quarentine for new fish

[Napoli]

I'm starting to restock my tank after a bad bout of ich (my tank has been disease-free for three weeks). Planning on putting my new additions (a bala shark and highfin butterfly pleco) in a 10g quarentine tank before moving them into my big tank. How long should I quarentine them for? and should I automatically medicate for ich, maybe with something mild like aquari-sol? I was also thinking of adding some stress coat...would that negate the effects of the aquarisol?

Thanks for any advice you might have
-NWN-

[RENEGADE]

Not sure about the meds but you should leave the fish in your Q tank for about 3-4 weeks

[RTR]

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/isolation.shtml

HTH

[Leopardess]

Quarantine is usually done for 3-4 weeks. I would not add any chemicals (ie meds) until there is a reason for doing so. Automatically medicating is unecessary and can be detrimental to the fish.

Several "respected" sources even suggest nothing short of 45-90 days...but even I do not have that much patience:shake:

[Lukara]

This thread might be helpful:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18381

[Napoli]

Thanks for your advice

[DEmigh]

What's the size on your main tank?

Bala sharks get big.

[Napoli]

37g. The bala is about 3" right now so I think he'll fit for a while. I have a 55G that I could set up when he gets too big.

I'm worried that the QT might be a more stressfull environment than my regular tank...I have some fake plants in it, and have kept the light off to reduce stress, but I wonder if the 10G is just too small for him. could the QT be counterproductive?

[LMOUTHBASS]

medicate for ick - cause you want to see whether or not they have it - melafix says on the bottle it can be used when handling new fish though for other purposes