Quarantine matter

[DR.V]

Hi all,

When you buy new fish, not just discus, any fish, what sort of quarantine procedure do you do ?

How long ? What treatment ?

Thanks

[sammigold]

I have two quarantine tanks set up... one for discus and one for guppys... both have basic filtration and a little tub of gravel from main tanks....

When I buy new fish I acclimatise them into qt tank and leave them their for observation for between 2-3 weeks... I dont medicate or anything unless some disease shows up.... once they have been observed for this time and are "clean" in my eyes then I will transfer them and acclimatise them to main tank...

[samir]

i'd advise you to treat them with prazi first then with levimasole and move them with the other fish after 4 weeks.

[HAN 'd' Aquariums]

My quarantine procedure:
Week one - treat with CPV Worm Rid Tablets (Prazaquantel)
Week two - treat again with CPV Worm Rid Tablets
Week three - treat with Skyes Big L Wormer (Levamisole)
Week four - if all is ok, the fish can moved out of the quarantine tank. If signs of illness are present, I would treat with Metronidazole.

[DR.V]

Thanks all !

[Waldo]

As an importer/exporter I strongly recomend the correct aclimation process below.

(If you just want to do it without knowing why it works the here's how it's done. To prepare lower your tank temp to lower 70's. When you get the box in, cut the bag open and squirt some Amquel and Prime into the bags. Remove the fish and put them directly into the tank without acclimating.

Ammonia can be measured in two ways amount and toxicity.

Those test strips measure the amount of ALL ammonia.

Toxicity refers to the amount of un-ionized ammonia (un-ionized is a less stable molecule and is more likely to bond to something or change into something else to fill it's electrons)

When is ammonia un-ionized? It's a direct correlation between the temperature and pH. If you would like to read more into it then you can google ammonia toxicity, and read up on website's. http://www.thekrib.com/Chemistry/ammonia-toxicity.html



Table 1. Un-ionized NH3 as a percent of total ammonia (by temperature and pH).
Percent NH3 of total ammonia
Temp (F) pH 6.5 pH 7.0 pH 7.5 pH 8.0 pH 8.5
68 .13 .40 1.24 8.82 11.2
77 .18 .57 1.77 5.38 15.3
82 .22 .70 2.17 6.56 18.2
86 .26 .80 2.48 7.46 20.3


Lets go through the stages of the fish shipment. First the fish are already in a 7.2 pH (our water) as the fish breaths and poops, it releases CO^2. If you've ever dealt with a planted tank and CO^2 you will know that it will lower the pH. You can assume that the fish are now in a pH of < 7.0. Also during shipment the temp drops to around 68 F, which is cold but will not harm any of the fish; this brings the toxicity to lower levels with the same amount of ammonia.
When the fish arrive and you open the bags the first thing to happen is gas exchange and temperature rising. CO^2 is exchanged for N^2 and O^2 gasses. This in turns raises the pH back to its normal state around 7.2. If you add water (Drip and Float Method) to dilute the ammonia you are "raising the temperature" making the ammonia more lethal.

pH and temperature change can be more tolerated. Most fish are tolerable of a jump 10F warmer and 5F cooler. pH change will effect your fish for the next week regardless if it's drip or squirt dump..... Quite pointless unless it's more then 2 points, in which case I would squirt poor a cup into the bag and then put the fish into the tank. This is replicated by the rainy season in the Amazon where temp, dH, DO, and pH all fluctuate rapidly.

The chemicals in Prime and Amquel (As well as all other ammonia chemicals) are not ammonia removers. They are ammonia detoxifies. They were not intended for household tanks but are often sold that way. They were originally made for the purpose of importing wild fish that were vulnerable to ammo burn like Apistogramma and tetra.


I quarentine most of our fish for a week with acriflavin and we observe them for any parasites fungus or disease they might have.

Check out the new fish disease book coming out this year. It's author is also the OFI president and it will have better identifications along with better pictures then the last version.

[Cliffeh]

I put new arrivals into a QT tank for 2-3 weeks
Add a sacrificial fish to this QT tank with them for a further 2-3 weeks
If all is well I add them to the destination tank else I treat as required.


I lost half a tank once due to not following this procedure so won't risk even a plant that hasn't been through QT

[DR.V]

Cliffeh, what sort of medication do you treat during QT ?

[Waldo]

Does that ansewr your question?

[DR.V]

Does that ansewr your question?

What sort of medication/treatment do you use during QT ? Just acriflavin for a week ?

Thanks very much.

[Cliffeh]

Sorry Dr. V, only just got back to this thread...

I worm new arrivals on week 2 as a matter of course with wormer plus and then treat as necessary for any other symptoms that may occur and/or salt dips.