quarantine new fish ?

[boydiscus]

whats the point of quarantine new fishes and how do you do it ?

[Carol_Roberts]

Fish from the pet store or even from a professional discus seller may carry parasites, may be sick, or may carry a disease that they have recovered from. When you put one of these fish in your home tank all your fish may get the parasites of illness.

I reccommend a quarantine tank of at least 29 gallons to house any new fish or plants for 4 - 6 weeks. Some people automatically treat for parasites and disease. I ususally wait and watch (but then I only bring in fish from top professionals like Cary Strong). If I see a problem (like hex) I treat the new fish . . . . . which are in a totally different room from the rest of my discus.

[Abercrombie6202]

To get the point across ANY discus, plant, object, water, decoration, plant, etc... can bring disease to the tank because they can all be carriers of a disease. Even the biggest most healthy LOOKING discus can still be a carrier of a disease, but that fish could be immune to the disease. The best way to quarantine is get the biggest tank you can, usually bewteen 29-90 gallons depending on how many fish you get and quarantine them for about 6 weeks. While they are quaranting you can see if they have any diseases etc... if they do you can treat them without having your other discus catch the disease. Now sometimes people don't realize this, but using the same hose, net, etc... can also transmit disease from tank to tank so it's always best to have seperate equipment.

[Ardan]

Nice topic!

This is very critical to prevent other fish from catching a disease from new fish. ( or vice versa in some cases).

Good points brought up here too by Carol and Abercrombie 8)!

I would like to reiterate one point! Buy from a reputable breeder (like Cary Strong) who knows his fish and knows his stuff! He breeds his own fish and gets to know them. He does not have a massive amount of fish coming into his hatchery that can bring in disease. And when he does bring in some fish to expand his lines, he quarantines them in a separate room. SOme diseases can be spread through the air (airborne pathogens), that is why the separate room.

hth

[roclement]

I know that quarentine may sound harsh for people who are just beggining but believe me...you will be glad you did! Last thing you need is that beautifull new fish you bought becoming the carrier of disease that contaminates the rest of your beautifull fish...have patience! this is what discus keeping is all about, patience and dedication! Keep up the great questions!

Rodrigo

[Keith.L]

If you are starting new and getting all your discus from the same source (i.e. same lps), naturally your home tank is the quarantine tank. ;D

However, anything else that you may want to introduce to the tank at a later time (new fish, new plant, etc.) should be quarantined, even from the same pet store.

[Anonapersona]

Nice topic!

This is very critical to prevent other fish from catching a disease from new fish. ( or vice versa in some cases).



Fish that have just come in from shipping ought to be mighty stressed. This should make them targets for common pathogens that are able to attack damaged slime coats or gills, but may not be an issue with healthy, unstressed fish.

Anona, no discus yet, just ordinary tropicals in a planted tank