Quarrantining new fish

[Callatya]

I have 4 fish floating in baggies. I am about to give them all their own jar. Eventually the girls will swim in a little girly-school, but for now, they are being held individually until i'm certain they don't have any illnesses. it got me wondering though, HOW DO YOU QUARANTINE I assume its especially hard for those among us that have barracks. How do you deal with this? Do any of you just trust the breeder/supplier/shop? Do you use any prophylactic treatments? Do you have the same procedure for boys and girls?

[Jess]

Since most of bettas are QT anyhow, I do not have to worry about infecting other fish. I do bypass QT sometimes, like the other week when I bought home 2 sparkling gourami's. I did dose the tank with Myxazin though *in case* I am always preaching to QT, and I fail sometimes to do it myself. There is so many diseases out there. I know of a few shops I would never buy fish from as they have festy tanks and their tanks usually have some sort of diasease - mainly mouth fungus or Ich My lfs is pretty good with his fish, he wont buy from a certain supplier this time of year due to the increased chance of fungus and disease. Which is a shame as I have been wanting to order some fish in :(

[fuzzy_dragonfly]

I put them seperately in a 4L tank for bettas, since males are kept seperate anyway that isn't a huge drama for me. After a week all females are checked over with a fine toothed comb (meaning I get out the trusty magnifying glass and torch and look for any signs of illness - I do this before trying to spawn a pair too) if I so much as suspect the fish isn't well they do not get released with any other fish. Recently I 'quarantined' a betta in a 20L tank, but I was also using him to cycle the tank to begin with to hopefully have sucessful spawn . I'm pretty careful with these things since the accidental outbreak of velvet, it's horrible stuff to get rid of, you think you've knocked it out and it makes a come back weeks later .

[debstep]

Mostly we get new fish through a shipment so have a few come in at once- we have a 50l tank set up which is split into 10 plus a plant/filter area. All new shipments go into here for at least 2 weeks with melafix and watching. Then I usually put boys into their bottles in the UV'd tank. When we just get 1 or two, I have some large glass jars (pickle jars 2 lt approx) I have in the tank which keeps them warm but separate until QT period over. We don't have a barracks, just 2lt coke bottles upside down with bottoms removed and holes all around and some gravel/hormwort in each, all placed within larger tanks with plants and filtration etc. They are kept together with pegs which also hold opaque plastic 'barriers' to stop them seeing the next door fish. Cheers Deb & Step

[Chuckie]

I do QT, and I use whatever's handy. generally, that is a 5L clear plastic storage bucket.

[edie]

mine is the simplest one I put them in the containers as the others, put them in the barracks as the others, BUT they don't get the water drip!! LMAO Basically, they only get the heat from the overflow water. This way, they still feel at home when the dripper comes in. Problem though, sometimes I forget and they will on like that for a week or two before I realize they don't have much water in them But they are happy there :D

[Figure_8]

Normally I keep all my males and females separately anyway, so QT for bettas isn't too much of an issue, although this winter I have the girls rooming in together since I can't heat the laundry in this new place. My new CT's are in QT in my 4ft community tank since I'm out of room and heaters in the laundry. What I've done is used 2x coke bottles with the tops removed and stablised with a suction cup on the side. I've got the bottle up high enough so that the glass of the 4ft tank also acts as a top for the bottle. No holes though, I don't want water sharing at this point.

[Bettamuse]

There is an old saying in the aquarium game. You pay good money for a disease…. All fish should be QT no matter were they come from. Just the stress of transport or the difference in water can bring on a sickness and it can spread to your other fish. Even if the other fish do not get sick you may find that you have to treat the tank so the rest of the inhabitants get an unnecessary dose of drugs. We QT everything that comes into the fish room even if we know were it came from.

[Canfeleq]

All of my fish are kept seperately except when I am trying to spawn so QT isn't really an issue for me. I test the water of new arrivals and try to match as closely as possible then gradually make the changes to my local conditions with very small additions of water daily for about 10 days. Then they get a 50% water change on day 11 and a 75% change on day 15 after that they go onto my normal routine of 50% weekly change. Rhonda

[Chuckie]

I should add that I am going to make it my practice from now on to worm all new arrivals while in QT, too.

[Najoha]

Similar to Rhonda with a little salt. Worming 3 week minimum but usually 4. Girls in the big girl tank or stay sparated to grow.

[Guest Brasil]

Now that I know more about fish, I must get into the habit of quaratine. I treat the water with a bit of ketapang extract and/or something like melafix. I recently got one (actually given it by one of the workers) at a lfs (they said I would prob take care of it better then them, and I suspected it to have fin rot). I have him quaratined at the moment with aquari/tetra-cycline cause his fin looks pretty bad. He appears to be happy tho. he flares and builds nests.

[Chuckie]

*gets on soapbox* Apologies to everyone who has heard me on this topic before (and to you Brasil, as I'm not picking on you, it just reminded me of my favourite subject, LOL) - but using medications as a prophylactic when there is nothing actually wrong with a fish may contribute to the creation of super-bugs, resistant to usual aquarium medications. So I suggest that you QT for a decent period of time (I think 10 days is adequate) without meds unless the fishy shows signs or symptoms of something. Of course treat symptoms of finrot appropriately. I'm not suggesting no meds at all, just no meds in QT unless necessary. That's all *falls off soapbox and skins knees*

[Chuckie]

OH except worming. I believe in worming. sorry, as you were..

[Mishy]

ROFL... sorry lilli, it's monday morning and the image of you on a soapbox then falling off to skin your knees... for me, if it's an import or shipped from interstate, i QT for a week in my sister's 20litre tank. I use the beanie boxes and watch their behaviour. If there's any sign of illness, out comes the meds. I agree with lilli on the superbugs front... simple finrot on one of my girls is taking forever to kick and she's an import

[Guest Brasil]

Thx Lilli I am still learning so I appreciate all the info I can get Why else would I be here?? :)

[Puggle]

I have all of my bettas in separate jars or plastic tubs. I had an outbreak of diseases in my community tank that killed all the female bettas in there (as well as other fish), so now I keep my girls separated as well. Although last night one jumped from her jar into the one next to it. Just visiting the neighbours I suppose Anyway, after I realised that using the same nets and syphon for all of my fish kind of defeats the purpose of separating them, I got a bit stricter on my quarantine routine. Now all of my bettas have their own plastic cup (labelled) instead of nets. I also bought a few more plastic buckets that are only used for clean water (also labelled) and the old buckets are for "used" water. That way I don't use buckets that have come into contact with diseases to put fresh water into other tanks. The only fish I've bought recently are bettas so they don't get a special quarantine since they'll be by themselves anyway. If I get other fish, they'll go in another tank for a couple weeks quarantine. I don't use any medicines "just in case". Don't want to build up resistance, and besides, medicine is expensive (

[Canfeleq]

I received a shipment of fish from a supplier in Sydney about 3 months ago that were in medicated water during shipment. I rang the supplier to question the practice and was advised that they are kept in medicated water in store to prevent disease. Needless to say, take them out of the meds and I now have 6 cases of fin rot that will not clear up. @$# *@ You should only treat for disease when it is present - not 'just in case'

[Figure_8]

geez a fish store should know better Still I guess they get to sell more meds that way as people would have to continually treat the fragile fish.

[Bettabegood]

Ditto Rhonda's method. I have also found out the hard way that new plants must be quarantined too. Not because they might introduce snails into the tanks (I like having a few snails to clear up any algae, and some of my bettas adore having their own pets/fresh food), but because of the dreaded brush algae. The last time I bought some plants from a lfs, I accidentally introduced this nasty algae into my tanks. Getting rid of it is almost impossible, according to what I've read on the web. Sue

[Callatya]

I bleach and/or alum soak all new plants to try to kill off snails or spores or bugs. Works well for all i've had, except for foxtail ;)

[Canfeleq]

I have had the same problem with brush algae but never thought to use bleach What does it do to foxtail?

[Callatya]

It makes its leaves fall off Does a great job of killing it off Bleach is pretty drastic, but it does wonders for algae. I recently bleached off a whole bunch of algae from my java fern. Java fern is tough as boots, so it held up remarkably well :lol:

[Bettabegood]

What strength of bleach do you use, and for how long? Sue

[Callatya]

About 1/8 cup to 15-20L water for 5 mins, longer to actually kill algae (i wait til it turns white and cross my fingers for the plants) It *should* be for 11 mins as that is the standard for bleach killing bugs, but i don't like leaving the plants in there for so long It isn't a good idea to submerge the roots for too long, if you are doing it for algae, i just dunk them for a few minutes. Also, choose your plants carefully. this method really only works for anubias species, and java fern, and apparently crypts, but i haven't tried it.