PlanetCatfish.com

I realize this is a gigantic topic, but I was trying to find a collection of people's typical quarantine protocols... Anyone care to share their routine or tips? Perhaps I should have posted this under the "Plecos" or "Cories forums," etc. but I'm sure some things are similar & it might be nice to have the information all in one place. I apologize in advance if this is unrealistic, or a bad idea... just didn't want to ask the same question in both areas. (Also curious about anyone's routines for Loaches, if they differ at all from their routine for catfish...)

Thanks! Amanda

-How long you quarantine (assuming nothing appears ill)?
-What meds (if any) you "automatically" use?
-What meds do you make sure you have on hand "just in case?"
-Do you generally decrease the dosing suggested when treating plecos or catfish?
-Do you keep your quarantine tank up & running 365 days a year?
-If so, who lives there when you have no new fish?
-If you don't keep it running all the time, do you have to "restart" it like a brand new tank each time you want to quarantine something?
-Any other info you wish someone had shared with you?

IMO an excellent idea. I often would use a prophylactic dose of clout, flubendazole, metronidazole, praziquantel, and nitrofurazone+furazolidone 1:2 (the usuall gram-positive bi-firan combo) for the fish I catch in the wild. Fish from LFS I just observe for several weeks or may add some salt, sometimes praziquantel seeing how safe and efficient a de-wormer it is.

-How long you quarantine (assuming nothing appears ill)? a month
-What meds (if any) you "automatically" use? see above
-What meds do you make sure you have on hand "just in case?" see above plus Malachite green/formalin based ich meds
-Do you generally decrease the dosing suggested when treating plecos or catfish? yes, 1.5-2 times, but often, if they take it well, I go full dose
-Do you keep your quarantine tank up & running 365 days a year? yes, two of them
-If so, who lives there when you have no new fish? bacteria which I feed with fish foods and ammonia (concentrated ammonium hydroxide sold for cleaning purposes, $1 1/2 gallon)
-If you don't keep it running all the time, do you have to "restart" it like a brand new tank each time you want to quarantine something? n/a
-Any other info you wish someone had shared with you? quarantine from the first fish you get!

My routine is different depending on the type of catfish and where it came from both in terms of retailer and point of origin. It's hard to generalise although I agree an article on it would not be a bad idea.

Jools