Quarantine new fish

[Discus_phil]

So we’ve just bought 20 sterbai
Corey’s for the discus tank and have them in a spare quarantine tank.

we’ve never really quarantined before but since it’s now quite an expensive stocking and such a large tank to treat (550litres)
We thought it’s probably about time...

For those that quarantine new fish, how long do you keep them separate for?

and do you dose them with any treatments, esha 2000 etc

I have no reason to believe they are carrying anything but best be safe than sorry now I’ve got a few hundred pounds worth of fish. Especially stendker discus which are tank bred and have no immunity to certain diseases...

 

[Yohance1130]

So we’ve just bought 20 sterbai
Corey’s for the discus tank and have them in a spare quarantine tank.

we’ve never really quarantined before but since it’s now quite an expensive stocking and such a large tank to treat (550litres)
We thought it’s probably about time...

For those that quarantine new fish, how long do you keep them separate for?

and do you dose them with any treatments, esha 2000 etc

I have no reason to believe they are carrying anything but best be safe than sorry now I’ve got a few hundred pounds worth of fish. Especially stendker discus which are tank bred and have no immunity to certain diseases...

I usually keep my fish separate in a quarantine tank for 4 weeks, after 4 weeks if there is no signs of disease I well add them to the main tank.

But if at some point before the 4 weeks 1 of the fish in quarantine become sick and catch some disease. I we'll treat the fish. When the fish is cured I we'll restart the time for quarantine to 4 weeks again. I well restart the quarantine time to 4 weeks anytime anyone of the fish catch a disease before they are supposed to be added to the main tank.

It depends on the disease if it is ich or a disease like fin rot I well just do water changes and feed the fish some garlic.

I only use meds as a worst case scenario since the meds can also stress the fish out and can make them even more stressed than when they have a disease. I always try to treat my fish naturally first with any disease before I use meds. If you do use meds make sure you have an extra air stone on hand sometimes the medications can decrease the oxygen levels. But that is just how I do it.

My way of quarantining is not the only way you can quarantine fish there are plenty of different and various ways to do it.

 

[Discus_phil]

I usually keep my fish separate in a quarantine tank for 4 weeks, after 4 weeks if there is no signs of disease I well add them to the main tank.

But if at some point before the 4 weeks 1 of the fish in quarantine become sick and catch some disease. I we'll treat the fish. When the fish is cured I we'll restart the time for quarantine to 4 weeks again. I well restart the quarantine time to 4 weeks anytime anyone of the fish catch a disease before they are supposed to be added to the main tank.

It depends on the disease if it is ich or a disease like fin rot I well just do water changes and feed the fish some garlic.

I only use meds as a worst case scenario since the meds can also stress the fish out and can make them even more stressed than when they have a disease. I always try to treat my fish naturally first with any disease before I use meds. If you do use meds make sure you have an extra air stone on hand sometimes the medications can decrease the oxygen levels. But that is just how I do it.

My way of quarantining is not the only way you can quarantine fish there are plenty of different and various ways to do it.

Thanks that’s really useful info,
You see it all the time on YouTube videos, “my fish are I quarantine until they’re ready” but you never actually see the quarantine process.

They all seem Super lively and I think are going to be in for a big shock when they go fromThe 60lire nano into the 5 ft!

The few weeks quarantine will also give me some time to try and battle
The Cyanobacteria in the big tank...

 

[Yohance1130]

Thanks that’s really useful info,
You see it all the time on YouTube videos, “my fish are I quarantine until they’re ready” but you never actually see the quarantine process.

They all seem Super lively and I think are going to be in for a big shock when they go fromThe 60lire nano into the 5 ft!

The few weeks quarantine will also give me some time to try and battle
The Cyanobacteria in the big tank...

I completely agree especially when I was a beginner in this hobby it was really confusing and it was hard to get specific information on a specific topic. You usually have to search through like 1000 websites or videos to find the 1 answer to your question lol?

Yea they will! They might not even know what to do with themselves when they see all that extra space!

Thats good! also quarantining the fish helps the fish relax and destress for a little and chill until you put them in your main tank.

Hope everything goes well and smoothly!

 

[mcordelia]

Just wanted to chime in on this topic with stuff that has come up for me in my research. I am quarantining for the first time as well myself right now (10 Black skirt tetras waiting to go into a 125 gallon ~500L tank).

Like you,when I was doing my research I saw basically everything from "1 week no meds" to "6 weeks with full simultaneous array of all kinds of drugs".

I decided that what was a happy medium for me is to do 4-6 weeks, depending on how the fish do, and to do meds if there is an indication for them, with potentially the exception of automatically deworming the fish.

I have had difficulty finding a dewormer that isn't also combined with an antibiotic, but I have two products in my Amazon cart that I'm deciding between at the moment. For me, deworming in this case is a choice I am making based on the fact that I got my fish from PetSmart, and believe they are more likely to have been exposed to worms than if they were from a more "reputable" source. Additionally, it makes sense to me as a pet owner that since you routinely deworm dogs and horses, why wouldn't you do a one-time deworming of fish upon introducing them to their "forever home". Finally, one of the fish briefly had stringy white poop which may or may not have been a true symptom of anything (honestly, I would have missed it were it not for the fact that the QT is next to my computer on my office desk lol).

So those are just my thoughts on the topic. Not sure if it's the best or right approach but it's what I landed on in my research

 

[Colin_T]

I usually keep my fish separate in a quarantine tank for 4 weeks, after 4 weeks if there is no signs of disease I well add them to the main tank.

But if at some point before the 4 weeks 1 of the fish in quarantine become sick and catch some disease. I we'll treat the fish. When the fish is cured I we'll restart the time for quarantine to 4 weeks again. I well restart the quarantine time to 4 weeks anytime anyone of the fish catch a disease before they are supposed to be added to the main tank.

This covers it pretty well.

Any new fish, plants, shrimp, snails or other life forms, should be quarantined for at least 2 (preferably 4) weeks. if a fish gets sick, the quarantine time starts again after the fish has been successfully treated.

If you want to add anything, deworm the fish while in quarantine. You can deworm them and they will be free of intestinal worms and usually gill flukes too due to the worming medication. Apart from that, the only medications you add are to treat specific diseases the fish develop while in quarantine. If they don't develop diseases, you don't add medications.

 

[Discus_phil]

What de wormer do you use? I’ve heard that it’s a pretty rough treatment for the fish or is this a bit of a myth?

 

[Colin_T]

Deworming medications are one of the safest things people, birds, fish and animals can take. They rarely have side effects and even then they are mild. Deworming medications have no long-term adverse side effects, unlike common aquarium medications that contain formaldehyde, malachite green, and other nasty stuff.

Read section 3 of the following thread. It tells you what to use and how to treat intestinal worms in fish.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

 

[itiwhetu]

Make sure the fish don't get stressed while in quarantine, the best thing you can do is have the tank planted and set up as another display tank, but the fish are in isolation. Make sure nothing from that tank is used in any other tank. Nets, buckets for water, etc, etc. Monitor the fish 3 times per day. That is a full head count and inspection of each fish. 4 weeks maximum in quarantine.

 

[Guyb93]

As naive as this sound , I have never quarantined any fish , I understand why you personally would want to isolate these fish first but iv always assumed that buying from reputable sources the fish have already been quarantined before sale

 

[Colin_T]

As naive as this sound , I have never quarantined any fish , I understand why you personally would want to isolate these fish first but iv always assumed that buying from reputable sources the fish have already been quarantined before sale

Never assume anything.

Fish brought into Australia must be quarantined but fish going to other countries don't always have to be.

Fish importers usually hold fish for a few days or weeks if they think the fish need it, but many will send out fish literally days after the fish have arrived. This means the fish suffer more stress before they have recovered from the flight to the new country.

The following link is about what fish go through when they leave a fish farm and end up at a pet shop in another country. It's quite a long read but you will see how much stress fish undergo before you get them.

Fish Importing, from the farm to the home

If any of you have wondered how aquarium fish get to the local pet shop, the following will give you some insight as to what they have to go through to get from the fish farm where they are bred and raised, to the pet shop where you can buy them. The stress they go through is quite...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Guyb93]

Never assume anything.

Fish brought into Australia must be quarantined but fish going to other countries don't always have to be.

Fish importers usually hold fish for a few days or weeks if they think the fish need it, but many will send out fish literally days after the fish have arrived. This means the fish suffer more stress before they have recovered from the flight to the new country.

The following link is about what fish go through when they leave a fish farm and end up at a pet shop in another country. It's quite a long read but you will see how much stress fish undergo before you get them.

Fish Importing, from the farm to the home

If any of you have wondered how aquarium fish get to the local pet shop, the following will give you some insight as to what they have to go through to get from the fish farm where they are bred and raised, to the pet shop where you can buy them. The stress they go through is quite...

www.fishforums.net

Il have a read thanks , I honestly didn’t think fish were imported tht much I assumed with domestic breeding that almost every fish I have would be UK bred

 

[Essjay]

I doubt that many fish are actually bred in the UK, except for private breeders.

The best shops seem to quarantine fish for 7 days, the worst for 24 hours. And then there are the tanks which run on a central filtration system sitting there with the light turned off and note saying the fish are new in and will be on sale tomorrow. That's just letting the fish adjust not quarantining them.

 

[Guyb93]

I doubt that many fish are actually bred in the UK, except for private breeders.

The best shops seem to quarantine fish for 7 days, the worst for 24 hours. And then there are the tanks which run on a central filtration system sitting there with the light turned off and note saying the fish are new in and will be on sale tomorrow. That's just letting the fish adjust not quarantining them.

I honestly assumed the fish in my tank had never been out of England , just on the premise I’d of thought it would be more profitable acquiring local fish rather than pay an import cost and such

 

[Snagrio]

I'd like to quarantine when I get new fish soon when I begin stocking my 125 gallon, but I'm in a bit of a pickle. Simply put, I have nowhere to put them. I had a fully established 55 gallon but it's been recently dismantled so I can sell it. After that's gone all I have is a 10 gallon that's completely bare. There's also a 30 gallon but there's a ball python living in it for the time being.

Would've kept the 55 I've upgraded from running for such purposes but my mother did not want another tank still going so I'm effectively out of options... I think it's because she doesn't want the extra electric cost or something (she even got upset when I tried to transfer the 55's HOB filters to the 125 to preserve the bacterial colonies, but that didn't work anyway as they didn't fit behind the wall).

So uh yeah, basically going to have to cross my fingers and hope for the best...