- Joined
- Dec 20, 2019
- Messages
- 67
- Reaction score
- 129
Here's a little tidbit of info that you might find useful in your future quarantine efforts:
Bacteria love copper.
If you administer copper to a fish with an infection, you won't like what happens.
This is just one example.
Proper quarantine is more than just plonking a bunch of chemicals into the tank. If you want to be successful, you need to learn the right way to plonk them.
While you're at it, learn about the parasites and pathogens you are trying to eliminate.
For example...
If you see a claim that some fish for sale have been quarantined for two whole weeks, then you should immediately know that they might as well not have been quarantined at all.
It takes 26 days to totally get rid of just ick/amylo/crypto. Two weeks is just a waste of time. If you're gonna do it, then do it right.
Next we must consider the fish.
Different species have different vulnerabilities, and different resistances. You know what I mean; some fish never seem to get sick, while some are "ick magnets." Some are very sensitive to the medicine we use, while some shrug them off with no bother. Some fish have thick rubbery skin and a heavy slime coat which actually protects the parasites from our efforts to kill them.
The trick here is to know all of these factors and figure out the best way to proceed in each case.
This is probably one of the biggest reasons why so few stores quarantine their fish; there is no simple, one size fits all protocol for them to follow, and losing fish from mistakes is money down the drain.
Bacteria love copper.
If you administer copper to a fish with an infection, you won't like what happens.
This is just one example.
Proper quarantine is more than just plonking a bunch of chemicals into the tank. If you want to be successful, you need to learn the right way to plonk them.
While you're at it, learn about the parasites and pathogens you are trying to eliminate.
For example...
If you see a claim that some fish for sale have been quarantined for two whole weeks, then you should immediately know that they might as well not have been quarantined at all.
It takes 26 days to totally get rid of just ick/amylo/crypto. Two weeks is just a waste of time. If you're gonna do it, then do it right.
Next we must consider the fish.
Different species have different vulnerabilities, and different resistances. You know what I mean; some fish never seem to get sick, while some are "ick magnets." Some are very sensitive to the medicine we use, while some shrug them off with no bother. Some fish have thick rubbery skin and a heavy slime coat which actually protects the parasites from our efforts to kill them.
The trick here is to know all of these factors and figure out the best way to proceed in each case.
This is probably one of the biggest reasons why so few stores quarantine their fish; there is no simple, one size fits all protocol for them to follow, and losing fish from mistakes is money down the drain.