Formalin and Methylene Blue in acclimation: now or later?

Hal

New member
So I ordered several fish for Saturday delivery: 3 yellow tangs, 2 flame angels, 1 hippo tang, and a perc clownfish. UPS, in their infinite wisdom, decided to deliver them today (Monday) instead of Saturday. One of the two flame angels was on its side, but it, as well as the rest of the fish, all perked up as I did the acclimation procedure. Right now they're all swimming around normally in their plastic bags and look suprisingly good.

Normally I do a 30 minute bath in formalin and a 45 min bath in methylene blue after acclimation, but before I put them in the quarantine tank. I'm wondering if I should do so for this batch given the (presumed) extra trauma they might have received from the extra 2 days they spent in transit. Liveaquaria tells me that they always pack the fish with enough water and oxygen for 3 days in transit. They also included 1 heat pack, but I presume it only lasted for the first day.

Pro: get them treated for external parasites and fungus so they will be happier and healthier from this point forward. Note that I don't know if they actually have any parasites or fungus; this is just my normal routine.

Con: it adds stress.

If I defer the formalin/methylene blue for now I would likely do it when I do my first tank transfer (TTM) as part of my quarantine process. However this would mean that whatever parasites/fungus they have will get a few more days on the fish, and possibly(?) infect the quarantine tank.
 
I would put them in and give a couple days of stability. You can redo the QT after if something shows up. Are they eating? Drop a tiny amount into the bag before dropping them in the QT. If they eat, maybe a quicker drop in the bath, but I've had that sicken fish also. Conundrum for sure. Let us know.
 
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