quarantining fish

[Ken Sauer]

I have 8 Zebra Danios in a 125 Gallon tank. My next additions will be 8 peppered cory catfish. How do I go about the quarantine process? I am getting so much conflicting advice all the way from pre-treating them with medicine to just keeping them in a quarantine tank for 1 week. Also, does a quarantine tank need to be cycled? Some say "yes," others say, "no." Please advise. Thanks in advance.

 

[itiwhetu]

I think most people would say quarantine. But that needs a cycled tank that has to be big enough to house the fish. And then at the end of the day you are going to move them to your main tank, which gives the fish another water change. Personally I just make sure that the fish I purchase are healthy, then don't quarantine. For a lot of people a quarantine tank is a luxury they can't afford.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

So it is always a good idea to quarantine if you can. Just need a small spare tank which is not running all the time. A cycled sponge filter or equivalent and a heater. This small investment in extra equipment is worth the potentially loss of all your fish!

All fish will have some potentially bad bacteria/ fungi ect on them/ in the water, no matter how healthy they look in the shop.
Your new fish are going to be stressed, not only from the transport but from all the handling and everything the LFS will have done as well. It is not uncommon for some LFS's to sell fish which arrived recently (most good LFS's don't)

A stressed fish will be more susceptible to infection than ones which are not. This will then take a hold in your new fish and can be passed to the ones in your tank.
Similarly if the fish in your tank are stressed and there are bad bacteria ect on the incoming fish this can lead your fish in the tank to become infected.

Quarantine is a good way of making sure that if the new fish are carrying anything then they will not pass it on to the fish in your tank. It allows you to monitor the new fish closely, get them to "chill" a little before being added to the main tank.

You cannot go into an LFS and just select a fish which is not carrying any potentially disease causing microorganism. But what you can do by quarantining is to reduce the risk to the established tank by monitoring for a while for any signs of illness.

I would recommend quarantining for about 2-4 weeks, I do 4 but I think it varies between people, and if you use medications or not. I don't like to treat prophylactically because of a few reasons but I know people do to expedite the process.

Most people will learn the hard way about quarantining, I am sure there are many people on this forum who have a story behind why they now do this important step.

 

[Colin_T]

In addition to what The Lumpfish Guy wrote,

Always quarantine new fish for at least 2 (preferably 4) weeks. Most fish health issues show up in 1 week but some can take a couple of weeks, especially if the fish only has a very mild infection. Then it takes time to build up before showing symptoms. Having the new fish in quarantine for 4 weeks, gives them time to show up most diseases and allows the fish plenty of time to be treated and recover before being added to the main display tank.

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If you have a hang on the back (HOB) style filter like an AquaClear running on the main tank, you can have 3 sponges in them. If you get a second smaller HOB filter, you can leave that in the box until you get new fish, then set it up on the quarantine tank and use a piece of sponge from the established filter to give you a cycled filter on the quarantine tank. You can also run an air operated sponge filter or an internal power filter in the main display tank, and transfer this into the quarantine tank when you have fish in it.

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There is absolutely no reason to treat new fish for bacterial, fungal or protozoan infections unless they have symptoms. Treating fish with medications when they aren't sick can lead to liver and kidney damage in the fish, poisoning, and drug resistant pathogens that can't be killed with normal medications.

The only thing fish should be treated for whilst in quarantine is intestinal worms and gill flukes. Salt will treat gill flukes, and Praziquantel treats tapeworm, while Levamisole treats thread/ round worms.

If you are quarantining livebearers, goldfish or rainbowfish, you can add some salt to the quarantine tank to help kill some external disease organisms.

 

[vanalisa]

Indeed, I learned the unfortunate way...now I watch the fish for two or three weeks at my LFS to make sure they keep or gain weight and also colour up.
Then I quarantine for 2 weeks.
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You can use an appropriately sized plastic tub from the dollar store, and add an inexpensive air pump, air hose, and sponge filter set up from a pet/fish store. These things will come in handy. As mentioned you can use filter media from a running tank and, viola! you have a QT tank.
In the case that your fish are small you can get a 5g kit fairly cheap. Then what you can do is keep it running with shrimp or a Mystery snail... and you will always have seeded media and a cycled tank !!!
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@Colin_T
Should I treat my new peacocks Prazipro? I hate to but will take your advice. I don't have qualms about salt. Thanks

 

[itiwhetu]

Have you run fish through your quarantine tank, that have got sick and you have treated in that system. Treated them while in quarantine.

 

[Ken Sauer]

These are great replies. I have a 10 gallon tank which has nothing in it. For a month or so, it had 2 peppered cory's which I moved to the 125 (and then they swam into the filter and died) and 2 serpae tetras (which I took back to the store as they were too aggressive) in the 10 gallon tank. Now there is nothing in the 10 gallon, although I keep the filter going, etc. Also, I have been adding plants and have had a bio ball in it for a week. Still, it has ammonia. I have done water changes, even added "good bacteria" tank cycle starter but the ammonia does not go away. Would it be better for me to completely clean out that 10 gallon tank and start with a fresh tank before quarantine or keep waiting until there is no more ammonia? Thanks!

 

[vanalisa]

Ken~
I'm not knowledgeable enough to answer, but someone will be along who is...

 

[Essjay]

If you have a cycled filter and plants in the 10 gallon but no fish, there should be no ammonia

If you want to keep the tank running all the time, you need to feed the ammonia every few days to keep the bacteria alive. Or run it as a heavily planted tank, and just put fish in when quarantining them. If there enough plants, they'll use all the ammonia made by the fish.

 

[Ken Sauer]

If you have a cycled filter and plants in the 10 gallon but no fish, there should be no ammonia

If you want to keep the tank running all the time, you need to feed the ammonia every few days to keep the bacteria alive. Or run it as a heavily planted tank, and just put fish in when quarantining them. If there enough plants, they'll use all the ammonia made by the fish.

How do you feed the ammonia? My lfs can't figure out why the thing still has ammonia after like 4 or 5 months. Could it be the sand substrate?

 

[itiwhetu]

Have put some posts on the thread "QT Tank". which may be helpful.

 

[HoldenOn]

QT tank

Hey all, About time I got a quarantine tank. Want to avoid another parasite problem :). Anyways, I was thinking a 10 gallon, but I also am getting a pair of apistos and I'm worried it would be too small. I added some media in my filter so I can instantly cycle the new tank, and I'll probably end...

www.fishforums.net

 

[itiwhetu]

QT tank

Hey all, About time I got a quarantine tank. Want to avoid another parasite problem :). Anyways, I was thinking a 10 gallon, but I also am getting a pair of apistos and I'm worried it would be too small. I added some media in my filter so I can instantly cycle the new tank, and I'll probably end...

www.fishforums.net

I don't know how to do that yet

 

[HoldenOn]

I don't know how to do that yet

I just copy pasted the link hehe

 

[Essjay]

How do you feed the ammonia? My lfs can't figure out why the thing still has ammonia after like 4 or 5 months. Could it be the sand substrate?

For this particular tank, you need to work out why it still has ammonia. If there are plants in a tank, they will take up ammonia. if the tank had been cycled, the bacteria should remove the ammonia. And with no fish to make ammonia, there should be no ammonia. Unless there's something dead somewhere that's decomposing?

What is the sand? I know some types of soil can leach ammonia for months but not ordinary sand.