i don't get it?!?

[ReeferKimberly]

ok i just thought of something... we always advise QT..good..we say "the new fish may have something THEY can handle but your own fish may not"...ok.....sooooo. i don't get the fact that "if you put the new fish in QT they will not infect your own fish". how is this? won't they STILL have the immune system to handle what logically they should still have? why does QT make a diff in this situation, what exactly makes the "new" disease go away??

i am asking b/c as myself, i have never bought two fish from two locations and put them together (except once with some fry). i always buy in large numbers or already paired fish....sooo i have never really had to do a QT (except for that one time).
back to my question...what makes everyone "know" that the new fish will still not infect the old fish, even after a whole year of QT.
kimberly :-*

oh and btw, this was not meant to offend anyone, i am just curious.

[Rod]

Thats the thing, you never really do know if the Q'ed fish are carries of a disease or not until you mix them with your other fish. Even after a year i guess it's still possible they may be carrying an infectious desease that they themselves are immune to.

Prob the best thing to do is to is test with just 1 or 2 discus healthy discus and place them in the quarentene tank with the others and observe for a couple of weeks. That way at least you won't risk the majority of your discus.

HTH

Rod :)

[brewmaster15]

Hi Kim!

Rods right on the money here!

additionally, One of the purposes of QT is to give the fish a chance to break down and show signs of a problem .

Its also one of the reasons I treat my fish for flukes, worms, external parasites, ect while they are in QT :)

-al

[ReeferKimberly]

thankx guys!
i guess there really isn't a hard answer and there is really no way to tell, but QT will still do a lot of good in the end.
kimberly :-*

[limige]

kimberly, everyone has their own QT methods. some believe you should treat for everything to clean them up and others believe you shouldn't bother if they are healthy fish.

so you have to make up your mind how you wish to do things

personally this is my take on things.
largly, who i buy from has a large impact on what i choose to do. and age of the fish.

for instance,
if i buy some young fish from cary or joe i'd most likely just watch them for 6 weeks to see if any odd behavior or bad signs come up. if they seem healthy, i'll take one of my less desirable fish from another tank and put in with the new fish to test things out. if all seems well 1-2 weeks following then the are mixed with my existing stock.

breeders will always get a prazi and fluebenzonal treatment, i'm leary of pp. at this time and don't have hyde.
so that is what i do for them.

but i'm still settling in and learning things as well. i have 6 rsgs from alberto, one spotted tefe from a lfs and 5 turks i've raised from 6 weeks in my 190. the other day i noticed the turks excreting white worms, so today they are on a prazi treatment. alberto QT's and treats his fish. the young turks have been in my care most of their lives and the open spot is the wild tefe from the lfs. unfortunately i didn't have the meds available when i bought him.


so to each his own, some learn the hard way. good luck.

[iceskater]

I 2 have this same question. I have healthy fish in one tank had them for 3 months. In a separate tank I have 5 I got from Cary (also very healthy other then 1 which seems to have a hugh broken blood vessel on its face) Sure hope that goes away. It looks awful. I want to mix them up some day. Trouble is knowing which tank should I test. I am thinking of putting one of Cary's into the tank with the 2 from the LFS (3 months in tank, no problems other then constipation. ) My thinking is the ones from Cary are surely healthier then the LFS ones so doing it the other way around seems like it would be riskier? What do others think??

[brewmaster15]

HI Iceskater,

How long have you had the fish from Cary in QT?
and a note..the fish you have from a LFS... your mention constipated? occasional bouts are not a probelm... frequent could be a sign of worms, or hex. Have you ever dewormed those LFS?

-al

[iceskater]

Hi Al,
I have had Carys fish for a month. I have not dewormed the LFS fish, should I? I have treated for constipation probably 3 or4 times in the 90 days. If I should deworm, I need instructions and what should be used. Other than epsom salt I have used no medicine on any of these fish.

Karen

[Carol_Roberts]

What I would do in a couple of weeks is stick your least favorite of Cary's fish in with the constipated blue diamond and the pigeoon blood. Wait a couple of weeks . . . if Cary's fish remains healthy you can mix them.

You can treat them for worms if you want to before adding Cary's fish. Perhaps a 21 day prazi treatment. I think you can buy if from www.jehmco.com

You should take a picture of the blue diamond so we can see the bruise. Right after feeding is usually a good time to get a picture.

[iceskater]

Thanks for the advise Carol. I did IM you sort of a similar question. I think I will deworm. That way when the BD gets bloated again, I will know it is not worm. I am calling to order today or tomorrow.

I will also try and get that picture tonight.

Karen

[iceskater]

P.S.
While I am doing a online order is there any other medication that perhaps I should have on hand in case of any unexpected illness/emergency. Such as Metro or can these be purchased locally???

[Carol_Roberts]

Hi Karen:
Metro can be purchaed locally as Hex-a-mit

[RandalB]

The metro you get from Petwarehouse.com is the cheapest I've seen at $15-16 per 100 tabs.... Unless you want to buy in bulk..

RandalB