So how many times have you had ich in your tank? And how many times did it take you to wise up and buy that QT tank lol? Me 2 times lesson learned.
Roger
I have gotten it once in my reef after adding a pair of HI flame wrasses. Sometimes I feel like qt on some fish is too stressful. Like on tangs. Putting them in a smaller tank with limited swimming room. Then I have heard of others that have had ich after putting fish into display from qt. I'm really torn about it....just my .02
My first 55 gal reef---no quarantine got a powder blue tang and got ick. lost all fish
2nd tank 75 gal reef. after restocking the 55 changed everyone over to the 75 and lost all fish.
my 390 gal fowlr---had this tank about 8 years ago constantly had ick coming and going but never lost any fish
Only once when i added a hippo tang 3 years ago. It went away after treatment and once i started dosing Vitamin C never again in 3 years (knocks on wood)!
Heres my ich rant. I havent lost a fish to ich since I was 13 or so.
I sometimes get fish in with a tad of ich, or some shows up on a tang for a little while (Only a couple spots or some minor itching)
You shouldnt lose any fish to ich...it is really the mildest thing that can happen disease-wise in your tank.
Ich is a sign of a couple things:
1. This tank isnt big enough. (Either too many fish, or not enough room. Could be lack of hiding spots, or general harassment from another fish. Either way, not enough space.)
2. You arent feeding me enough/well enough.
3. Your water quality isnt good enough.
You keep these three things in check, you are ulikely to get any disease, and ich will perish in your tank. Had to add a chevron directly to DT after adding another tang to a tank with a purple recently. Chevy was in bad shape, and had a split fin, wounded mouth, and ich. Fin is now healed, ich is gone, not showing on any other fish, and the mouth is getting better.
Never dealt with it once in either freshwater or saltwater in over 12 years. Healthy tanks (lots of room, minimal stocking) + healthy fish (also only those types less prone to disease problems) = no ich.
My rule is anything wet, no exceptions, gets a 4-8 weeks QT. This lesson was driven home by Dr Gratzek who demonstrated Ich survived dried and encysted in aquariums stored empty for 3 years and bleached before use!
If an animal shows 30+ days of disease free symptoms, its risk of being infective is low enough to warrant adding it to the main display. But everything wet gets QT...algae, rock, sand, coral of course, etc. Since you need comparatively less light (shallow water( in a small QT tank...lighting for QT with corals is no biggie. Even PCs are fine for any coral you can name in 25 cm of water or less.
I kept a fowlr for 6 yrs about 9 yrs ago so memory is a bit fuzzy. It was a 55 and I only REMEMBER dealing with it once after adding a powder blue (yes tang police I am aware of my sin now and will never do that again) he infected all other fish. I treated and hypo dipped. Everyone made it but the pdt.