quarantine tank

[godspeed]

I know, I know , I did use the search but I am a NOOB on here. I have learned my lesson onf bringing fish home and dumping them right into my display tank. I got me a quarantine tank now. My question is this. When I bring a new fish home and place him in the quarantine tank, do I medicate the tank or not and if so with what? Or do I just place in that QT and observe the fish? Thank you in advance guys. And gals. LOL

 

[DragonWarriorPo]

Im a fan of copper, melafix, prazi. Some parasites you cant see, so Im more comfortable treating.
Some people just observe, which is risky. Fish can have ich hiding in their gills, plus the internal parasites you cant see

 

[A Reef Scene]

THis is the best palce for meds and advice http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/

 

[Eric The Red]

I do not believe in the observation method. I've tried it and failed. I have "observed" fish in a calm and tranquil qt for 4 weeks and seen no sings of visible stress or disease. Then after I move the fish to the dt, wham!, it gets bulied...stressed...covered in crypt....dead.

Here's another example...2 weeks ago i bought a fish from a local reefer. He had the fish for 2 YEARS and never saw any spots. I inspected the fish at his place and it looked perfectly healthy and ate like a pig. I decided to "observe" this one in qt just to be safe. WHAM!!...covered in crypt 3 days later.

Fish can generally hold many parasites/diseases/worms at bay as long as the fish isn't being stressed out. The prob is that transferring fish to new environments can stress them out which lowers their immune systems...then WHAM!...