Two Methodoligies to keep a reef tank

[paul b]

There are actually two very different methodiologies to run a reef tank. I am not talking about dosers, controllers, bio pellets, etc. I am talking about either qurantining everything or not quarantining anything but keeping everything immune. There are advantages and dis-advantages of each method.

 

I will start with the benefits of quarantining. Of course the theory here is to keep disease organisms out of our tanks by keeping the fish, corals and every thing else we put in our tanks seperate from the rest of the livestock for a long enough period where we think parasites would live out their life cycle. At the end of the parasite's life cycle, if we don't see any new parasites, we assume there are none and the fish can be acclimated to our tank. In a quarantine tank we will also examine the occupants to see if we notice any disease organisms or problems so we can then medicate for that particular problem. Some people medicate the quarantine tank for parasites and bacterial infections just to make sure the creature is healthy before exposing it to the existing livestock. ( I used to do that years ago) Many people believe that a new fish is stressed and life in a quarantine tank would be better because that fish can be hand fed and kept away from possable bullies. The fish can be fattened up without having to contend with faster fish that were in the tank longer and would steal all of the food. That, as we all know is the theory of quarantining.

 

 

 

Now for the disadvantages of a quarantined tank. Virtually all quarantine tanks are much smaller and less decorated than a real reef. The hiding places will be something like PVC elbows, glass, flowerpots or pictures of your girlfriend. The circulation will be much different than the fish is acustomed to as will be the lighting. We will "dote" on the fish more and no matter how good looking we think we are, the fish do not like looking at us all the time with no where but a PVC fitting to hide in. The fish will have no place to forage or feel secure. They will also have to stay in this small tank for a long period of time, usually 72 days. Almost all fish like to look for food continousely, even if they just ate. But if kept in a smaller, bare tank for an extended period, they stop looking for food as they know there isn't any. They will develop a blank look on their face from boredom. OK, stop laughing. If you don't believe me, lock yourself in your bathroom for 72 days with just some PVC elbows to look at. Then look in the mirror and see what you look like.

 

The main disadvantage of quarantined fish, is they lose some or all of their immunity from everything. Immunity only lasts so long if the fish is not exposed to a disease organism. This immunity varies with the species. This may not be much of a disadvantage in a tank where everything is quarantined because the fish should never be exposed to a disease organism in such a tank. But the fish will "never" be as healthy as it could be because a fishes immune system helps the fish stay healthy even if it is not exposed to a pathogen. Also when a fish spawns, the female fish passes that immunity to it's fry to keep it safe until it grows it's own slime with it's associated immunity just as our babies also pick up immunity from their Mothers which protects them until they are exposed to pathogens and can develop their own immunity. Also fish, like us depend on bacteria in their guts to digest food. It has been shown recently that fish (and us) depend on that gut bacteria for general health. A quarantined fish will only have the bacteris in it's gut from it's food. And in a quarantine tank, that food will be sterile because we would not want to feed live food to a fish in quarantine for fear we would add pathogens. Of course the biggest concern is accidently introducing a disease organism into a tank of fish with no immunity. You can easily find a plethora of tanks that crashed to disease even though they have been quarantined.

 

 

 

Now I will discuss the benefits of "not" quarantining and keeping the fish immune from disease. At first this seems silly and as so many people point out this is like playing Russian Roulette. I have never been to Russia so I can't comment on that. But the benefits of having immune fish are many. We can buy a fish, coral or crustacean and after a short acclimation, put it right in our tank. We can also collect natural sea water or creatures from the sea that we may want to use as food such as amphipods, worms, snails etc. If our fish are truely immune, we will never have any use for medications or a hospital tank. These fish will be healthier than quarantined fish (all else being equal) because the fishes immune system does more for a fish than our immune system does for us. An immune fish will never get sick. It may get a swim bladder disease, popeye or have an accident, but it will never become infected from bacteria or parasites. If it does, it was not truely immune, now was it?

 

 

 

Trying to get and keep fish immune also has disadvantages. First off all the fish we buy are stressed and maybe all of them have some sort of malady, either in the form of parasites or bacteria. Even if the rest of our fish are immune, the new one is not and may succumb to disease after it is introduced to the tank. The new fish may be weak and scared so it may not find enough food. If the fish we buy was at the dealer's for a long time it was probably swimming in water treated with copper or antibiotics as many dealers have to use such measures to keep fish healthy "looking" until they are sold. Those fish will all have a very weak immune system and if our tank was not quarantined there will be parasites, viruses and bacteria sitting there just waiting for such a fish. So the introduction phase of a non quarantined fish has it's dangers and we may lose some fish. I have not found this to happen but I can't explain why. I can, and do add fish from all different places including the sea and never in over 35 years have any of them ever had a disease. But to keep fish in this condition they should be fed either fresh or live food such as clams, fish or the best thing live blackworms. Frozen foods would be the second choice but dry foods shoulsd be used very rarely or not at all. It is not that dry foods are bad or they don't have the proper nutrients. It is that they are sterile and will not allow the immune system to recognize a threat and make antibodies against it. Much of a fishes immune system is in it's slime and the correct foods "with" it's associated bacteria are necessary to get and keep a fish immune.

 

 

 

Of course if you don't believe in immunity, (or Bigfoot) you just wasted ten minutes reading this. And should stop calling me names. I also think that newbees to this hobby should "always" quarantine until such time where you can recognize subtle problems with fish. This can take a number of years and is not an overnight thing. As I said quarantining has advantages and is easier to do for a newcomer to the hobby. Many tanks of fish have been lost to disease and fish with a weak immune system will sicken and die within a day or two. It is not easy to tell if your fish are immune and only experience will tell you that. But if you started the hobby one or two years ago, feed your fish mostly dry food like flakes or pellets and your fish are not spawning I can quarantee they are not immune and you should be careful and quarantine everything.

 

Now I know the majority of people do not agree with me. I did not write this to be agreeable. I wrote it from the experience of doing this for six decades. I could be wrong and would like to hear your thoughts and opinions. You can even call me names because I am old and probably wouldn't understand those names. Also my birthday is on Christmas Day so I am in a good mood and no amount of name calling will change that.

[SunWyrm]

I agree with this. However, I'd like to add my pet peeve of the difference between quarantining a fish and actively treating a fish for disease. I keep a "QT" but I actually use it for quarantine. It's just a separate reef tank that is always running. Live rock, macro, cuc, dirty glass, the works. I'll hold a new fish in there for 2-4 weeks, and if nothing arises during that time and I feel that it's ready, it gets to join the rest of the fish in my display. 

I think a lot of people get hospital tank and quarantine tank confused for the same thing. Quarantine should be used to separate a fish, keep an eye on them and let them recover from whatever trauma they've experienced, as well as starting their Stockholm syndrome and getting them used to you as the bringer of food. This also allows the fish to display their natural behaviors and keep busy during the day. A calm tank with a lot of hiding places, in a quiet, out of the way location will go a long way in starting to build that immunity that Paul is talking about. 

If you're treating your fish with medications, prophylactically or otherwise, this would be more of a hospital tank. This is the bare, pvc, and nothing else tank where you can use medications, hyposalinity and other treatments.   

It's like the difference between staying in a hospital or staying in a nice hotel. Where would you rather be for a few weeks?

[paul b]

It's like the difference between staying in a hospital or staying in a nice hotel. Where would you rather be for a few weeks?

Tahiti!

[LCDRDATA]

Tahiti!

 

I hear i's a magical place. 

[paul b]

That it is

 

 

[sen5241b]

I don't know about you but I do not have the money to fill a QT with adequate rock thus missing all the filtration benefits that rock provide. I've had QTs before and without rock or any filtration I've seen nitrates and phosphates rise high quickly.even though it was under-stocked. I ended up having to do more water changes on the QT.

 

(Tahiti definitely near the top of my bucket list.)

[Der ABT]

I made a make shift biopellete reactor for my qt tank out of a 20 Oz Dr pepper bottle.....made a huge difference in water quality

[sen5241b]

I made a make shift biopellete reactor for my qt tank out of a 20 Oz Dr pepper bottle.....made a huge difference in water quality

 

got a pic?