# Quarantine new fish



## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

Hello,

Do you quarantine new fishes?:fish-in-a-bag:
If you do, for how long?*old dude
Do you add any medication to new fishes that are being quarantined?*pc

What is your setup?

Mine is a bare 10gal with a filter and heater and some small ornaments the fishes can hide in.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

My quarantine tank is currently housing evacuees from my main tank after it crashed, but I run a 3 gallon plastic el-cheapo tank with a bubble convection filter, a Marineland Stealth 10 Watt heater, 1" Fluorite substrate, a giant hygro and an amazon sword in there, along with a tiny piece of driftwood. It's lighted by my desk lamp set on a timer for a 12-hour lighting period.

My quarantine routine consists of buying the fish, drip-acclimating them with the QT tank over the course of 15 minutes, adding them to the tank, and quarantining for a week with dosages of API Melafix, API Stress Coat, mashed garlic for food (internal parasites), and API Aquarium salt. I have to be VERY careful with the Melafix and Stress Coat as they rob the tank of oxygen. I also feed once a day in the morning, and stagger my Melafix and Stress Coat dosings - Melafix in the a.m. before work and school, Stress Coat when I get home in the p.m. After the week is out, I net them out and drip-acclimate them to my new tank. I add fish 3 at a time as well.


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

I haven't QT'd any of my fish, had a scare when an older molly (inherited with the 30G Tank) died so I pulled the carbon and treated everyone. But that's been it so far. 25-30 Fish and lucks been on my side no major problems.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I have a 20g with standard gravel, 50g filter and usual stuff. Nothing special. You "should" leave fish in for a minimum of 2wks, but usually if they are healthy looking I have kept it to 1wk. I have also kept to one week and then those same fish ended up with columnaris and could have wiped out my entire tank. Most diseases will show in two weeks however. Some people go even longer. If you have expensive stock like Discus or prized Angels, I would go for the longer period and err on the side of caution.

I usually treat with quick cure for 3 days and two anti-parasite treatments.


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## mec102778 (Feb 17, 2011)

I'm cheap with the price on my fish. While a complete tank kill would be costly in both the cost of the fish and the replacements, no one fish would make or break me. Weekly specials and LFS' are great!


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

mec102778 said:


> Weekly specials and LFS' are great!


I agree! I bought 6 black stripe tetras as fishy entertainment/live food potential for my crayfish back when he was around (R.I.P. Jacques), $1.00 each, now they're the centerpiece of my ten gallon after 2 bouts with Ich


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## J-Pond (Jun 8, 2009)

I use an extra 10gallon tank, with a heater and a sponge filter. With the fancy goldies I usually QT them for 3 weeks, and give a salt treatment, just to be safe.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

Another question I could think of on this thread would be - how many times has QTing saved your main tank from imminent disaster? For me, three times. Two cases of Ich, one of dropsy (not sure if it was contagious, but either way, glad the deceased was in QT at the time).


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## verdifer (Sep 8, 2010)

When running a QT use water from the main tank the fish will end up in this way they are going to the same water when you move, some folks have different QT times Ive seen folks QT for 6 weeks.

QT is more or less just so you can get a good look at the fish before you let it go into your main tank, loads of folks treat the fish for Ich etc etc, so when buying medicines get 1 that covers a broad range of possible problems(most do nowdays anyway).

The QT tank also gives you a chance to get the fish ready health wise for the main tank, get them eating well and lots (within reason), treat them with any stress coats or anything like that you want also, putting an unhealthy fish in a tank can end up with it just being the next meal for others in there once the realise it can't fight back.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

jrman83 said:


> I usually treat with quick cure for 3 days and two anti-parasite treatments.


Doesn't quick cure stain the silicone? What do you use for the anti parasite?



verdifer said:


> QT is more or less just so you can get a good look at the fish before you let it go into your main tank, loads of folks treat the fish for Ich etc etc, so when buying medicines get 1 that covers a broad range of possible problems(most do nowdays anyway).
> 
> The QT tank also gives you a chance to get the fish ready health wise for the main tank, get them eating well and lots (within reason), treat them with any stress coats or anything like that you want also, putting an unhealthy fish in a tank can end up with it just being the next meal for others in there once the realise it can't fight back.


What do you use for ich and the broad range medicine?


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

When I got the used 20gal originally intended as my QT, it came with an angel, a molly, and a platty. Molly has a popeye and he died. Did not notice it when I got it. Good thing I did not place them in the main tank. The angel has some gills issue. One side is OK, the other side looks like the gill cover is kinda short so it shows red. Platty looks ok but is extremely shy. I have been dosing the tank with melafix then stopped after a week. Should I continue until the angel is healed?

For ich, won't it be better to crank up the temp to 84 - 86F then just make sure that the tank has enough water agitation for O2. A week of high temp would be enough to kill ich? I got this 20gal at 86 for about 2 weeks with plenty of aeration from the sponge filter and HOB filter.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

My QT is a ten or a five,depending on if I am breeding or not.I dont treat unless I need to,but I do feed garlic mixed foods for parasites.I dont treat for anything else unless its necessary.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

roacan said:


> Doesn't quick cure stain the silicone? What do you use for the anti parasite?
> 
> 
> 
> What do you use for ich and the broad range medicine?


I've never seen quick cure do that. It's a broad range medicine and the best ich med I've used. I use Jungle Labs parasite clear for internal parasite.


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## verdifer (Sep 8, 2010)

When I say Broad Range medicine look at these Aquarium Medications as you can see each 1 treats a few problems, the first 1 CUPRAZIN can treat Whitespot, Costia and other Fungal so it has a range of problems to fix.

To kill Ich in Freshwater you would be looking to raise the Temp to about 89.5, most Freshwater Keepers will raise it to 86 to stop the Ich reproducing so in theory this could get rid of the problem and most fish can handle this tempature, or since the Ich is going through its life cycle faster there is a better chance the medicine treatment will kill it.

Also for a Quarntine Tank you don't need to buy a Glass Tank, Fish Tanks aren't cheap so you could go to somewhere like Pound-Stretcher if you in the UK or WalMart if you live in the US and buy a big plastic container, your QT doesn't need lights as these are only for your benefit unless you have MArine and you want to QT a Coral, in theory you could use your bath for your QT so long as it was clean.

Can I also add that Marine Ich and Freshwater Ich are 2 different problems.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

I don't like treating QT fish for disease unless they show sign of disease. Many medications can cause slight gill or liver damage which may shorten the life of the fish and overuse will only make the medication less useful if you do need it. I might consider treating wild caught fish, particularly if I planned on breeding them. Many wild caught fish that you buy at the LFS have been treated already though so you wouldn't want to overdo it.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

When I was at the LPS, I saw them squirting a blue liquid on new arrivals. Also, when you bought a fish, they squirt another thing on the plastic bag.

What are these chemicals? I am guessing the 1st one is like a broad range anti-biotic or something and the 2nd one to calm the fish for transport?

I have stress coat + and it says in the bottle "Scientifically proven to reduce fish stress by 40%". This made me but it. Now I wonder how they figured out the 40% thing. There is also Kordon NovAqua that says "inhibiting virsues and harmful bacteria". Bought this one also. Does this also work? Seachem has one also, stress guard. What I see in common is the "slime coat".


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

J-Pond said:


> I use an extra 10gallon tank, with a heater and a sponge filter. With the fancy goldies I usually QT them for 3 weeks, and give a salt treatment, just to be safe.


Do goldfish need salt? What is the salt for?


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Freshwater like goldfish fish don't need salt but salt is a mild and effective treatment for many infections like ich. I prefer salt over many commercial meds. 

Stress coat is a water conditioner, it makes tap water safe for the aquarium by locking chlorine and other harmful chemicals. It is mostly used when doing water changes but many water conditioners also lock ammonia so can be helpful when transporting fish in relatively small bags (that may be what your pet shop was squirting in the bag). It should not be over used as it also robs the water of oxygen.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

A lot of fish stores use Quick Cure for new arrivals and in their tanks in general. If the liquid was blue and the bottle had a long dropper type tip to it, that's probably what it was. You dose by the drop.


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## verdifer (Sep 8, 2010)

It may have been quick cure, may be best next time your in that shop you can ask them what it is and why they use it.

Ive seen MelaFix from API in shops, I have never used it myself but going by what the bottle says if it does what it says it looks really good and it's reef, plant and invertebrate safe.

It uses Tea Tree Oil which has been proven to have healing properties for us humans, I know when I was younger and did a lot of sport I would use Tea Tree Oil to treat Athletes Foot, I could see a big improvement withing 24 hours of using it so hopefully it will have the same effect on fish.

Infact think I will go buy a bottle 2moro anyway.


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## roacan (Dec 25, 2010)

At first, I was thinking of bare tank with no plants for the QT so medicating would not affect the plants and no lights to lessen the stress on the fishes.

Now I am thinking of adding some anacharis or hornworth or java fern. This means I have to add some lighting for the plants.

Is this a good idea? Anybody use plants in their QT?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

It's personal pref really. I use fake plants so when I don't have fish in it I don't need to keep the light on, plus I don't want to have to worry if a med is not good for plants. You can go completely bare with the tank. Some people use plastic storage containers to isolate and treat fish, so anything you do is more than you "really" need to.


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