Is there anything that will quickly decontaminate new fish?

[mollybabes]

This guy I met at an lfs said he puts his new fish in a saltwater solution for about an hour before he puts them in his tank. he said any illnesses are killed off, and if the fish died, then it was weak anyways. has anyone done this, or know of any way to quickly kill off anything sticking to the fish? I've had some trouble with new fish contaminating my tank, even if they and the tank they were in look well when I buy them. I really don't want to have a quarantine tank if I can help it.

[Cearbhaill]

A salt bath can be useful for many things, but not everything, and some species of fish are more salt tolerant than others.
Check out The Skeptical Aquarist (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/) website for details on how to do it correctly and what it will and will not help/prevent.
A quarrantine tank is still better IMO.

[JSchmidt]

A salt bath is no substitute for quarantine. All sorts of bad things (e.g., interneral parasites) will remain untouched by a salt bath. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or clueless.

Jim

[OrionGirl]

Definitely check out wetmanNY's guidelines for using a salt bath, and do not rely exclusively on a salt bath for new fish. A salt bath that kills the fish is not indicative of a weak fish, but rather of a poorly conducted bath. Understand why the salt bath would work before using it.

[Mantis_22]

When I add new fish I get a large plastic bowl and add the tank water from which I will be putting the new fish into in the bowl and let them stay for 30 miuntes or so then net them out and put them in the tank. As for diseases, i buy from walmart mostly or the daily local lfs and no probs here (I study the fish im going to buy very closely before buying):D

EDIT: I forgot to add I let the bag I bought the fish in stay in the bowl for 10 minutes to get temps aligned... :)

[JSchmidt]

No offense, Mantis, but your procedure is pretty risky. Your WalMart may be the one store in the country with healthy fish, but most WalMarts are notorious for unhealthy, overcrowded fish and a central filtration system (which means that one sick fish can infect the store's entire stock).

Looking a fish, no matter how carefully, for 30 minutes is no substitute for quarantine. I'm glad you've been fortunate thus far, but others reading should know this is a very risky practice.

Jim

[Mantis_22]

I know, i think when it comes to walmart about fish i know well by now. Its just why SHOULD I be worried? These fish go into a 10gl mainly. If I put any other fish in larger tanks i make sure they are heathly fro a respected LFS. A 10gl t sickness is a jip for me. Its just when you get a bigger tank bigger problems can evolve.

[wetmanNY]

There is an alternative to Quarantine.

.

It is called Luck.

.

.

A Wal-Mart is only as good as its current fish department manager. You'll see. If your particular outlet is trustworthy now, go for it!

[robertob]

Talking about Walmart fish. I have bought from Walmart and a lfs. Every fish that I bought from Walmart has died at least within 1-2 weeks. I bought 4 White Clouds from the lfs and 1 died after I put in 2 guppies from Walmart. I still have 3 White Clouds but 2 have little white things hanging from their mouths. This didn't appear until I added fish from Walmart. Other than the white things on their mouths, the fish eat fine and appear fine. I will not buy from Walmart.:(

[canucks]

...would you buy fresh meat or produce from a hardware store? It just isn't right.