Quarantine procedure

[microlady]

Hello, everyone. I'm trying to get this right. Fish came in from Live Aquaria (2 from the DD) last Tuesday. Everyone received a 50 minute formalin dip with Fishvet formalin before going into the 29 gallon quarantine tank. All fish are eating and doing well so far. I decided to wait on TTM because two of the fish are dwarf angels and the last one I had refused to eat during TTM (I did that procedure first before), and ultimately died. Fish get stress from shipping so this allowed for some acclimation time. If everyone continues to do well, what do you think about keeping them in the quarantine tank for 4 weeks, and then performing TTM with 2 rounds of Prazi before they hit the display? I can always put them through another formalin bath and observe an extra week for good measure. If any show signs of ich in the meantime, I can always perform TTM, sterilize the 29 and hold them a little longer. I am super paranoid after Brook hit my tank last year!:fun5:

Thanks! :wavehand:

 

[snorvich]

Sounds fine to me.

 

[Deinonych]

Sounds fine to me.

I agree. I always wait a couple weeks before starting TTM to make sure the fish are eating well and have an established routine. Your process above looks sound.

 

[ThRoewer]

My suggestion would be to also invest some money in a decent inspection microscope.
Sometimes the symptoms are not clear or outright misleading and only a microscopic inspection can bring clarity. I recently had two cases where the symptoms made me believe that the fish had ich, but actually had something much more severe. Had I put them under my microscope earlier I may have been able to save them.
When I finally put the last living ventralis under the microscope to check what may have killed the other, I found her covered with Monoganean skin parasites.

I lost $500 with those fish - pretty much what I paid for the microscope. I think it's a must have tool if you plan on buying more sensitive or costly fish - you just have to actually use it.

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[microlady]

My suggestion would be to also invest some money in a decent inspection microscope.
Sometimes the symptoms are not clear or outright misleading and only a microscopic inspection can bring clarity. I recently had two cases where the symptoms made me believe that the fish had ich, but actually had something much more severe. Had I put them under my microscope earlier I may have been able to save them.
When I finally put the last living ventralis under the microscope to check what may have killed the other, I found her covered with Monoganean skin parasites.

I lost $500 with those fish - pretty much what I paid for the microscope. I think it's a must have tool if you plan on buying more sensitive or costly fish - you just have to actually use it.

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Good idea. Luckily, I have access to plenty of microscopes at the local college because I teach microbiology there. I will definitely let you know if anything shows up. What treats those parasites? Are they skin flukes?

Thanks for the input, everyone. Is 5 weeks quarantine long enough for velvet or Brook to show up if they have been masked by copper?

 

[microlady]

And I'm very sorry for your fish loss. I lost $200 last year with a velvet or Brook wipeout. It made me gun shy for a while, but I decided to get back on the wagon using a proper quarantine protocol this time!

 

[snorvich]

Is 5 weeks quarantine long enough for velvet or Brook to show up if they have been masked by copper?

Yes.

 

[microlady]

:thumbsup:

Yes.

Thanks!

 

[ThRoewer]

Brooklynella isn't affected or masked by copper.

But fish can acquire various degrees of immunity against both, Amyloodinium and Brooklynella, so I usually prefer to keep new fish isolated for longer than the bare minimum period.

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[microlady]

Brooklynella isn't affected or masked by copper.

But fish can acquire various degrees of immunity against both, Amyloodinium and Brooklynella, so I usually prefer to keep new fish isolated for longer than the bare minimum period.

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So 6 weeks? 8 weeks?

 

[ThRoewer]

I go 2 months (60 days)