Quarantine fish tank yes/no?

[GrayCat777]

Question: Do I really need to keep a quarantine tank for my home aquariums?
Reasons against:
*If one fish sick rest of them has been contaminated.
*Proper quarantine tank means for my fish 20gal fishtank filtered, heated, cycled and empty - not possible due to different reasons. Anything less - makes no sence since sticking already weak fish into small, not up to par environment is most likely means to kill this fish.
Reasons for:
1. I save money since i use les medicine
2. I do not have to stress other presumably "healthy" fish invert by harsh medicines

Experts, I am really interested what do you think about it? Am I missing something?
Sturgeon... in fish tank at home. You know their adult size, right? For bath treatment 5 gallon rubbermaid container is more than sufficient. Way cheaper than quarantine tank. For a new fish: Quarantine tank may present more problems than solution. Besides, in healthy aquarium you do not add fish every week. If i do it once a year (if by some freak chance one of mine dies) I can take reasonable risk buying it from reputable store and judging fish health using my own experience
Interesting points mr. jtrusnik. Arguable but interesting.
I do not seek to see yes or no answer to my question. I just wonder what other people thing about subject. And about copper in marine fishtank. Isn't copper in water deadly for invertebrates?

 

[jtrusnik]

Yes, a quarantine is necessary.

"*If one fish sick rest of them has been contaminated."

First of all, that's not necessarily true. You can pull a fish out before the pathogen has a chance to spread if you catch the symptoms early enough. Some chance is better than none at all.

Second of all, if you quarantine new arrivals, you prevent pathogens from getting a foothold in your system in the first place.

"Proper quarantine tank means for my fish 20gal fishtank filtered, heated, cycled and empty - not possible due to different reasons. Anything less - makes no sence since sticking already weak fish into small, not up to par environment is most likely means to kill this fish."

If it isn't possible, then you run a risk of introducing pathogens, killing your fish, and costing your more money to re-establishing the system.

Secondly, the small environment will not be optimal, but:
(1) You aren't keeping the fish in the tank forever. They'll be fine temporarily.
(2) They have a chance to recuperate from the stresses of the fish shop (which often do have pathogens in their systems, as they never fallow their entire systems), without dealing with the stresses of the new tank, such as competition.
(3) They learn that the stuff you drop in the tank is food. Most fish don't naturally look upwards for food, and some don't know that the stuff you put in the tank is intended to be eaten. While some feed readily, others need the time to learn without being in competition with other fishes.
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Medications that help sick fishes usually shouldn't be in the main system. Medication given to a healthy fish is just like giving medication to a healthy person: it has the chance to screw something up (especially when you consider how much we use compounds like methylene blue, malachite green, and copper sulfate when we need to treat our animals; all are known to have dangerous, sometimes even lethal, overdose effects). Medicines exist, not because they restore perfection, but because we feel that the results of their use is better than the results of not using them.

Plus, quarantining new arrivals is the best way to protect your system from new pathogens. If you buy a fish that has a parasite, fungal infestation, or an infection, the fish may not present visible signs until days after you bring it home. By following a standard quarantine, you can keep the fish separated from others until you can ensure that these pathogens have been eliminated.

To give a real example, it was once thought that marine ich was inevitable in saltwater tanks. Nowadays, we know, for a fact, that we can prevent the outbreak by isolating new arrivals until we can ensure that the parasite that causes it (cryptocaryon irritans) is eradicated.
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After your tank is stocked, you don't need to keep the quarantine running. You can disassemble it until needed; just keep the filter media connected to the main system to keep it populated with bacteria.

A lot of people have advocated quarantines to protect our display tanks. It's the single best piece of equipment you can use for this protection. You can often get away without having one, but all you need is one preventable outbreak to wipe out your whole tank to make you wish you had done things differently.