as a QT tank?

 

[nycfishy]

New tank is a RSR 525XL. Will be mixed reef.
Build thread is here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-sea-reefer-525xl-version-3-build.453412

This is my current stocking plan.
New fish
Foxface (one spot or elegance)
Flasher wrasse

then transfer these fish from existing tank
Clown Pair
Fire fish
2 Blue green chromis
Solan wrasse
Diamond Goby
Scooter Blenny
Anthias (Dispar?)

then back to new fish
Copperband butterfish (from LFS only)
Orchid Dottyback
Green Mandarin (once pods built up in fugre)
Scribbled Angelfish
Kole eye Tang

 

[rich]

isnt low levels of copper something that just hides the diseases like ich and velvet but never gets rid of it so you still need to treat your own fish. I think it is hard to use high levels as wrasses would probably die unless they do a slow acclimation and not all fish are copper treatable

 

[pecan2phat]

Anytime I used a small tank for quarantine and treatment it did not end well, just my experience.

 

[nycfishy]

pecan2phat--- What size did you have bad luck with and what size do you use now?

 

[Donewiththisplace]

Used a 10 gallon..also didn't turn out well.

 

[pecan2phat]

I was using a JBJ 12g nano cube for fish under 3" and survival rate was miserable. Had to switch to a 20g long for the smaller fish but also had to use a 3ft tank for one over 3".

 

[marrone]

For smaller fish I use a 5gal hermit tank. I keep this tank running on all the time, whether I have a fish in it there or not. In that tank I have live rock and basically when I do a water change on my reef tank I use the water in that tank. This works out really well for me and I don't think I've lost any fish from using it. Now, some people may not be able to keep a small tank running all the tank but you can have small pieces of LR in your sump, or a sponge filter, and then when you need to setup the small tank you can use those things as biology filter.

For larger fish I use anywhere from a 10gal tank to a 50gal Rubbermaid container. I don't use any biology filtration when I do this. Basically I try not to feed a lot and do big water changes, 50%, sometimes twice a week, and after that I will change all the water and then clean out the tank. I then start over with fresh water, usually from one of my tanks. If I see the fish has something I'll then start to treat. This has worked well for me over the years.

 

[Wondering]

http://humblefishaquatics.com/index.html
This probably would be your best option. Also, look up this member on r2r.

 

[pecan2phat]

http://humblefishaquatics.com/index.html
This probably would be your best option. Also, look up this member on r2r.

I wouldn?t hold my breath.
Website has been under construction for the past 2 months and he?s not replying to inquiries via email.

 

[Wondering]

I wouldn?t hold my breath.
Website has been under construction for the past 2 months and he?s not replying to inquiries via email.

I?ve been reading his threads on QT practices for a while and thought he sounded like a responsible aquarist so I was hoping that he?d go through with his idea of selling quarantined and treated fish. Sad to see that he?s not following through with this as this is the only option for many people. Still, I believe it?s a good idea to read his threads regarding fish diseases and possible treatments.

 

[b-ridge]

He has plenty of fish in qt and for sale. Was texting with him last night. Prices aren?t bad neither for what your getting. Plus if there?s a fish you want that he doesn?t have he puts up the money for the fish and basically takes all the risk until your fish is ready