No matter where you are in the supply chain, whether you are a wholesaler, retailer or consumer, it is important to quarantine your fish. This will help to prevent introducing any unwanted parasites or diseases to your systems. Current Stock Hundreds of varieties available every day.
Yes, any clean, food-safe container that is large enough will work in an emergency. However, we recommend using a container with clear sides so that you can easily view the fish from all angles to see if their health is improving or worsening.
Should you quarantine shrimp and snails? Dwarf shrimp can sometimes carry diseases, especially if purchased directly from importers, so if you are bringing in a batch to add to an existing colony, consider putting them in quarantine first to observe their condition. In our experience, snails rarely seem to carry illnesses, so we usually skip the quarantine step and add them directly to our aquariums. Do I have to quarantine my first fish?
If you are setting up your first tank, you can theoretically add new fish directly into the aquarium without setting up a separate quarantine tank since there are no existing animals to protect.
One situation where you might want to use a separate hospital fish tank is if your aquarium is very large and the fish are small enough to go in a scaled-down quarantine setup. It will cost less money to dose medication in a smaller volume of water rather than an entire display tank. Another instance would be if your main aquarium is full of live plants or snails.
In cases where the quarantine med trio does not seem to be effective, we often turn to aquarium salt as a second line of defense. Since plants and snails generally do not like high concentrations of salt, it would be best to move your fish to another container for treatment. However, it is not safe for aquatic plants, snails, and certain fish like anchor catfish. For more information, follow the dosage instructions in our aquarium salt article. Shop Menu. How to Quarantine Fish the Easy Way.
Materials for the Hospital Tank Clear plastic tub or aquarium with a lid Aquarium filter with low flow, like a sponge filter Aquarium heater and thermometer Aquarium decorations and hides Water conditioner Trio of quarantine medications includes Mardel Maracyn , Aquarium Solutions Ich-X , and Fritz ParaCleanse How to Set Up a Quarantine Fish Tank To avoid cross contamination, place the quarantine tank in a different room away from your main display tanks if possible.
If at any point during quarantine you suspect there may be a problem with your fish, and you decide to medicate, your quarantine "clock" must be reset and you should start the 21 day period over again. Many parasites have multiple life stages, most medications are only effective against specific stages.
For this reason, only an extended exposure to medication is truly effective against many parasites. This is also why some parasitical problems seem to come and go, the parasite may only become visibly apparent at certain life stages, although they were there all along. There are two main types of quarantine systems, permanent and emergency.
Permanent systems are highly recommended because they are more stable, but emergency systems will work in a pinch if properly maintained. Permanent systems remain set up and established all the time, whether a fish is being medicated or not.
This allows for a stable environment closer to that of the main aquarium, but requires space and time for it to be maintained. This type of quarantine tank should be equipped with a small power filter or canister filter , and water conditions kept similar to the main tank. Ideally, the filter should allow for easy removal of the chemical media carbon, zeolite, etc while medicating.
The tank should be maintained regularly as well. Frequent water changes and algae maintenance after cycling will keep the tank healthy and ready for new arrivals or ailing fish.
Hardy fish like danios or plecos for freshwater or mollies and damsels for saltwater will keep tthe tank cycled and stable between uses. When adding new fish to these systems, the fish should be slowly acclimated to the new tank as water conditions will be different from their previous tank. You do not need to keep your quarantine tank running when not needed if you are limited on space. This is normal. Unless the fish comes to you with a specifically confirmed, serious issue that is without question the immediate cause of poor health….
My all-time favorite quarantine treatment is a product called MinnFinn. I firmly believe it is the gold standard for treating fish diseases after I have seen it work wonders on dozens of my own fish. A shortcut to reducing the QT time and number of treatments is to give them the MinnFinn bath before you ever add them to the quarantine tank.
I only recommend this for fish you have just purchased from the pet store that do not appear to be sick and stressed. Very stressed fish as in they look like they are dying may require a few days to rest up before treatment with this. If your fish are already added to the tank, you can use treatments of MinnFinn.
These treatments are administered every 48 hours. Goldfish and koi should have a double dose, whereas other fish should have the regular strength doses.
The instructions on the large bottle do not need to be doubled. MinnFinn can also eradicate ich, but it may require more than 5 treatments as ich has a tricky life cycle highly dependent on temperature.
It can only be killed at certain phases in its life cycle, at other times no treatment can kill it without killing your fish. One nice thing is MinnFinn can be used in combination with salt at. In fact, the salt helps it work even better.
Note: Some water conditioners such as Prime can neutralize MinnFinn. This may require upping the dose for it to be effective.
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