How long to quarantine seemingly healthy fish from a less than reputable place?

[jodilynn]

I recently found some really neat Corys at the local "big box" store, and have now purchased 5 young pictus cats from the same place.

The store has a rewards program that gives you coupons to redeem (like up to $15 or $20), and that combined with sales and promos and discounts for using their credit cards means I literally walked out with these fish for NOTHING!

My question: All 9 fish are in my quarantine tank. These fish all appear healthy. A couple of the corys had some damaged barbels, but they all seem to be doing well. I ran a course of Pimafix and a 1/2 dose of salt for a week, did a 60% water change, and monitored them for several days. I added the Pictus today, they have no signs of ick, damaged fins/barbels, and they wolfed down the brine shrimp I gave them as a "welcome home" treat (poor babies I shudder to think how these little dudes/dudettes were treated ). I am starting a course of Melafix as a precaution, may add the 1/2 dose of salt again...?

HOW LONG DO I QUARANTINE THEM?!?!?!?

2 weeks? A month? 6 weeks?

I'm just curious, and seeing how I truly value everyone's opinion here I would like some input on how you would handle this.

Thanks!

[slayer5590]

at least a month

[bekateen]

Hi jodilynn,

If you had asked me back in January, I would have said 3 weeks. But if you recall from a previous thread (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=41450), after 2 weeks going on 3, I had a raging case of ich break out in a quarantine tank of new fish. So I'm inclined to agree with slayer5590 - at least one month.

Cheers, Eric

[Bas Pels]

Once I bought a few fishes, which I wanted to grow out a bit before putting them into my 4 meter tank. Therefore it took a few months of what can be regarded as quarantine.

After I rehoused them, it took 4 day and the first fishes became ill. Can be coincidence, but the tank used to be healthy.

Another time, a friend and I agreed to swap half a tank. Mine were healthy, his too. But after the swap all the fishes became ill, and in his place precisely the same. We concluded that my fishes must have been infected with a bacterium, and became immune to it, but it was not gone. For his them same must have been the case. Obviously the cross infection was killing.

I don't believe in a quarantine for a few weeks. A few months usually suffices, but one can not predict this.

[jac]

A good quarantine means that you separate the fish for a few weeks to see if they are ill and need treatment. You can also worm them in that same period if you like.
After 3-4 weeks you start to transfer some water from the tank you are going to put them in into the quarantine tank. Do this for about a week. The new fish can slowly adjust to the new bacteria from their 'new' tank. After that and everything is fine, you can start transferring some water from the quarantine tank to the 'new' tank. That way the fish that are already in there can adjust to the bacteria from the new fish.
So this means that a good quarantine period exists of 6-8 weeks.

But still this doesn't guaranty that nothing will go wrong. Sometimes fish still get very stressed about moving tanks and are weakened. Weak fish are prone to infections and disease. Some parasites can be on the fish in a dormant stage and will get active when the fish are weakened. That's why seemingly healthy fish get sick when rehomed, and coming from a good respected hobbyist or breeder doesn't give any guarantees...

[jodilynn]

Well, I definitely was thinking 8-12 weeks. I quarantined my bumblebees and Midnights for 90 days.

I do like the idea of sloooooooowly introducing water from their future homes into the quarantine tank. I think that it a great idea!

They all seem to be doing well this morning. Funny, the corys were kind of shy and hid a lot, but now with the Pictus they all seem to be out "playing". Of course the hospital tank has a bare bottom, but I do have a plastic plant with a stone bottom in one corner and the big sponge filter is in the other corner. The corys always seemed to hide, but they are all happily darting around the tank now!

Love the Pictus cats. Very shiney and active! They almost make you dizzy!

[Birger]

Watch the pictus closely, they are notorious for getting ich when first brought home...after that danger is over they are a great fish.

For what it is worth it depends on the source of course and the type of fish but a month of quarantine is quite standard for me from an untrusted source, I learned my lesson long ago.

Birger

[jodilynn]

Yep, one broke out with ich last week so I am treating them with a broad-spectrum non-antibiotic treatment and 85 degree water.

Water change due today, then will probably start a mild course of salt.

Ridiculously fast fish!

[TwoTankAmin]

For what is it worth, I have always used the following rules for Q:

For tank raised fish, at least a month and for wild caught fish at least 3 months. There is one caveat. Those times mean that many days of no issues whatsoever. If I have to treat the fish at any time, then the clock gets reset to 0 once they are "cured". So I am looking for either 30 or 90 days in a row of no problems before I move them.may

I have found tank raised fish tend to be exposed to a lot of the typical things already. Wild caughts have been exposed to things we rarely see in established tanks and also tend to have a lower immunity for tank strains of things rarely encountered in the wild. However, they will have to be exposed to these sooner or later and will either become infected or else will develop some immunity. For me the biggest risk is when one has to mix new tank raised and wild caughts together.

While many fish problems may manifest quickly, a number of nasty things do not. Given a choice between quarantining for too little time or too much time, always go with the latter, imo.

[pleconut]

If its a less than reputable lfs i have one I used to buy fish from but I've seen way too much to take risks again there anymore like nets being used in tanks with out breaks of whitespot and then straight in the next tank along and dead fish often from tanks being thrown a fed to piranhas frontosas ect which aren't cheap. I don't put water from any lfs even in quarantine tank just the fish. With the first lfs i mentioned I will now only buy sealed dry goods i get store credit for fry from time to time but looking for somewhere else for these now also i now go to places I trust still no guarantees that fish won't get ill.

[Jools]

I tend to do it by eye, but about a month. I quite often move them from an initial tank, into another one and then into their "final destination".

Jools