[jsgates]

Well, I got two new fish in a couple of days ago. My second True Percula Clown to make the pair. He is a little one and very active! Also got a small Blue Hippo Tang (about 2.5 inches). I drip acclimated them and they are now in my 12 ga. nanocube and doing well. It's only been a couple of days, but both fish are doing well, and both ate the first time I fed them. I originally planned to quarantine them in the nano for about 1 - 2 weeks before moving them to the my 80 ga. reef. However, I dont' want to keep the tang in the 12 ga. any longer than neccessary as I would like to give a little more swimming room. Neither fish show any signs of Ich and both appear healthy. Nice looking fish! (ordered from Marine Depot Live this time) The don't have as good of a gurantee as Liveaquaria or Saltwaterfish.com, but the fish came packed up well. How long would you guys leave them in the nano before moving them to the display tank? I know opinions will differ on this one, but I don't believe that quarantining new arrivals for 4-6 weeks is necessary. Opinions please?

[Adam J]

I personally say 4-6week minimum,and 12gallons is way to small for a blue hippo tang.

[Jeremy0322]

I am assuming that he will be throwing them in his 75, i think the 12 is just a quarantine tank. As for the time period you should, at a minimum, do 3-4 weeks. 4 is much better.

[ilovemash]

Most guidelines would probably say 4-6 weeks in QT, but in all honesty it is up to you. If you feel safe putting them in no one can stop you! I personally did not start QTing until recently and I never had problems! It is the safe thing to do however!

[Jeremy0322]

The only problem with Tangs being quarantined in any tank let alone one that small is eventually they are going to get stressed because they have no room to swim. Then you are going to have them in QT for weeks, they will get stressed and get ich, and then have to stay in there. If it were me, and I am sure i will get yelled at for this, but after 2 1/2 - 3 weeks, if its looking good then give it the upgrade, just make sure that you feed it really good(add garlic to the food) and acclimate properly and make sure it looks really good. Then you "should" be alright.

[Ganrin]

My blue tang is in my 29gal hospital/qt tank atm, because I didnt want to stress him out with qt when I bought him. The fish had been in the lfs over a month, was eating great, had had no signs of problems. So I put it straight into mt without qt, taking the risk that he would get sick vs less stress in the larger more established tank. Almost exactly a month after I got him he broke out in ich in the mt so now ive got all my fish in hypo in hospital tank.

So what Im saying is its a lot better to go a full qt than to have to catch them back out to treat them if they get sick later.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Some recent estimates imply that as much as 50% of the fish being sold from any source come with ich.I am not sure I believe that number,but I believe the instance of ich is far higher than 25%.The life cycle of ich is at least two weeks.So i would say the minimum should be 3 weeks and at that you may be taking a chance.remember that once this stuff gets into your tank quarantine will be the least of your problems.Impatients is the largest killer of fish in the aquarium hobby.NOTHING GOOD EVER HAPPENS IN A HURRY IN A REEF TANK.

[rlcline76]

Those clowns could bring in some nasty crap. Tangs are prone to disease and stress given the wrong environment. 3 weeks minimum. Between the clowns and the 12 gallons I feel that tangs clausterphobia. If you decide to cut the QT period short or just want to make their QT period a little more pleasurable, you might want to look into a bath...assuming they have some sort or parasite already (And I do, because most of the time, fish are like kittens and puppies...they have worms until you get them dewormed.

Dips/Baths

[jsgates]

The 12 ga. is just a quarantine tank for now. Both fish appear to be doing very well. There is only 1 small perc in the tank, and a small Blue Hippo. The tang concerns me more for disease than the clown, but only b/c they are susceptible to disease. However, both fish are doing well and eating. The 12 ga. is not a permanent home for any of these fish. Not everybody has the space or can afford to set up a 30+ ga. quarantine tank. Got to work with what you've got.

[R-e-D]

the best answer to this is ... stop buying fish by mail .lol .. in my ten years dealing with salt water fish i NEVER qt any fish before putting it into my tank .. dont get me wrong, i do have a qt tank running . but only for sick or injured fish from my tank .. thats the biggest problem with mail order fish , you never know what you are getting . if i like a fish at my lfs i as for it to be put on hold for me , i pay for it and leave it there for 1 week . after that if it is ok i take it home and put it into my tank . now dont yell at me , i know not all of us have lfs near us .. better to travel a little futher then to risk illness by mail . imo!

[Adam J]

I read today in marine&reef mag. that 70% of fish being brought into the hoby have worms.

[ilovemash]

That seems a little much, I would definitely get another source on that one. I would put the phrase "Don't believe everything you read" into effect on that statement.

[Adam J]

Maybe.....maybe not.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Its sad state when 1 out of 100 fish are sick when you bring them home.How sad is it when 1/3 to 1/2 of them are sick for some reason.My sweety did not believe in a qt and loves blue damsels(yeah I know I tried to get her to get help lol).She bought a damsel at the lfs and brought it home and 24 hours later all the fish were dead.Now she is a believer.Unfortunately this occurs with fish purchased on line and at the the lfs.I would niether recomend or consider not using a qt.

[pogodzib]

I've found that no matter how much are on-line or LFS sources take with their livestock, they deal with too large of a quantity of livestock and diseases get passed around way too much. I quarantine 95% of fish for 6 weeks minimum. The only fish that I don't quarantine that long are bottom dwelling fish that usually don't host diseases. Knowing how prone to ich tangs are, I wouldn't every consider not quarantining them less than 6 weeks. Having the fish in a 12 gal tank will be more stressful on your new arrivals, which would help any diseases that they carry show up so it isn't a totally bad thing that the fish are in a small tank. If they aren't carrying the diseases/bacteria/virus, then it can't show up.

Originally Posted by NATIVEVAMAN

Some recent estimates imply that as much as 50% of the fish being sold from any source come with ich.

I don't know that the total is that high when you consider all of the types of fish available, but I think tangs are probably higher than that. Not that you can always see it, but they are hosting the ich parasite waiting for the fish to get stressed out and weakened for it to start showing up.