Why Quarantine New Fish?

[fish_doc]

It's very important to quarantine newly acquired fish for 7-10 days before introducing them into your pond or aquarium. A quarantine tank acts as a rest and recuperation station for new arrivals, allowing fish to "settle" after the trauma of being transported and to reduce bodily stress. Quarantining also breaks the lifecycle of any organisms with complex lifecycles, which rely on secondary hosts in order to reproduce.

Sick fish should be removed from the pond or aquarium to a treatment vessel (i.e. an old wading pool or aquarium), whenever possible, to prevent disease spreading to the other fish. Make an un-iodized salt dip by following instructions on salt packaging, adjusting its potency for the number of fish per square inch. Gently place fish in a soft nylon net, and lower them into the salt dip for the amount of time instructed on the salt dip packaging. As a result, 99% of microscopic parasites that kill fish will drop off the fish. Salt dips are the least toxic method and do wonders.

Most fish carry very low levels of infection at all times, which often go unnoticed because they're easily controlled by the fish's immune system. If diseases manifest, the quarantine tank provides an easily accessible and controlled environment to treat fish.

Disease prevention in newly acquired fish can be substantially reduced by careful acclimatization "out of the bag" and into the quarantine tank, paying careful attention to water quality. Fish need time to fully restore osmoregulatory, metabolic and biological functioning after a period of stress.

Fish that are introduced into a well-managed quarantine tank with excellent water quality and few stresses will be strong and keep sickness at bay.






Got this in a email today directly from tetra. It is a great reminder of how and why to Quarantine new fish.

[euRasian32]

great info. some people that know this don't have room for one, but a Q-tank doesn't have to be running all the time. my suggestion would be to at least have the glass and equipment JIC, and the know how to kickstart a ten gallon in a day by utilizing the mother tank's biological bacteria.

[mrmoby]

No doubt, it is the way to go. I found out the hardway. I always thought, "I don't have the room, dont want to maintian it, etc. etc". Then I brought home some black neons, and then WHAMMO........you've got ich. Two points I make are this. It is much cheaper to medicate a ten gallon vs a 55 gallon. Second, if you have a bigger, well stocked tank, you stand to be out a lot of fish and money. During the course of the ich treatment, I lost three catfish, and my pleco. Between the price of the lost fish, and medication, I was close to $50 which is what a ten gallon setup will cost you at Walmart, which is all you really need. I keep it stocked with a few small fish to keep it active, and now all my new arrivals spend at least two weeks there before moving on up.

[TheOldSalt]

Sad but true, most people don't keep quarantine tanks until they learn the hard way what happens when they don't. Nothing makes a true believer out of someone like losing a whole tank of fish.
Why is Tetra emailing you, fish_doc? I like this thing they sent you. In fact, I think it should go on the new archive board for permanent display.

[fish_doc]

I get occasional emails with good info from them. I think its a forward from a pet product magazine that I get with info on new product releases and news on some of the stores new ideas and future events.