Max observational quarantine

[Red2143]

How long would you have to wait for a no medicine quarantine to be able to say the chance of disease is very low?

 

[Crabby48]

How long would you have to wait for a no medicine quarantine to be able to say the chance of disease is very low?

Forever sorta. How good are you at spotting slight change in a fish behavior? Disease can linger and hide for months or years.

 

[vetteguy53081]

How long would you have to wait for a no medicine quarantine to be able to say the chance of disease is very low?

Having no medication is literally an observation tank and defeats the purpose of quarantine. You've gotten this far, add at least Ruby Rally pro which is reef safe and addresses an array of issues from parasitical to bacterial safely and effectively without the risks of copper overdosing. New fish are under stress of transport which can trigger disease and illness.
Assume all new fish have something.

 

[MnFish1]

How long would you have to wait for a no medicine quarantine to be able to say the chance of disease is very low?

In theory - there is no answer to that question. The reason 'QT' seems to work better than observation alone - is that it 'treats' asymptomatic fish before you notice the problem. Since some of the problems may only manifest after stressful periods - and can progress quickly - many people feel that preemptive QT is much safer than observation. All of that said - I would leave fish for a minimum of a month in observation. watching carefully for any signs of 'trouble'. Note I'm only answering that way because you asked the specific question.

 

[lion king]

I only do an observational qt, I just can't get behind medicating otherwise healthy fish. That;s like otherwise healthy humans doing chemo just in case they may have cancer. There are so many variables, I know people that treat in their qt and still somehow manage to introduce a disease into their display. If you observe for a full 60 days your chances will be low, that's the answer to your question, "chances of disease is very low". I also know too many people that do the chemical qt that somehow manage to have unusually high mysterious deaths down the line, so you go figure.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

How long would you have to wait for a no medicine quarantine to be able to say the chance of disease is very low?

Essentially forever - for example, fish can harbor a chronic fluke infection for years and then some stressor can cause the infection to become acute.
Although I don’t suggest it except in special instances like flashlight fish, mandarins, garden eels and other special species, 45 days will help rule out many issues, but without treatment, you’ll lose the fish in isolation, your display fish would be protected.
Jay

 

[Red2143]

Thank you, very helpful