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I'm curious as to how long other people keep new fish in quarantine. I've always quarantined them for about two weeks, but recently I've heard of people keeping them in separate tanks for a month or six weeks.

And do you add meds? I've always shied away from doing that on the theory that anything you add to the water stresses the fish. But I know a lot of the public aquariums routinely add meds when quarantining fish ... I'm curious as to what other hobbyists do.

If the tank I'm adding to is an established display tank, I leave them for as long as possible, but mostly it'll just be for 3 weeks. I've found 2 isn't quite enough.

I don't generally add meds because if you dose it at regular strength it puts extra stress on the body, and at low strength it creates resistance. On top of all of that, it can mask disease.

I know a few larger wholesale places that quarantine with meds, but they are generally places of high stress that are required to keep fish alive for a finite period and then move them on, so they don't have to deal with the consequences.

IF i knew there was a good likelihood that the fish had something and I had access to the good antibiotics that would cause minimal stress to the fish, and I was adding it to an established colony etc, then I might be convinced.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I think a distinction needs to be made between true quarantine for a fish, which is around 3 months to check for all possibility of common disease beyond being pointlessly long (there are a few fish diseases that may not show symptoms for over a year!) and what I suppose most people are after is really a "checking period", and for that about a month is right, and aside from a few of the most persistant protozoan , myxosporan, and mycobacterial diseases, about 90% of common fish disease incidents and parasites will have made themselves known. 2 weeks is unfortunately a little too short. Shop practises and UV systems mean that unfortunately you are waiting for pathogens to replicate themselves to dangerous levels from very low level infections, and that can take weeks with some diseases. Weeks to replicate, and weeks for the fish to weaken to the point that the first symptoms can be witnessed. Rush it ,and that process happens in your community tank.

Two weeks usually only roots outs whitespot and a few of the faster acting bacterial infections like columnaris, so I think most people should really be aiming for about the four week mark, 2 months if paranoid, and three months to be damn sure if you are the warden of a large , rare and expensive collection. Its not usual to pre-emptively medicate fish during a quarantine period, what should be happening is the close observation of the fish during that time, which should let you know whether to treat or not as diseases occur or not.

Proper quarantine for release to the wild is incidentally anything from 6 months to 2 years, and thats with veterinary supervision. What we do is really a checking period. Quarantine is an altogether more serious business.

I am curious to know how many fishkeepers (or what the typical percentage of them is, I should say) actually have, maintain and use a QT tank for new fish.

I simply acclimate mine slowly in their floating bag, dripping in some of my tank water a little at a time, for about and hr, sometimes longer.

The LFS says "float 'em for 10 mins and net 'em out..."

Are there that many of you out there who actually QT fish in a seperate tank when you buy new ones?

I QT always, no exception. 3 weeks to 2 month periods, pending on source. I'll do one month the least now.

ScottF,
Once too I was like you. I was runnin 3 aquariums, 10g, 25g, 75g tank, full of beautiful healthy fish. I hadnt added a fish in over a year.
Then, I decided to add a paradise fish to my tank.
So I picked a plump healthy looking one, took her home, put her in my 10g tank.
About 4 weeks later I noticed the red worms poking out of her anus. 3 months later I had spent over 200 dollars on meds to fight this camallanus worm parasite, and lost dozens of fish, including all 3 of my beautiful angelfish. This parasite rapidly spread through all my tanks.

Now, I quarantine all fish for 6 weeks. No exceptions. While in quarantine, I dose all fish with Fenbendazole, an anti-worming medicine (panacur for dogs and cats). All new fish receive a standard feeding of medicated food, and a repeat 2 weeks later, after which they are monitored and viewed daily for proper growth, good color, and most importantly any diseases/ health issues they may have.
I now have a 5.5g QT tank set up, with sponge filter and java ferns in place, ready for the next batch of fish, fry, or critters than need to be quarantined. Ill never go back to net and release again.



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I have a 20 gal tank used for new aquisitions, my average quarantine is about 2 months, so far the only diseases to slip past the net were fish tuberculosis, and hexamita ( that bloody disease can dupe anyone) and that was treated with metronidazole and UV sterilised into non existence.

The only times other than that which turned into a nightmare were times I bought some vallis, and some moss and just dropped them in , forgetting my own rules about plant quarantine. Whitespot has been the result of this three times, and I never stop kicking myself up the butt for not listening to myself.

Hexamita managed to outlast a 2 month quarantine, and this killed 5 of my prize discus some 6 years ago, I managed to save only two, oddly enough including the original infected specimen that caused all thee trouble. I was not best pleased.

Repeat after me in a zombied voice. " I will remember to quarantine plants, and be paranoid with delicate cichlids".

Once you obliterate a few good tanks by doing that Scott, you quickly learn that quarantine tanks are far cheaper and less stressful! I a few times I'vbe had a single fish and gone "awww, she'll be right" and it wasn't a good idea. Murphy's Law and all. Guaranteed catastrophe.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I never set up QT tanks, but i've also never lost any fish due to it. I think callatya is right in that once it happens, you'll do it religiously!

The pottery that growls!

Routinely for a month and I do not add any medication, except there is an indication it might be necessary (wild caught fish, for example). I never buy fish that just arrived at the dealer or were housed in a tank with diseased/dying fish so there is no urge for prophylactic treatment.

I use the QT also to get the fish acquainted to water parameters and food.

goodness, ask and ye shall receive...

maybe I had better get that QT tank after all, wow! horrific tales of woe!

As for not listening, git? I got burnt not listening to you as well, lol so I know how you feel, my friend!

I think I will be looking for a 10g kit and a place to set it up...

now, about this plant QT thing, lol now that I have just recently rinsed and tossed a bunuch of anacharis and hornwort in my 20g lol

Thanks ... I started pondering quarantine because my nephew won two goldfish at the fair a couple of weeks ago. He had no place to put them, so he plunked them right in the tank with his other three fish ... it seems to me a recipe for disaster -- fish that have been been swimming around at the fair in tiny bowls in 95-degree weather while people hurled pingpong balls at them, suddenly plunked into an established tank. They're probably a lot better off than they were at the fair, but hopefully the established fish won't pay the price.

So far, there haven't been any signs of a problem, but as I said, it's only been a couple of weeks; I'm curious as to when his tank will be "out of the woods," aquatically speaking.

*puzzled* hurled pingpong balls at them? I've heard of them as fair prizes, but they actually make them part of the game??

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

sadly, yes

---

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

Yes, it's awful. The fish bowls are lined up on a table and the kids toss ping-pong balls at them. If you land a ball in one of the little bowls, you get the fish in that bowl. My nephew had good aim; he won two.


I think it's been outlawed in England, and also in some states here. But not, apparently, in the state where my brother lives (which shall remain nameless)!

That is so sad Poor things must be so stressed

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett