How long to quarantine new fish?

[SonicsDC25]

Hey everyone, well I just got a new shipment of fish from The Wet Spot yesterday and have them in a quarantine tank. How long should you quarantine new fish? I read around and the time frame ranges from 2 weeks to 1 month, so not really sure which is better. I only ever QT'd fish that I knew were sick or had a high possibility of having an illness, but for the most part I only QT'd new fish for 3 days then treated the tank if anything ever showed up. However, that was in my 55g, so it wasn't that bad to treat the entire tank, but now I have a 140g, so it'd be costly to treat an entire tank lol.

 

[bassetman]

Better safe than sorry. Four weeks minimum on everything from anyone. Otherwise you are playing a dangerous game that can devastate your collection.

 

[KaraWolf]

Well according to the store you bought them from they come from a 1 week quarantine to begin with (though I don't trust it because I picked up a molly who subsequently died from a culimaris infection it had when it arrived at my tank). I prefer to quarantine for 2 weeks, and then start it over if they're sick and I'm treating something. so they arrive and I start treating on day 3, when the meds are cycled out I start out at day 1 of 2 weeks again. Probably a bit excessive but better safe then sorry I think.

 

[Madness]

Whenever I get new fish it is a given, they will be in a quarantine tank for at minimum 6 weeks. I want to make sure that there is nothing going on before they go into my main tanks.

For example I have recently freed up a few 40 breeders for the fish I will be getting from Mel. Its not that I dont trust his husbandry, but I want to be completely sure, so I will need to find room for 15-20 fish 5"-9" for 6 weeks, or until I ship them out. Its better to be safe than sorry.

 

[DMD123]

Better safe than sorry. Four weeks minimum on everything from anyone. Otherwise you are playing a dangerous game that can devastate your collection.

Been there! Introduced two wild caught fish from two different sources into an established tank and whatever got brought in decimated my stock and I lost almost all my fish. I now quarantine just like bassetman said for about a month. No issues since doing that. I treat with Seachem ParaGuard during the process and will treat for IP if I see stringy white poo.

 

[PokeSephiroth]

I've discovered the importance of quarantine tanks ever since I joined WaFishBox, and since then, fish keeping has been a funner hobby, than a money pit.

I used to use a 20 gallon tank as a quarantine tank, but I find that a 20 gallon tank (for my needs) is too small, so I've upped it to a 40 gallon quarantine tank (which is currently holding a 6" fire eel at the moment). I use my 20 gallon as a isolation/hospital tank, or a secondary quarantine tank, for smaller fish, and that seems to have made things so much easier for me (have multiple quarantine tanks on hand, especially if you have more than 1 tank!)

I usually keep my fish quarantined anywhere from 3 weeks to 5 weeks, depending on how the fish look/behave or if any illnesses pop up or not. Any more than that, then I might end up just keeping the fish in there and converting that tank into a show tank. LOL!!!

I usually have a little notebook where I jot down when I put a new fish in quarantine, and make any notes of any illnesses that may pop up. This helps me keep track of illnesses, and also helps remind me how long new fish have been in that tank, because I easily lose track of time. =P

 

[SonicsDC25]

In that case I'll keep them in the QT for 3-5 weeks. One fish did have white poo, but it could be from stress rather than jumping the gun assuming it's an IP. Thanks everyone, I'll keep dosing the QT daily with Seachem Paraguard till I see everything is just fine

 

[KaraWolf]

lol poke why have a journal when you can just write on the tank in dry erase marker XD
good luck with the quarantine sonicsDC25!

 

[PokeSephiroth]

Kara: LOL... that's true isn't it... *shrug* I must be too lazy to buy a dry erase marker. Hahahaha!

 

[KaraWolf]

bwhaah yes it is. I actually bought a zillion different colors to do my HW in and on the off chance i took one and tried to scribble on my tank and tada epic new way of keeping track of meds. would probably be too lazy to buy one too if i hadn't already had some.
.....and now I want to go in the other room and draw all over the front of my 55 tank..haha give it some companions LOL

 

[plaamoo]

4 weeks minimum. I like 5 & ten gallon bare tanks as they take less meds and are easy to manage. But I don't keep large fish. All new fish get at least 5 days flubendazole treatment followed by 5 days quinine.