Quarantine Tank

I am going to be setting up my first reef tank this summer and have a question regarding quarantine tanks. I was reading in a book last night that you should have a quarantine tank set up to keep new fish in for two weeks prior to adding them to your main tank. Is this a mandatory step, or is it over-precautionary? 

I thought the same thing at first, seems extreme and I really wanted the fish in the tank. Come to find out it's the best thing for the fish. And for your tank. Though the fish store you go to you trust and the people they buy the fish from they trust but what you don't know is what's been going on with the fish in the ocean or in the tanks they've been raised in. You could be bringing in a parasite or fungus of some type. You don't know bc usually you can't tell. But you put the new fish in and then all of the sudden your other fish have spots on them or are swimming in circles frantically. Then you have to set up a qt tank and you have a lot more fish to treat instead of the one you recently bought. A qt tank isn't just for fish either, it's for corals too. Bugs that will attack certain species of corals will hitch hike on other corals into your tank. That's the reality of it. I've been in the hobby for 3 years and I can tell you that a quarantine tank is really useful and it will protect your fish and the money you've spent.   

Agree with all the above. I've been in the hobby for quite some time, and I would've given up years ago if I hadn't run a QT. There are FAR too many pests/diseases/issues in the hobby.

If you can't afford a QT or don't have the space, there are some short cuts...like freshwater/methylene blue dips that will help...but won't fix most of your fish problems. There are also coral dips, but they aren't anywhere near 100%. This is what most people do.

It depends. You'll need to add medication for whatever you're trying to treat. You first need to diagnose what problem you have...then go from there. Pretty much all fish carry ich (cryptocaryon irritans) and internal parasites. You can treat ich with copper, hyposalinity, or the tank transfer method. You can treat the internal parasites with PraziPro. Other than those...it depends.