There are 4 sorts of ailments that befall fishes.
1. germs. Bacteria. These are single-cell organisms about the size of a single blood cell that get into a fish and spread very fast by dividing. They are treatable with ANTIBIOTICS. There IS a slight catch in this: bacteria come in two varieties, one called 'gram positive' and one called 'gram negative', for reasons of how they show up when stained for a microscope slide. When you treat, you have to choose an antibiotic that treats one type OR the other---meaning you have to know exactly what you're dealing with: fin rot AND your sandbed are both gram negative. You see the potential for disaster: antibiotic MUST be administered in a treatment tank. If you do not know what your fish has, but it's bacterial, use a 'broad spectrum antibiotic' that treats both gram-positive AND gram-negative. Maracyn is an example of a broad spectrum antibiotics. Important: Antibiotics CANNOT be used with copper in the water. Be sure what you're dealing with before you treat!
2 viruses: these are actually parts of a cell that can pass from critter to critter, and instead of getting into the bloodstream like bacteria...they can actually get into cells. Treating viruses is a whole other ballgame...and in general, there is no treatment. Not much you can do but provide good water conditions and hope. Lymphocystis, small clumpy white spots on a fish, is a viral infection. Understand: it's NOT a parasite. And the fish either overcomes this or it dies. Lymphocystis doesn't kill, but it sets a fish up for 'secondary infections' ---meaning as the fish gets in worse health, bacteria move in, infect, and actually kill the fish. In freshwater fish like carp, herpes is becoming a problem. Same story.
3. parasites. These are neither bacteria (single-cell) nor viral (part-of-cell). They're animals that latch onto fish and do the vampire thing---they suck fluids and nutrients from the fish. Examples are flukes, ich, anchor worms, etc. Ich is interesting because of its prevalence in confined systems and its 3-stage life cycle. It lives a lot of its life in sand. It develops into a swimming form. At that point it has 24 hours to penetrate a fish's slime coat and burrow into its skin---and each swimmer probably gets one try. If it doesn't succeed, it dies. If it does, it raises a little white pimple, feeds, and multiplies. The pimple bursts, and the baby ich falls back to the sandbed in greater numbers to do it all again. [Some people think their fish is cured when it loses its white spots...well, it's relieved, but the ich will be back. This is why I don't like sand and rock or cycled filters in a quarantine tank.]
The treatment for parasites is complex... either a chemical preparation to poison the creatures, or copper to poison the creatures, or lowering the salinity of the treatment tank can kill the parasite; but it will also kill an established tank---and you can't tell who's infested, because a fish can have it in their gills; and you can't tell when a fish will become infested, so ALL FISH have to come out of the display tank and stay out for 12 weeks.
Treatment: Not all fish tolerate copper to the same degree, and while Cupramine is a gentler form of copper, it is still a gamble, and you SHOULD use an ATO (autotopoff) for the treatment tank, either for hyposalinity OR for copper...Hyposalinity will also kill parasites---but it will not work if the evaporation of water raises the salinity during the day; and copper can kill the fish if evaporation of water raises the copper concentration in the tank. A refractometer when using hypo is pretty well a must. And clean any instrument you're going to use in your DT with bleach and rinse really well in Prime (a dechlorinator.) This is also good to use when storing a qt or treatment tank. Clean it, dry it, and have it ready.
4. accidents can kill fish: rock slides, an owner poking about and dropping a rock onto a hiding spot; temperature rises, runaway heaters; spawns of weed or clams or the like without enough skimmer to keep oxygenation going...or salinity screwups. Also electric shock (malfunctioning heaters.)
It is very important to understand that disease is NOT CAUSED by stress. Bacteria, viruses and parasites are opportunistic, meaning they can hang around waiting and trying. If a fish's slime coat is compromised, they can take hold. If they're not in the environment---there is no amount of stress that can manufacture them out of nothing.
Also they're specific: the things you commonly see in tanks attack fish, not invertebrates, so you don't have to worry about your inverts while treating your fish.
Practicing quarantine of all fish means you're keeping these agents OUT of your tank, because the most likely time for a fish to come down with something is just AFTER the stress of shipment and new water. Keep that fish in isolation for 4 weeks, and if nothing breaks out---it can be declared clean. Otherwise you treat it, and kill off its problem before it goes into your tank. Keep your tank clean of parasites and infective bacteria (you WANT the good bacteria in your sand!) and your fish will not come down with parasites and diseases.
1. germs. Bacteria. These are single-cell organisms about the size of a single blood cell that get into a fish and spread very fast by dividing. They are treatable with ANTIBIOTICS. There IS a slight catch in this: bacteria come in two varieties, one called 'gram positive' and one called 'gram negative', for reasons of how they show up when stained for a microscope slide. When you treat, you have to choose an antibiotic that treats one type OR the other---meaning you have to know exactly what you're dealing with: fin rot AND your sandbed are both gram negative. You see the potential for disaster: antibiotic MUST be administered in a treatment tank. If you do not know what your fish has, but it's bacterial, use a 'broad spectrum antibiotic' that treats both gram-positive AND gram-negative. Maracyn is an example of a broad spectrum antibiotics. Important: Antibiotics CANNOT be used with copper in the water. Be sure what you're dealing with before you treat!
2 viruses: these are actually parts of a cell that can pass from critter to critter, and instead of getting into the bloodstream like bacteria...they can actually get into cells. Treating viruses is a whole other ballgame...and in general, there is no treatment. Not much you can do but provide good water conditions and hope. Lymphocystis, small clumpy white spots on a fish, is a viral infection. Understand: it's NOT a parasite. And the fish either overcomes this or it dies. Lymphocystis doesn't kill, but it sets a fish up for 'secondary infections' ---meaning as the fish gets in worse health, bacteria move in, infect, and actually kill the fish. In freshwater fish like carp, herpes is becoming a problem. Same story.
3. parasites. These are neither bacteria (single-cell) nor viral (part-of-cell). They're animals that latch onto fish and do the vampire thing---they suck fluids and nutrients from the fish. Examples are flukes, ich, anchor worms, etc. Ich is interesting because of its prevalence in confined systems and its 3-stage life cycle. It lives a lot of its life in sand. It develops into a swimming form. At that point it has 24 hours to penetrate a fish's slime coat and burrow into its skin---and each swimmer probably gets one try. If it doesn't succeed, it dies. If it does, it raises a little white pimple, feeds, and multiplies. The pimple bursts, and the baby ich falls back to the sandbed in greater numbers to do it all again. [Some people think their fish is cured when it loses its white spots...well, it's relieved, but the ich will be back. This is why I don't like sand and rock or cycled filters in a quarantine tank.]
The treatment for parasites is complex... either a chemical preparation to poison the creatures, or copper to poison the creatures, or lowering the salinity of the treatment tank can kill the parasite; but it will also kill an established tank---and you can't tell who's infested, because a fish can have it in their gills; and you can't tell when a fish will become infested, so ALL FISH have to come out of the display tank and stay out for 12 weeks.
Treatment: Not all fish tolerate copper to the same degree, and while Cupramine is a gentler form of copper, it is still a gamble, and you SHOULD use an ATO (autotopoff) for the treatment tank, either for hyposalinity OR for copper...Hyposalinity will also kill parasites---but it will not work if the evaporation of water raises the salinity during the day; and copper can kill the fish if evaporation of water raises the copper concentration in the tank. A refractometer when using hypo is pretty well a must. And clean any instrument you're going to use in your DT with bleach and rinse really well in Prime (a dechlorinator.) This is also good to use when storing a qt or treatment tank. Clean it, dry it, and have it ready.
4. accidents can kill fish: rock slides, an owner poking about and dropping a rock onto a hiding spot; temperature rises, runaway heaters; spawns of weed or clams or the like without enough skimmer to keep oxygenation going...or salinity screwups. Also electric shock (malfunctioning heaters.)
It is very important to understand that disease is NOT CAUSED by stress. Bacteria, viruses and parasites are opportunistic, meaning they can hang around waiting and trying. If a fish's slime coat is compromised, they can take hold. If they're not in the environment---there is no amount of stress that can manufacture them out of nothing.
Also they're specific: the things you commonly see in tanks attack fish, not invertebrates, so you don't have to worry about your inverts while treating your fish.
Practicing quarantine of all fish means you're keeping these agents OUT of your tank, because the most likely time for a fish to come down with something is just AFTER the stress of shipment and new water. Keep that fish in isolation for 4 weeks, and if nothing breaks out---it can be declared clean. Otherwise you treat it, and kill off its problem before it goes into your tank. Keep your tank clean of parasites and infective bacteria (you WANT the good bacteria in your sand!) and your fish will not come down with parasites and diseases.
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so... when i saw his symptoms this evening i got him out right away and into my new, currently cycling, 6 gal. so that i can treat him seperate. 
