Prophylactic treatment for new quarantines

[scottayy]

Do any of you do anything to new arrivals before waiting to see if anything happens?

I've read a lot about it and people seem to be on both sides of the fence.

I think I would like to do something prophylactic to take some guesswork out of what I could be potentially introducing into my main tank.

 

[Hondatek]

Yes I treat all my fish with hypo in a qt as soon as I buy them. Many won't recommend it but there are a lot of people who do this.

 

[Schism]

Quarantine for 6 weeks. No need to hypo or treat anything unless a problem is discovered on those 6 weeks. Treatment only adds stress if its not needed.

 

[scottayy]

Quarantine for 6 weeks. No need to hypo or treat anything unless a problem is discovered on those 6 weeks. Treatment only adds stress if its not needed.

That's pretty much what I have done. But I read about people who find things like two days before introduction to the main tank. Imagine if they discovered that two days AFTER introduction?

Hypo requires too much maitenance for me. What about a week of copper treatment? Or formalin?

Or at the very least vitamin enriched foods.

I know quarantine is supposed to be a stress free environment, but in my thinking I would like to stress them out a bit and see if they show what they have, if anything.

 

[Hondatek]

Hypo does not stress the fish . It actually does the complete opposite. You can qt for 6 weeks and still get hit with ich IMO . If they have ich it will show in hypo .

 

[Schism]

That's pretty much what I have done. But I read about people who find things like two days before introduction to the main tank. Imagine if they discovered that two days AFTER introduction?

Hypo requires too much maitenance for me. What about a week of copper treatment? Or formalin?

Or at the very least vitamin enriched foods.

I know quarantine is supposed to be a stress free environment, but in my thinking I would like to stress them out a bit and see if they show what they have, if anything.

Stress will only make them more susceptible to disease and they will be worse off when added to the display. If they have something it will make an appearance in 6-8 weeks regardless of stress. This assumes also that you know what your looking for and how to spot problems.

Cuts, spots, blotches, fungus, infection, rapid breathing, clouded eyes, inflamed gills etc, are all signs of problems.

If after 6-8 weeks a fish has no outward signs of illness along with no sign of stress and a healthy appetite then they are ready for the display.

Quarantine is designed to be a stress free environment where fish can reach peak health before being introduced to the tank.

Quarantine 6-8 weeks obviously if you add something new to the quarantine the 6-8 weeks starts over. Nothing wrong with feeding enriched foods however copper is harsh on fish and needs close attention and monitoring to maintain therapeutic levels. Also many fish species do not tolerate copper or other medications well.

 

[melosu58]

Just QT here. No treatment unless I know what I`m treating for. That is just me and I`m not dogging anyone that does. To each there own.

 

[rupp3322]

Definetly qt for 4 weeks! Ive learned the hard way! In your qt feed vitamin enriched foods and use a parasite prevent treatment additive.