[goblin072]

I am a bit paranoid after having ICH wipe out some big dollar fish. I decided I am going to assume all new fish are infected even if they look good. assuming all fish have ICH, worms and other common infections that maybe hiding as looks can be deceiving. What would you recommend? 1. API General cure - Has Praziquantel and Metronizazole. 2. Copper or Formalin for ICH Even if they do not have anything its not going to kill them. I would rather have them die in my pre QT tanks than to take out my main tank again. I know some people like to observe the fish and only treat if they see something. I am not one of those people anymore. Some people think that ICH is part of the normal flora of all fish. They say there is no way you can avoid it. Meaning all fish tanks are full of ich but the fish live in harmony with it. I think that is false. Even if a fish is totally stressed out how can it die from ICH if its not in the tank? Is copper plus API general cure good enough for QT new fish? Thanks!

[leebca]

I can appreciate your concern and the desire to keep disease out of your main marine system. But I can't advocate putting fish through a treatment just because they 'might' be infected.

You see, copper treatment only kills a small number of parasites. A freshwater dip only helps some fish get rid of a small group of parasites. Formalin only attacks certain parasites, not in any of the other groups. To be short, you can't treat for everything. In addition, you'll be putting fish through treatments which they don't need. It is a fact that treatments are stressful to fishes, so again, I can't advocate stressing a fish unnecessarily.

If you perform a quarantine process properly, you don't have to do all this treating. I would suggest you start reading the posts in this Forum. If you follow those guidelines, you'll be fine. There are two kinds of fishes that should be prophylactically treated and they are noted in the links and what to do for them is referenced in the links.

I know it is hard to do a lot of reading, but if you do and can absorb what you read, you'll soon be an expert marine aquarist!

Start with this:
A Fish Quarantine Process

follow all the links you'll find in the above reference, and read them too. Under the heading of: How the quarantine process fits into the acquisition of a new fish: you'll find the general process of acquiring a new fish and all the links that explain what I've written above.

Good luck!

[goblin072]

This looks to be a good site for marine. I will read through the posts, thanks!

I had a fish introduced that looked fine and was suppose to have been QT and was observed for months. The other fish were fine for 6 months until the Sailfin tang entered the picture. It killed many fish and quickly.

After that I don't trust looking for the tiny white spots of MI. It had them but I suppose it was partially immune so it looked fine.

If that fish was pretreated with copper there would be little chance of it spreading ICH.


True it does stress fish but I would rather have one fish die in QT vs taking the chance of getting MI again.