How Long Do You Quarantine?

[devonjevon]

Ok do any f you all quarantine your fish before introducing them into the main tank.
Well i just got over my 2nd fight with ick a month ago.
My wife told me to leave the tank alone caus ei always mess it up when i add more stuff.
well i really listened to her and got 2 more fish that i have in a 40 gallon clear rubbermaid container. In it i put a heater cheap lights and a hang on the back filter. also a heavy dose of cooper.(i have a cooper test kit)
well how long do i quarantine?
they show no signs of ick or anything. and its been 7 days
do i need to just be patient?

 

[TitansFan]

1) Did you leave the current fish who had ich in your display? If so ich maybe still in your tank and your quarantine may not give the ich free results you want.

2) I prefer to use hypo salinity over copper. Copper can be harsh and in my opinion should be a last resort treatment for obvious infections.

3) 4 weeks should be long enough for a proper quarantine.

4) What kind of fish did you get?

5) Congrats on having the patience and love of the hobby to quarantine your fish!

 

[devonjevon]

yeah the other fish were in a hospital tank for 4 weeks and the tank was fish free.
4 weeks seems so long i hope i can make it.

 

[DMBillies]

I'll come out of the closet and admit that I am less than convinced by the quarantining to get rid of ich idea. I quarantine when I can and I try to be real patient with it, but overall, I'm terrible about it because many fish do horribly in quarantine (species that need a sand bed, anything that isn't eating prepared foods, algae eaters, etc.). My main concern is in getting healthy fish to begin with and in keeping the fish I have healthy.

The reason I don't lose a lot of sleep... ich is fairly common and fish that have healthy immune systems can almost always fight it. Also, there are so many ways in which ich can get in your system that I am highly doubtful that any system is actually ich free. The life cycle of ich allows it to survive in the water column, in fish, and in any substrate in the tank. It is also only susceptible to certain treatments depending on the part of the life cycle the organism is in. So, if have you added sand from someone's tank without taking your fish out of the tank for weeks, added cleaner crews, or put in a coral without a full 4-6 week quarantine in a tank with no fish... you're quarantine just went out the window.

It seems to me that the goal should be ensuring that your fish is basically healthy before it is added (and that the fish in the existing tank are healthy). A lot of times I am convinced that an unnatural quarantine tank can actually degrade the health of some fish species that will practically ensure greater losses once they are are placed in the tank (if you are lucky enough to even get some species through quarantine at all).

I use my quarantine as a means of observing the fish for a longer period of time to catch problems that might not be immediately obvious and to allow the fish to settle in a little without the hustle and bustle of a full reef tank. Certain species I simply won't quarantine...

*please take this advice with a grain of salt. I don't want to be responsible for you losing your fish by taking my advice which is clearly not in line with the general recommended policy for fish... I just think that the idea of quarantining and its benefits are not as cut and dry as many make it seem.

 

[devonjevon]

mainly I think I will quarantine until my fish get adjusted to my. Pellets. Then at least tjhey will have a fighting change in my tank. They won't have to adjust to DSL much and they know what food is