quarantine question here

[LMOUTHBASS]

Hello, the other day i was in the store and saw a pretty little angel fish goldish color, anyhow i looked at him and notice his fins (tail and side fins not sure what those are called) were a little ragged - in fact most angels i see in the stores look this way - but i figured i woul save him because if it was fin rot he woul most likely eventually die, and i figured i have a little quarantine tank now i can help this lil fella out - so i paid for him and brought him home - he is in quearantine right now and i am treating for fin rot and he is doing well, eating food, swimming about and regrwoing his fins!!! my Q is that i will be gettng my new 55 gal this weeken , i currently have one beautiful angel that is in my main tank and will be going into my new tank, i also bought this new fish thinking it will be a nice friend for my other fish! so i will keep the new fish in quarantie im thinking for say 3-6 weeks ? Is this a good time fiure? Once he is healthy will it be safe to bring him into my new tank? I'm not sure if he has fin rot or not but his fins were sorta ratty looking but not horrible ive seen this sort of thing with his type of fish before but i figure to be on the safe side i'll medicate him! your opinions will help! thanks

[DMS]

I always quarantine for at least two weeks. If I medicate, at least two weeks after I'm done treating the fish. I'm thinking that as long as he's eating and acting alright, that would probably be long enough for you, especially since the ragged fins might have been from rough shipping or some bickering in the store's tank (we are talking cichlids here ;)

[yashinfan]

You could use melafix which won't harm them when you finally put them in the tank together. This way it will prevent the other fish from catching it. Even if your fish is cured, it might be stressed when you move it and then it can re-catch fin rot from the water.