FishProfiles.com Message Forums

One of my improvement plans to reduce the probability of Ich in the future is to use an isolation tank every time that I introduce new fish. I have a five gallon, hex shaped tank with a small bio wheel. I have some questions about keeping it in good working order. For instance, if I put it away between episodes, how do I ensure that the tank has the proper bacteria in it? Is there a link to a good article somewhere on this subject? Thanks.

I don't know about any links, but I can tell you how I would handle it.

The hex is good for a small number of fish - like maybe 4-6 youthful rasboras, danios, etc. Full sized, I'd think maybe 3-5 max. The reason is the surface area. You could squeeze more into a regular 5 gallon rectangular tank, but your hex will make a decent staging area, as long as you don't overstock it.

Lets say that you have plans to introduce new fish into your tank in 3 weeks from now. You could set that biowheel up in your main tank to seed. If the filter itself is integral to the hex tank filter, then simply drop the biowheel into your main tank in an area where it will be wet and see current (best oxygenated water hitting it). This will allow it to seed.

The night before or the day you are bringing your fish home, take water from your main tank and fill the 5 gallon hex. However, not knowing your main tank size, I would say not to deplete more than 30% of that tanks water. This gives you some good tasting, fishy water that is at a good temp. By doing it the night before, you can ensure any heater you use will have leveled out, in terms of temp.

Avoiding ich is fairly simple and I have not had to deal with it *knocks on wood*. Respect a rule of not exposing fish to greater than +/- 1F to 1.5F max in 24 hours. This means looking at the thermometer before, during and after a water change to ensure you are not dropping the tank temp several degrees. For transferring fish, I recommend asking the lfs what the temp of the tank is. Keep in mind each thermometer can vary several degrees from another. Just make sure you aren't bringing them home to a 72F tank when the lfs is keeping them at 78F. If that is the case, make sure your hex tank more closely matches the lfs tank temp before you bring your fish home. Then, gradually - like 1-1.5F daily, raise the temp until you get it where you want to match your main tank. The other key to avoiding ich is to look carefully at all fish in the tank from which you are picking fish. Spend a good 15 minutes just looking at their habits and physical shape. You see ANY FISH flashing, scraping, rapid breathing at the surface, strange darting, spiraling, fuzz, lesions, finrot, popeyes, dropsy, ..... move on.

I think it is great that you are thinking about quarantine. I used a 5 gallon staging area and it really paid off. Despite careful screening, one rasbora out of six I had in that 5 gallon, showed mouth fungus just 12 hours after getting him home. I dosed the tank with Maracyn, but it was a highly aggressive strain. I came home from work and the poor thing had no face left. It was gone up to his eyeballs. I had to euthanize. From there, I had to battle it off of several others. It was an outbreak. I never did lose any more and was able to transition them several weeks later.

I had a similar experience with corydoras. Soon after getting two apparently healthy cories home, it became clear when I got them under good light something wasn't right. Both died of hemorrhagic septicemia within 12 hours of each other, starting the day after I brought them home. I noticed the blood pin points at the base of the fins and strange, darkened appearance of one, but didn't put things together. Better they die in q-tine than to create an outbreak. I later learned that several fish stores all had massive die-offs of this particular cory and they had all came from the same breeder. One fish store said he lost 100% of them.

So, you have good reason to start the practice. I strongly recommend 3-4 week intervals. Columnaris (mouth/body fungus) usually appears within 3 days. Septicemia can lurk for a good 7-10 days before showing, along with aeromonas infections. Parasites up to a few weeks.

If you are buying from a large chain store, you may want to consider feeding them something like Jungle's Anti-Parasaite Medicated Food. It has 3 meds that, fed for 3 days, will help them expel tapeworm, camallanus, among many other intestinal parasites. These can take much longer to notice and by that time, others in the tank can be infected. Such prophylactic treatment is controversial - supported by some and not by others. To each his own.

I would also dose the Hex tank with Melafix and/or Pimafix upon transfer. The reason is the netting and handling. If you look carefully, you may find that fish store personnel use the same net to remove dead and dying fish that they bag your fish with. The netting causes microscopic scrapes and removes slime coat - all ways to create entry. By using an antibacterial, you can head off infection before it can take root.

Other good meds to have for quarantine are Jungles Anti-Bacteria Medicated Food, Jungle Fungus Clear Tank Buddies, or Maracyn AND Maracyn-2 (each has different actions), Rid Ich Plus. I only recommend this because I had bad experiences with early stock and had problems in quarantine as you can see. I later found a better source and have not had problems. It all depends on what conditions the fish are coming from.

Hope this helps

Diane

Last edited by Cory_Di at 22-Jan-2005 19:53

Cory_Di: Perhaps you couldn't link me to an article, but your write-up should be saved and posted somewhere within FishProfiles! Thank you very much for this detailed post. I understand that dosing meds as a prophylactic is controversial, but do you personally do it? How about others of you reading this thread? After transferring fish from the isolation tank to the main tank, do you dump out the water and start over? If you keep it in place, do you treat it with any meds before the next new fish are brought in? Thanks,

Situation dependent is the answer to the question as to whether I use prophylactic treatment.

Regardless of where the fish come from, I have a tendency to use Melafix and Pimafix together for the first 3-5 days or so. Just due to netting. I do this even when transferring fish between my own tanks. I believe it was Dr. Edward J. Noga, Prof of Aquatic Meds , in his book, Fish Disease - Diagnosis and Treatment, that discussed just how much damage netting does to the surface of a fish and how it provides an entry for seemingly harmless bacteria in the tank. Add to that entry, the high level of stress associated with transfer and the immunity drops. Fish immunity is highly affected by stress.

I have found a source in Lansing, Michigan - Pruess Pets, which actually quarantines all fish with a pretty solid process. I was given a tour by Sarah (Wolfie3118) who works there (or at least did this past spring). It was the only fish store that I had been in that had no sick, dead, dying, or even discolored/stressed looking fish in any tank on the floor. In the back - that's where the quarantine was with many tanks. Each fish even had its own index card. They had marine biologists on staff that did testing and necropsies if an outbreak occurred. She showed me the bucket with nets and explained how each net is used only once, then returned to the sterilization bucket (which I believe was just hypersalinated water). Excellent protocol. Do I need to quarantine these fish? Likely not. I did quarantine the habrosus cories I took home that day, but only because they were so young, I wanted to be able to feed them more times than I could in the main tank to beef them up. Transition was without incident, despite a 2.5 hour ride home.

Now, compare that setup with what you see in chain stores and in some smaller stores. Sickness and even death can be seen in anywhere from 25% to 100% of the tanks. There is no quarantine and putting fish in your display tank from those conditions is a crap shoot. It is fish from these stores that I use prophylactic medication aside from the melafix/pimafix. I have often fed them medicated food - one round for parasites, then I look to see if anything smacks of a possible bacterial infection, and feed medicated food there. I was using Jungle's Pepso Food which had both antibiotic and one dewormer in it, but not a good one. Now Jungle puts out both an Anti-Parasite, and Anti-Bacteria medicated food that should be more widely available soon. Now it is only at Petsmart.

I must say that I also like using salt in quarantine. It is good to find out if there is salt in the tank your fish come from at the lfs. When I brought my goldfish home I was aware that the owner of the lfs was big on full dosing of salt for goldfish. I almost forgot to salt my tank and the fish would have went from a pretty salty tank to a salt-free tank, risking osmotic shock. I matched his salinity with 7 heaping Tbsp of salt in my 36 gallon. I then just allowed the salinity to dive downward as I did water changes. Salt can help reduce stress to a certain degree and mildly effective against parasites and infection. For cories and scaleless fish I do as little as quarter or 1/3 strength. Chain stores often use salt in heavy doses. I recommend matching half strength of what they say is in there tank, at the least. Then dilute it out.

Anyway, I hope this answers the question.

Thanks for the compliment. I am long winded because I type as fast as I can think, so it is easy. It drives some nuts . I figure they have every right to move right past my babble.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 22-Jan-2005 21:07

Thanks for your help. I will keep these guidelines in mind and will use many of them.

Does anyone else wish to share your thoughts on whether you medicate your new fish in the isolation tank as a prophylactic?