Quarantine my new fish?

[LoganTidwell]

hi, guys, im new to this forum. just wanted to ask a quick question. i have read a lot about quarantining fish and i want to do this as well but a lot of things i read say to quarantine them at least 4 weeks. my idea was to acclimate to the qt tank, freshwater dip bath for 15-20 min (in 2-3 min to add up to 20min) and then introduce to the qt tank. i was thinking of letting him settle for a few days and then treat him with Instant Ocean Lifeguard for 5 days (as recommended) and let him settle for another 2 days after treatment, then allow him to enter the display tank (about 10 days of total quarantine time). I would like some views from other people on this, discriminate, or praise, either way

 

[Gwynhidwy]

Quarantine of pretty much any sort is better than none. Unfortunately only quarantining for as long as you plan leaves you open to bringing in pretty much all the parasites and diseases that you quarantine to avoid. Hopefully, you would see any signs of disease in the ten days that you are planning, but you might not. It sometimes takes several weeks for the low number of parasites on a fish to build up so that you can easily see signs of infection.

Also, many fish take longer than ten days to begin eating. It is usually easier to get fish accustomed to the foods you feed in quarantine.

Its good that you are quarantining, but using a more cautious protocol would lessen the chance of introducing disease.

 

[paulamrein]

QT is not just to make sure that the fish is disease free as Gwynhidwy was saying. For the most part the fish is only at the most a month or so out of ocean. It takes time for them to get used to bright lighting, humans in general, the food we throw in and the fluxuations of water conditions the list goes on. It's great that you are asking questions and planning don't stop there. Quarintine has saved me so much money and troubles. You wouldn't want to get 6 or 7 fish into it and then lose all of them because that particular parasite passed through the defence.
I was in your shoes not at all that long ago and I didn't Qt and lost about 12 fish in a very short period of time. No one wants to look at an empty tank with rocks, so they start buying fish and chucking them in. Everyone has done it at one point or another. But once you start getting tired of pulling hundreds of dollars out of a tank and flushing it then they start thinking a 4 to 6 week QT isn't all that bad. I do a 6 week minimum with hyposalinity the day after they get in whether I see something or not. The only proven effective treatments for parasites are copper and hyposalinity. Copper is not my choice because it's too harsh in my opinion. Hypo is safe and gentle on the fish. Plenty of threads that go in detail about it.
Just my thoughts.

 

[LoganTidwell]

ok, lets say my fish are eating well the day i put them in qt and carry on for a few days (as my three blue/green chromis are)... will the copper make the parasites release from the fish within a matter of days, only to be in the substrate? i know that treating with copper and such will kill the parasite over a matter of time, but they infect the fish, release, go make more little babies, and come back even harder....would my fish itself still have a parasite after treating for 5 or 6 days reguardless if the parasites are still in the substrate or in the tank? my theory is that if you can rid the fish itself of the parasite, even tho the parasite might still be in the tank or in the substrate, if i transfer my fish to the display tank the parasite cant follow along if its not on the fish. my theory may be in outer space and be way wrong, but then again im not a scientist. anyone see where im coming from? or if anyone would like to correct me would be fine too, its just my thinking

 

[niles1967]

There are no shortcuts. Introduce even one parasite to your DT and you will never forget it. I made that mistake early on and lost $1000 worth of fish. Ick is the best case scenario, velvet is a tough SOB. 4 weeks with no signs of infection minimum. Dont give in to temptation and put the fish in early. This is the single most important piece of advise in the hobby. Learn it, live it and pass it along to others.

Not only does this help you personally, replacing fish puts a strain on the already disappearing ocean stock.

 

[LoganTidwell]

thanks for yalls oppinion...its going to be a long 4 weeks!

 

[kevin2000]

Qt each and every fish .. no exceptions.

Here's a good link where a clownfish breeder discusses why/how he qt's fish ... have used many of his recommendations for alot of yrs.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=288805

Hope this helps.

 

[dwissler]

For smaller fish (clowns, etc) is a 3 gal QT tank too small? What do you guys think?

 

[kevin2000]

A ten gallon tank cost about $10 at any Petco/Petsmart ... 3 gallons is too small for SW fish.