Kessil

No quarantine!?!?

I will always qt no matter what. IMO what works for some will not guarentee to work for you. I’m not saying the article is right or not but I personally will not introduce a fish without watching it
 
Rich Ross said at the last event that those in attendance, and by extension active club members, would be considered "elite reefers." Even among elite reefers (like those here), I would guess the vast majority don't QT and have never QT'd.
 
I don’t think anyone can dispute that he’s got a thriving tank and that his method works, at least for him. According to his posts, he’s added like 9 fish in the last few months. Some with visible illnesses, yet they’ve recovered and are doing well. And from others chiming in, it sounds like he’s not the only one that has success without a quarantine system.

Obviously, I’m super new at this, but at a minimum, it’s great hearing about other ways to do this hobby.
 
I would say most hobbyists don't qt. And if you can't commit to doing it right you can easily. More harm than good. That being said, I still wouldn't try to replicate his "method". It works for him, maybe even somebody other people, but there isn't any "real quantifiable" science or data to "prove" anything. I've never met the guy, not have I seen his tank or talked to him in person, but I bet there are lots of factors at work in his system, and I think it would be hard if not impossible to reproduce all of them for most people.
 
His logic is flawed. If the parasites fail to infect the fish, how are they reproducing?

That's like saying our doctors should just purposefully infect us with diseases so we can be immune to them. We are not talking about vaccines which in most cases are not full blown strains.

The bacteria part I agree with. I am a proponent of diversity in a tank. I try to get as many types of pods, phyto, snails etc.
 
I'm also familiar with Paul B and his looong tank thread. I agree with Mike, that it works for him for who knows what reasons, etc...(He gets his water locally in NY, his tank has been going forever....). and would not try to reproduce it.

I am one who does QT pretty much anything that is wet for the last 4y+. When I first setup my 300g over 12y ago, I was much less stringent and didn't do much QT (the occasional fish with cupramine and some observation). I will admit though that if I had a small DT with much less to lose and restart, then I would not be so vigilant...because it is a lot of extra work.
 
I also don't understand the part where he claims he's introducing live bacteria by feeding g frozen food...doesn't freezing kill most if not all the bacteria?
 
Yea supposedly some human parasites release anti-inflammatories so that your gut doesn’t know they are there, but I that doesn’t mean we should treat inflammation with parasites.
 
I've got some experience in fish diseases / diagnostics so I thought I would add to the discussion.....

There are three key concepts to fish husbandry regarding diseases......(1) health of the individual (2) external stresses (3) presence of disease........so if Paul B (met him at a NVR talk he gave a few years ago) has got a relatively healthy purchase and his tank is stable, then odds favor the fish probably doing well. If he introduces a sick fish (let us say is destined to die, cyanide exposed etc) than there is a good chance his tank will not suffer due to the exposure. But put in the right disease and watch out.

I never had issues in not quarantining things but that all changed when I watch 1/2 of my population of mature Rainbowfish (some 3-4 years old) and my entire population of mature Rasbora get wiped out by a new introduction.......I later concluded it was a virus.
So I now quarantine all of my freshwater fish. But I cannot say the same for my salt. I some times wonder about getting an overpowered in-line UV set up so I can temporarily plumb a quarantine into my existing reef.
 
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