Quarantine prodedure for freshwater?

Peach02

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Hey so I've recently started researching a Oscar tank however moving from saltwater what changes quarantine wise?
My current idea is copper up to 2ppm for 2 weeks, freshwater dip and trisulphate for bacteria. Would these work in freshwater two?
The fish I was looking to quarantine are an Oscar, 4 Bala sharks, 5 clown loaches and a pleco
 

deeda

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I quarantine new fish in a separate tank for at least 4-6 weeks and have not had to medicate any in the 10+ years I've been keeping fish. I also watch to make sure each fish is eating enough.
 

Peach02

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I quarantine new fish in a separate tank for at least 4-6 weeks and have not had to medicate any in the 10+ years I've been keeping fish. I also watch to make sure each fish is eating enough.
would you still recommend quarantining if you haven't had to medicate?
 

kno4te

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I quarantine new fish in a separate tank for at least 4-6 weeks and have not had to medicate any in the 10+ years I've been keeping fish. I also watch to make sure each fish is eating enough.
This is a good way to do it.
would you still recommend quarantining if you haven't had to medicate?
Even if not medicating still should be quarantined
 

Rocksor

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what would the objectives of quarantine be then?
To see if the new fish gets sick while stressed out in a new environment. I find adding decor and bio-media from the main tank to the QT after 4 weeks would let me know within 1 month if the new fish can survive from any bacteria in the old tank. I then proceed to split the QT and add another fish from the main tank in there (divided) to see if the new fish is carrying anything that would infect it. So my QT is typically 3 months.

QT won't protect against parasites that do not show up for months like callamanus worms.
 

duanes

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A friend who runs a public aquarium, quarantines all fish for 6 months (fresh or salt water species).
Many disease take time to become visible, could be months. I'm a little more lax and quarantine for only for 3 months, unless something appears, then they stay separate until its cured, I also do not medicate, unless I know what I'm medicating for..
Quarantine is not just about the new fish infecting others, it could be that the the new fish doesn't have immunity/resistance to something the previous fish in your tank have somewhat of an immunity to, and have fought off, but the new fish (being under stress from transport, and relocation) catches, and in the confines of a tank, causes an epidemic even the others immunity can't cope with.
Though most oscars may be tank bred these days, most clown loaches are wild, or pond raised in Asia and may carry phages tank bred fish have no resistance to.
If all your fish come from the same place, you could drop them all in the tank, and hope they all have the same resistance to anything they were exposed to.
 

RD.

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I agree with all of the above, and will add one caveat, be VERY careful if/when medicating clown loaches, with copper. In fact I generally advise against it.
 
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