do you quarantine?

[DarkCobra]

A full month, sometimes less, but only if absolutely not practical.

It takes a bad experience to really drive home the importance of a proper quarantine period and treatment. For me, it was callamanus worms. Sooner or later it will happen if you skimp. If you have a lot of fish, or expensive ones, skip the experience and just trust those that have gone through it!

[shift]

Do you normally medicate them in a qt tank just incase or only if something seems off?

[m00se]

Originally Posted by shift

Do you normally medicate them in a qt tank just incase or only if something seems off?

I do. Everybody. I use nitrofuracin.

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/aucti...ons&1362804006

[Monster Fish]

Originally Posted by shift

Interesting. Can you wash out the sponges re seed and re use them again for future qt periods? I may have to start this practice.

Setting up a new tank 84g tank.. Would you bother qt the new initial batch of fish before entering the brand new or throw them in since there is nothing to infect. Then way day 30 days before I add my current fish into the mix

Right now I have mainly cpd's and a few neons and shrimp. I'm thinking of getting about 12 rummy noes to add to my soon to have 84g tank that will be mainly cpd once the fry grow up.

Yes. I usually rinse the sponges/bio media with hot water then give them a dip in hydrogen peroxide before reseeding any media.

I'd quarantine them while setting up and cycling the tank.

Originally Posted by shift

Do you normally medicate them in a qt tank just incase or only if something seems off?

Yes. This is my regimen: After introducing the fish in the tank, I dose it methylene blue and leave the fish in the blue-stained water for 24 hours. I then do multiple water changes until the water is clear again. After a few days I dose a dewormer. I use Prazipro (Praziquantel) for two rounds of dosing. After that, the final med I use is Quick Cure (Malachite Green & Formalin) to kill any ich, chilodonella, or velvet that might have hitchhiked on the fish. The malachite green dosing usually lasts for 10-14 days with dosing done every other day. If any fish shows signs of bacterial infection, I dose with a broad spectrum med like Kanamycin or Metronidazole. All these treatments done consecutively usually take about 4 weeks to complete. That should be the minimum quarantine time one should follow IMO.

[kevmo911]

A simple 10g kit with low-PAR light, simple heater, and low-power filter might cost $30 at your LFS. This can be placed on a kitchen counter (mine is), a dresser (another one), a nightstand, coffee table, etc. $30 can easily be the cost of a batch of fish. My personal experience with my local national chain LFS is about a 50-75% survival rate. Generally, either almost all survive, or none, plus much of the pre-existing fauna.

This is a no-brainer. There's a significant potential that everything you buy, and then some, will kick the bucket. Keep it in a QT, and you can recoup most or all of your investment. Add it straight to an existing ecosystem and you might lose everything.

This is an expensive hobby. Fail to quarantine and your losses can easily be exponential. Honestly, it's not worth a discussion, IMO.

[wicca27]

i dont qt my fish but i dont normaly keep community tanks either. when i get fish they go into their own tank so i dont really have to worry about stock i already have getting sick from new fish. same with shrimp they get their own tanks so no real need to. but if i ever add to i will qt

[LB79]

No, I don't, and my entire system has velvet right now because of one fish that I introduced a few weeks back. QUARANTINE YOUR FISH!!!! Especially when you have expensive cichlids.

[lotuslullaby]

You might want to quarantine even if it is the first batch of fish into the tank, when the tank is heavily planted. Not all plants appreciate the treatment needed to treat fish. Our 25 gallon went through an ich outbreak and it took a while to get it under control. Before treating the ich our watersprite was growing fast and pearling constantly. After the ich treatment most of the leaves had browned and curled and I had to take the new plantlets and replant, but growth remained slow and there is no pearling. The other plants did not seem to suffer greatly, but it seems easier take care of disease and parasites in a minimal tank made for easy treatment and clean-up.

[mnemenoi]

I like to quarantine, but most of my tanks are species only and I usually have set up the tank for that exact species. There are those oddball occasions I do quarantine when adding fish to community setups if I believe there is a risk in introduction. In adding shrimp to a fish system or vice versa, I don't

[cichnatic]

Originally Posted by LB79

No, I don't, and my entire system has velvet right now because of one fish that I introduced a few weeks back. QUARANTINE YOUR FISH!!!! Especially when you have expensive cichlids.

+1

When you have expensive fish, better to quarantine them than to be sorry. I have two cichlid tanks and I quarantine any new cichlids before going into those tanks.

[Tinder]

I have only been in this hobby for a few months and ALREADY disaster has struck. It started with my Male Swordtail having Ich, so i removed my 2 Golden Dojo Loaches and placed them in a friends plant nursery tank with 4 premium guppies so I could medicate the tank. The main tank was medicated with Kordon Ick Attack with almost no results after several weeks other then a dead female swordtail and a dead Zebra Danio. So I immediately went out and purchased a 10 gal tank, took out infected fish and placed them in this tank with a 30% WC daily, 1 tsp salt per 5 gal, and Appro Quick Cure. everything bounched right back, no problem right? Then it got worse. Somehow none of us noticed that the Loaches also had Ick. The ick weakened them enough to either get fish TB or septicemia which has now infected my good friends prime guppies and killed 2 so far. Also, that tank is now almost useless without a whole lot of sterilization because while fish TB is very rare, its nothing that can be taken lightly. if it was in a QT tank this had all happened in It would have been so much easier on me. Especially because my breeding pair of loaches cannot be replaced in this area at all/

[Noahma]

I do a month in quarantine. Always, I had a bad outbreak of something that destroyed EVERYTHING. So now I keep a 10g off to the side that I use when I get fish from any location.

[Hardstuff]

Just take a look at how many responses you got! That should answer your question. I feel it is extremely important to QT.
I QT for 4-8 weeks pending on what the situation is & how much risk is on the line. My last batch came in from KH7, GH18 TDS 560!!! & they were soft water fish. I drip acclimated them in to QT at those #s then spent 8 weeks adjusting their kh, gh, tds to kh3, Gh 4 TDS 200ppms. Yes I know people will say it does not take that long but I was also looking for signs of disease & they were stressed from being in such hard water for so long that I felt it was the right ting to do. & by the way , A QT tanks do not have to be big for small fish, & they are cheap to set up.
That batch of Ambers is doing great now & showing signs of breeding, so I feel the effort was worth it. My 2 cents, Roger

[shift]

So I'm getting a new tank in 2 weeks. It will take a few weeks to cycle. I should almost pick up a 10g and start the qt now. Seems to be a mix bag on if people medicate them. I think isolation is key. Bare bottoms and. Sponge filter. How manny rummy nose tetras would be okay in a 10g for a few weeks?

[Aquatic Delight]

i tried to QT fish but i kept turning my QT tanks into Actual tanks so i stopped.