Writing an article on Quarantine...

[brewmaster15]

Hi all,
I'm putting together an article for the library on Quarantine. I'm pretty much writing from the point of view as to why to QT, and what I do. If any wants to offer up what they do to be added to article. I'd appreciate it. You can just post it here and I'll add it in as some testimonials as to what other do and why. This article will be house in our Library and and on my personal site..Ctdiscus.com

I'd appreciate any help you can give.

thanks,
al

....Quarantine All New Discus!!
Al Sabetta 3/7/03

Many pathogens are easily harbored by newly acquired fish. These pathogens can cause Discus in an established tank to rapidly become ill. The safest way to insure that you do not accidentally infect your fish with a pathogen is to put all new fish through an adequate quarantine period. This has come to mean many things to many discus hobbyists and breeders. To many it is simply isolating new fish and observing them for signs of a disease for a period of weeks, and then treating as necessary if an ailment is obvious. Others will include prophylactic treatments for common ailments such as gill flukes, nematodes, and tape worms. The benefit of this method is you have a chance that you can eradicate low levels of a pathogen before it is a problem. The drawback with it is you may be treating your fish with unnecessary medications, which can harm the fish, environment, and create resistent strains of pathogens.

What ever form your quarantine procedure follows, you should ALWAYS Quarantine new fish. This is even if you trust the source implicitedly. Even if the supplier tells you that they have already done a Quarantine, do one yourself. If you do not quarantine you risk losing all of your Fish. Patience and an adequate quarantine is the best way to go when acquiring new fish.


The following is my procedure for Quarantine. It is not a recommendation, just a description of what I usually do when aquiring new fish.

1. No matter who the breeder, or seller is. I isolate the fish a minimum of 6 weeks. All equipment is dedicated to the QT setup.

2. When I first receive the fish They are dipped in methylene blue (50ppm solution /10 sec) and placed in a tank that has salt at concentration of 1-2 tablespoons /10 gal. This helps them deal with stress.

3. If there are any signs of bacteria or fungus, they get an increase in the salt to 1 tablespoon/ 1 gal water + furan 2 until the probelm clears.

4. dewormed with a tape worm specific medicine-pranziquantel

Once eating....
5 fed medicated gel food containing panacur for 1week, longer if I suspect worms(1gram per 4 oz of food. )

6. fed a medicated food, with metronidazole to deal with internal protozoans

7. externals parasite are dealt with using formalin , fluke tabs, clout, or potassium Permanganate as necessary.

8. I ALWAYS Assume Flukes...the gift that keeps on giving... currently I have found 3 weeks of treatment with Flubendazole or prazi to be the most effective, and safest treatment .


At the end of 6 weeks I take a cull fish from my other tanks and add it to the QT tank. If the cull does not get sick in week or two, then this tells me if the new fish are safe to mix with mine, and tells me if mine are safe to mix with them..

-al

In addition to the above. If possible, quarantine should be done in a separate location away from your main system. Completely different set of hoses for siphoning and refilling. This will avoid any airborn pathogens come into contact with your tanks. Never let your guard down.
Jimmy.

[gary1218]

I posed this question on another forum that was talking about the same sort of thing.

Everyone is ALWAYS told to quarantine new discus. BUT, if you as the person I'm buying from has done this full quarantine procedure and I buy discus from you do I still have to do this quarantine procedure as well?

I do realize that your discus may look/act healthy but can still be caring something that may have a negative effect on my discus, and vice versa. Rather than doing this quarantine/treatment procedure again would it be better to temporarily keep them separate and set up just one tank where you put one or two of the new discus in with one or two of the other discus and then observe them? How long would you need to observe them with no negative effects before you would be comfortable putting them all together?

GARY

[jim_shedden]

Really good point JImmy

[Bass]

Hi Brew! How's things! I agree with JI. Do you remember those really old posts from Hans and Co about the “airborne virus”?
Maybe another point worth mentioning early on is proper preparation of the QT. I think it goes something like:

Tank preparation:
Use only new, clean, or uncontaminated cloths. Do not use any material that has come in contact with washing detergents etc.
1. Hose inside of tank with fresh water.
2. Dry thoroughly with a clean towel.
3. Apply surgical spirit ($2 from the local chemist) to inside of tank using a clean cloth/sponge.
4. Allow to dry for at least 20 mins.
5. Hose thoroughly again.
6. Dry once more with towel.

You might think that most of those points are pretty obvious... but you'd be suprised.

[keith_cny]

Brew,
How do you make your identification of the internal and external protozoans? I'm really interested in a thread that shows pictures of what the conditions can look like to aid in diagnosis. I realize some problems may not provide documentable visual symptoms so your (and others here) vast experience is important to me. I have recently gone through some sort of parasite problem with 2 tanks. Do not know what it was or what finally stopped it (long story and I took notes in a logbook...still can't be sure).

One reason for my interest is I am preparing another tank so I can finally order some beauties from Cary. I think I put my fish through more than they needed to endure (this past month) plus I lost 2 nice juves! Augh!

1. Do you know of a thread with the information I suggested above that already exists?

2. Are you concerned with your hands when going from one tank to the next? Do you wash or rinse them?

3. What would you do with a planted tank which had a problem, seems ok now, but you want to add new fish to it? Please give me another alternative treatment besides tearing it down and throwing everything (plants, driftwood, etc.) out and washing with clorox.

Thanks for reading this longwinded post and for any reply!

Keith

[brewmaster15]

Hi Gary,

Everyone is ALWAYS told to quarantine new discus. BUT, if you as the person I'm buying from has done this full quarantine procedure and I buy discus from you do I still have to do this quarantine procedure as well?

Imo,....Absolutely. Lets say a breeder had a very pathogenic bacteria/or protozoan that went thru his hatchery. He treated with antibiotics, and knocked out most of the disease. The breeder sees the fish are healthy looking now, and sells them to you. Without taking the time to do the work yourself, you risk those fish being carriers, and often the stress of shipping them to you is enough to cause the bacteria to flare up. In QT that is contained, but god help your fish if you skipped Qt because the seller told you he did a clean up on the fish.Trust No one.. The responsibility to QT is the buyers in my book.

another reason to do it yourself is duration and what is used. Tank space is valuable. On the these boards I have asked about QT many times. The duration of QT varies among sellers. I have seen Qts for as short as 2 weeks , and as long as months. Some ignore the question when asked it. For me.. 2 weeks is too short... but thats just me.


Keith...

1. Do you know of a thread with the information I suggested above that already exists?

2. Are you concerned with your hands when going from one tank to the next? Do you wash or rinse them?

3. What would you do with a planted tank which had a problem, seems ok now, but you want to add new fish to it? Please give me another alternative treatment besides tearing it down and throwing everything (plants, driftwood, etc.) out and washing with clorox.

These links may help you Understand what to look for..

Links to aid in Identification .....
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FA041
http://www.ntlabs.co.uk/microscope_diagnosis.htm
http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/home.html
http://www.aquavet.i12.com/Fish.htm
http://www.afip.org/vetpath/POLA/POLA95/gardiner
http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/DPDx/HTML/Image_Library.htm
http://anicca.net/parafish/
http://www.aquarium.net/0197/0197_1.shtml
http://www.missouri.edu/~vmicrorc/Byhost/Fish.htm
http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/parasites.htm
http://www.ces.uga.edu/pubcd/C772-w.htm
http://dmoz.org/Science/Biology/Microbiology/Parasites/
http://home.austarnet.com.au/wormman/wormmain.htm

Symptom Based Treatment of Disease....
http://world.std.com/~enjolras/symtreat.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/or2/cichlid...toms_index.htm
http://www.aqualink.com/disease/sdisease.html
http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/guides/disease.html


as for going from Tank to QT ... I always go to the QT last, and wash my hands with rubbing alcohol. I keep a bottle near the tank.


The planted tank question is complex...it depends on what is in the tank, and what you can treat with.

Drop me an email sometime and we can talk more about this if you have questions.

take care,
al

[keith_cny]

Thanks Al for all the information. I drop you an email after I get through it all.

Keith