I wanted to know how many of you guys use preventative dips when acquiring a new fish. I'm talking about freshwater, methylene blue, etc dips before placing in quarantine. I'm just curious if these dips cause more harm than good. It seems that any type of dip will stress out a specimen. Has anyone read research into whether using dips prevents fish diseases or know if large public aquariums, fish farms, wholesalers etc use them? I'm trying to make up my mind whether or not to add them to my quarantine regimen.

i will now be dipping all corals that come into my house !! since i have contracted RED BUGS (probably a LFS) from somewhere, i am NOT going to go through this preventable fight again. i know you are asking about fish, but that is my $.02 worth of ranting.

i will now be dipping all corals that come into my house !! since i have contracted RED BUGS (probably a LFS) from somewhere, i am NOT going to go through this preventable fight again. i know you are asking about fish, but that is my $.02 worth of ranting.

You bring up another good question that I have been wondering about. Should ALL (LPS and soft too) types of corals be dipped? Is it safe to dip? What are you thinking of using? Lugols (Iodine)?

i am going to be using a product called "revive". i do not know how makes it, but a friend has been dipping with it for about 6 months now and he swears by it. he even said that he saw it kill red bugs !! maybe not the eggs, but he saw them floating in the water that was used to dip the corals. i would dip EVERYTHING hard and soft.

he also says that it smells like floor cleaner, but i could care less what it smells like. i have a fish room for that purpose. lol

I just do a freshwater dip for fish at the moment. As soon as i get my QT set up, i will be doing more dips with actual chemicals. What chemicals? I have no idea at the moment. :)

I only dip when it is needed to treat a specific condition.

I have never dipped b4 putting a fish into my display tank, but I have fresh water dipped a purple tang twice to rid him of ich. And while is pissed him of greatly I am 90% sure that is what saved him from death. I have never considered dipping corals tho, didn't even know it was an option.

FW dipping a coral is NOT an option ... just to clarify !!

FW dipping a coral is NOT an option ... just to clarify !!
Sure it is. Freshwater dips for coral is great for flatworm control. Done it many times. Flatworms are very sensitive to freshwater and will die within seconds, and the short dip will have no lasting effect on corals.

In the wild, low tide and rain or river run-off equals freshwater dip.