Lack of proper quarantine is one of the biggest reasons for failure in the fishkeeping hobby.
But now you can have a better chance of success with the knowledge I’m going to share in this post.
I’m pulling back the curtain today on one of the BEST kept fishkeeping secrets of all time…
… On how to quarantine new fish.
So what are you waiting for?
Keep reading to find out!
What is Quarantine in Aquarium Fish?
Look:
Quarantine is more than an isolation period.
(Unless you got your fish from a trusted breeder or importer directly.)
For fish from pet stores, fairs and other places that don’t quarantine…
… It involves actually treating for all common diseases right off the get-go.
And completely.
Sure, there are some sellers out there who hit the fish with a few chemicals for a couple of weeks and call it done.
That’s not complete quarantine.
Many parasites have a longer lifecycle that can “outrun” shorter treatments, especially at a lower temperature.
This can lead to your so-called “quarantined” fish coming down with an issue later and/or infecting your whole collection.
Instead:
Here’s the way I recommend quarantining to be as thorough as possible.
My Complete 5-Step Quarantine Protocol for All New Fish
Different people have different quarantine methods.
This is the one that I have found works best for me for pet store/suspicious fish. (I have never lost a fish in quarantine while using this method!)
I’ve acquired many fish over the years, some have been quite sick when I received/rescued them.
This method never failed to bring them back to health.
That said: Very weak, stressed, sickly or little fish may not make it through quarantine no matter what treatments you use. This is normal. Sometimes everything they’ve been through is just too much.
Unless the fish comes to you with a specifically confirmed, serious issue that is without question the immediate cause of poor health…
… I recommend starting with the program below.
Here’s how to quarantine new fish properly!
1. Treat External Parasites, Bacteria & Fungus
My all-time favorite quarantine treatment is a product called MinnFinn.
I use it on EVERY new fish without exception.
I firmly believe it is the gold standard for treating fish diseases after I have seen it work wonders on dozens of my own fish.
This is because it’s an all-inclusive 2-part treatment which very quickly and effectively deals with with the following common fish diseases:
- Flukes
- Costia
- Chilodonela
- Trichodina
- Fungus
- Anchor worm
- External bacterial infections, including mouth rot, columnaris & bacterial gill disease
And the best part?
No water changes required to use it.
Tip:
A shortcut to reducing the QT time and number of treatments is to give them the MinnFinn bath before you ever add them to the quarantine tank.
This does two things:
- Prevents parasites such as flukes from laying eggs in your quarantine tank
- Requires fewer treatments, speeding up QT time. Instead of 4 or 5 you now only have to do 1 or 2, so faster & more cost effective.
I only recommend this for fish you have just purchased from the pet store that do not appear to be sick and stressed.
Very stressed fish (as in they look like they are dying) may require a few days to rest up before treatment with this.
Now:
If your fish are already added to the tank, you can use 4-5 treatments of MinnFinn. These treatments are administered every 48 hours.
Goldfish and koi should have a double dose, whereas other fish should have the regular strength doses. (The instructions on the large bottle do not need to be doubled.)
(Tip: MinnFinn also works for saltwater / marine fish!)
MinnFinn can also erradicate ich, but it may require more than 5 treatments as ich has a tricky life cycle highly dependent on temperature. (It can only be killed at certain phases in its life cycle, at other times no treatment can kill it without killing your fish.)
Ich typically responds better to long-term bath treatments.
Salt is the best and safest option for that.
One nice thing is MinnFinn can be used in combination with salt at .3% strength and under. In fact, the salt helps it work even better.
(This also speeds up QT time.)
Note: Some water conditioners such as Prime can neutralize MinnFinn. This may require upping the dose for it to be effective. Up it by 1/4 dose every 5-10 minutes and observe how the fish are responding to ensure the fish aren’t overly stressed. (I personally like to do a water change first to get all the Prime out of the water if I have been using it, then treat with a 1/2 dose of regular water conditioner.)
2. Follow up with Salt to Kill Any Ich
Contrary to popular belief:
Ich is NOT always present in all aquariums.
That is a big fat falsehood made up by fish sellers who do not want to take responsibility for selling sick fish (or don’t understand ich at all).
Look:
Deal with potential ich up front in all your new fish during quarantine and you will never have to deal with it again.
Nice, right?
After all:
Once your main display tank has ich…
… It’s a MASSIVE PAIN to deal with.
Because salt will nuke your plants if you have them, but everything exposed to the ichy fish have to be sterilized or destroyed.
And if you try to opt for one of the long-term chemical bath treatments, it may not work on stronger strains of ich (not to mention you risk staining your silicone blue)!
So that’s why I do this during quarantine:
Use .2% (7 grams per gallon) for tropical fish like Bettas. Use a stronger solution for goldfish of .5% (19 grams per gallon) for 2 weeks.
Salt should not be combined with ANY other treatments.
It also should be dissolved before adding it to the water.
You need to build up the salt concentration gradually in separate doses added 12 hours apart each to avoid shocking the fish.
2 separate doses for .2% and 5 separate doses for .5%.
Raising the salt level too quickly can result in dehydration of freshwater fish, which can lead to death.
You can use non-iodized sea salt without any anticaking agents or additives, but I prefer to use Himalayan pink sea salt as it adds many beneficial trace minerals to the water for your fish to assist in healing.
Also:
If you raise the temp to 84 degrees F (slowly), you can treat with salt for 10 days to eliminate ich.
3. Deworm Your Fish
Finally for the last 5 days it is time to tackle pesky internal parasites.
There’s more than one way you can do this…
You can feed Metroplex, Levimasole, Hexshield or 3% Epsom salt feed twice daily for 5 days to get rid of nasty intestinal worms and internal hexamita.
Personally I like the 3% Epsom salt feed option because it is the gentlest on the fish’s system.
Use 1 level tablespoon of Epsom Salt (15 grams) to 500 ML of distilled water. Use an eye dropper to add water to food until the food does not absorb any more. – recipe from The Truth About Goldfish
Excess magnesium is easily removed from the fish’s body and has no harmful short or long term effects.
4. Test the Water Daily
Quarantine systems – especially if they aren’t cycled – are very fragile.
You can’t really enlist the help of plants without the risk of killing them.
And many times, quarantine tanks have quite a lot of fish in them than before they are moved to their real home.
But the worst part?
Stressed or sick fish gas off way more ammonia than healthy ones.
With all these things in mind, I highly recommend testing the water at least once daily for ammonia at a minimum, and nitrite if you are using a biological filter.
I use these strips for this.
Large water changes are often required to keep things in check if something is off.
Keeping these levels down will help ensure your fish get through quarantine with flying colors.
Pro Tip:
Use a healthy amount of activated charcoal (aka carbon) in a filter to keep ammonia and nitrite levels at 0 while the new fish are in quarantine.
5. (Optional) immune system boost
These treatments aren’t a must, but I have found them useful to have around.
Especially for very stressed fish.
With very stressed fish possibly dealing with internal bacterial infections, it’s time to work on building up their immune system.
Not to mention:
Sometimes those secondary infections are the most lethal, after you finally smash the parasites.
To do that, I alternate Microbe-Lift Artemiss and Microbe-Lift Herbtana every 12 hours.
These natural immune stimulants help repair damaged tissue and fend off pathogens, including parasites, bacteria and fungus.
Remember:
A strong immune system is your fish’s most POWERFUL protection against disease.
How to Set Up Your Quarantine Tank
Here are some tips for your quarantine tank itself:
- Tank: The quarantine tank doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and it doesn’t have to follow the same stocking guidelines as your main tank. It can be an old used tank you found at a thrift store. It can even be a Tupperware tub. Whatever you use, your quarantine tank ideally should be in a separate room to prevent particles from the water traveling through the air and getting into your other tanks. NEVER share equipment between your QT tank and your other tanks unless it is fully sterilized in between uses. And don’t forget to wash your hands well after interacting with your QT tank.
- Filter or Airstone: In a best-case-scenario, you would use a filter totally pre-cycled with liquid ammonia to keep the water clean. At the least, it should have an airstone to keep the water oxygenated and the water tested and changed frequently to keep it clean. One trick I use is to use a filter packed with carbon to keep ammonia and nitrite levels down. I don’t like to perform anything other than a 100% water change when treating with salt as without a salinity meter it’s hard to keep track of how much salt is in the water. That’s why using carbon has proved to be an easier option for me.
- Light: It’s important to reduce stress as much as possible after everything your new fish have been through. You’ll want to turn off or reduce lights (if you have them) for the first 24 hours. Bright lights can really stress new fish in a new environment. Your quarantine tank does not need to have its own light.
- Plants: Not mandatory by any means, but you can consider adding some live plants to your QT tank, preferably disposable ones as they may not survive the treatment phases to come. I sometimes use Hornwort for my QT tanks as it offers shelter (which greatly reduces new fish stress), supports probiotic bacteria and helps purify the water. As it grows like crazy I always have extra on hand for situations like these.
Why Quarantine ALL Your New Fish?
Look:
All fish should be quarantined REGARDLESS of where you get them from.
Even if you get the healthiest, disease-free fish to start with, they’ve been through a lot. The fish just needs to rest up a bit before being introduced to the others.
Some breeders and importers quarantine for you and do it very well.
For fish that come from reliable sellers like these, quarantine is very simple.
Isolation for 4 weeks minimum.
Why 4 weeks?
It gives you time to address any issues that could pop up after the stress of shipping and ensure the fish is fully healthy before introducing them to the others.
Your new fish are also really weak and don’t have resistance to whatever pathogens may be in your main system with your other fish.
Those pathogens are things your existing fish may be used to living with just fine.
Credit: bluehand, Shutterstock
Suspicious Fish
But when your fish comes to you from the pet store – or even from many online retailers who don’t do this- you HAVE to assume they are sick and treat them as such.
Because the truth is…
… They probably will be if they aren’t already.
Maybe you’ve heard somepeople say you should only treat fish like they are sick if you see signs of a problem.
Actually, if you do that – you’re automatically at a disadvantage.
Because goldfish can carry low levels of pathogens without showing any obvious signs of them.
(It takes a microscope to do that.)
By the time they actually start showing signs, many times IT’S TOO LATE. 🙁
You might succeed in battling back the parasites for a time and think victory is yours…
… Only to have your fish succumb to a lethal secondary bacterial infection.
Preventative care is the key to not being stuck in a situation where you are desperately trying shotgun treatments and endangering your entire collection in the process.
Take it from me:
One new fish can do a whole lot of damage in a very brief amount of time.
Nip potential issues in the bud early on in the game and you will save yourself a ton of stress, money and potentially heartache.
“Oh No, What if I Didn’t Quarantine and Just Added a New Fish with My Others?”
The new fish and all fish exposed to the new one should go through this protocol.
(And the sooner you do it, the better.)
You’d be surprised how quickly a disease outbreak can sweep through your collection, practically overnight.
Starting treatment EARLY is key to avoiding a more dangerous situation.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to quarantine new fish, I hope this information helps you become a better pet owner.
I’ve shared something that can now empower you to bring home fish from the pet store with a much, MUCH higher chance of survival than could have been possible before.
This information also comes in useful if you ever feel sorry for a sickly fish you see there and want to bring it home to nurse it back to health.
Do you have any tips or tricks you use for quarantine?
Find this information useful?
Let me know what you think when you leave your comment below!
Hey meredith, great article. I have had my tank up for a couple of months now. I bought the goldfish from 2 different stores, and am going to treat them with the MinnFinn. Is this stuff safe to use with mystery snails?
Thank you Ryan! 🙂 No, you cannot use MinnFinn and snails together or it will hurt/kill them. Snails have to have a separate qt procedure.
Ok, is it ok to put the snails back in after I use the neufinn? Yeah r how long do I have to wait to put them back in? I also bought some poly filters to use
Yes of course. I’d say about 5 min.
I recently got 10 small goldfish for my 5 gallon new fish tank. I did not quarantine them and now 3 of the black ones have aready died. I found out this atical yestefday and i really need help. Everyday a fish dies! Please help. Now i am thinking my 5 gallon might be too small for even 7 fish. The man at walmart told me it was the right choice. But im starting to think the oppsite. I know i am wrong buying 10 fishies for my tiny tank but now what do i do?
Start by getting the water quality in control. Parasites won’t kill them as quickly as bad water will, test each day for ammonia and do a 50-100% water change until you can get a filter.
Thanks Meredith, i have used your advice today, and hopefully my fish will thrive. I have bought a new filter and set it up. And have tested the water and it turned out the ammonia was killing them. My fish first got black tips on thier fins before they died, and i think it is because of the ammonia. I read that somewhere. Your a lifesaver for all my 7 goldfish that are going to get healthy and strong thanks to you. My fish are aready looking a lot more lively and happy.
Thankyou so much,Gertie.
Glad to help!
My fish MICK is not eating his spinich and i don’t know why!!! I need your help MEREDITH!!!!
Try freezing it first. And you can withhold pellets/flakes until he eats them.
Hi Meredith! I know i’ve been asking a lot of questions….. but I’m really new to the hobby and you’re articles have helped A LOt. Anyways, I am getting a 30 gal (she is in a 5 gal right now) for my 2-3 inch fantail (Echo) and want to know if i can have her, another fancy, a rubber lip pleco and an apple snail in the tank or if it will be too many fish? Also, do i have to introduce the new fancy to Echo in any way before i add her to the tank? ANOTHER thing(so many questions!), do i have to give/get all those medicines to Echo even though she has been alone since i got her 10 months ago? Just a quick last minute question about the medicine, is it expensive? I am actually only 12… so i don’t have a job to pay for a bunch of things 🙁 Although i would empty my wallet for my water baby! thank you for all your help!
I’d do all but the pleco. They are too dangerous to goldies. If the fish is 10 months old no need to medicate, she obviously didn’t have parasites when you got her unlike most fish. 🙂
On all the sites i went on they all said RL plecos do great with goldies :/ is there any other suckerfish-like thing i can get?
Snails are what I recommend.
Do you have any suggestions on where to get a calico butterfly from thats in Lasalle or Chateauguay? I want to get one from a good place without any sickly fish 🙂
I don’t sorry! Fancier goldfish are typically difficult to find locally. I get most of mine online.
Is there an alternative to minnfinn as it\’s not available in the UK
I don’t know of one, sorry!
What size quarantine container is necessary for a small fish? Do you have any recommendations for an affordable container and filter for quarantine? I am doing research before getting a goldfish and want to avoid spending a lot on materials that I’m not going to use for my main tank. Thanks!
I like to use tupperware tubs if I don’t have a spare tank around. You can stock it quite heavily if your filtration is good.
Great! Thank you! How big of a container is needed for two small goldfish? And is there a type of filter that is best for a temporary quarantine setup?
Thanks again!
I like to use a charcoal filter during QT because it won’t absorb salt but keeps ammonia/nitrite at bay. You can use pretty much anything, as long as you keep the water clean. Maybe a 5 gallon if you have one.
How do you treat with minfinn before the quarantine tank? What do you keep the fish in during that time? Do you do complete water changes between each different stage of quarantine treatment? Sorry for asking so many questions, I don’t want to make a mistake and hurt my fish!
I just put the fish in a 5 gallon bucket with an airstone and reduce the dose for the 1 hr treatment. No I just water change usually 50% every other day. 🙂
Thanks for all your help, I just began reading your book. If I do not have any fish currently and am getting two new fish, do I need a separate quarantine tank for them or can I use the main tank since it is not being used yet?
You can use the main tank in this situation 🙂
What type of food do you use for epsom salt feed? Pellets?
Yes I use pellets.
When using MinnFinn, is any other conditioner besides prime safe? How do I know what conditioner to use? Thanks!
Yes you can use any standard water conditioner, but keep in mind they can all counteract the MinnFinn. Watch the fish’s behavior, it will change when it starts working. They will look a little more lethargic and have heavier breathing. If it’s not changing keep adding more, up it by 1/4 dose every 5-10 min.
I’m going to buy fish from a good online breeder, I have a completely empty main tank. Do I still need to quarantine them in a smaller tank or would I be okay to put them straight into the main tank?
I recommend an isolation period of at least 2 weeks for the new fish to rest up, if from a trusted breeder.
Hi Meredith,
Per your Tip from Section 1 above, do you MinnFinn the new fish in the shipping bags prior to putting in the quarantine tank?
Thank you!
No definitely not, I use a 5 gallon bucket & airstone filled with usually 2 gallons of water (depends on # of fish though). Hope that helps 🙂
Is it important that my qt tank has a filter? I only have one filter and would like to avoid buying a new filter, so is it really necessary to have a filter for a qt tank?
If you change the water enough, no, but it’s a lot of work without one. If you don’t have any existing fish besides the ones in QT you can just use that filter.
After treating with salt, do you gradually reduce the salt with partial water changes or take it all out at one? Will going from water with salt to no salt shock the fish? Thanks!
I usually do a few 40% water changes to get it out over the course of several days. It’s more stressful to go from freshwater to too much salt. 🙂
Is it okay to use Seachem purigen in the filter during quarantine?
It acts like carbon. So if you’re treating with anything that says remove carbon, I’d remove the purigen.
If I have an established tank, can I put a used filter cartridge in the new filter to cycle it?
You can!
How long would it take?
Could be instant, depending on how established it is.
do you know any sellers of Minnfinn that ship to Canada? if not, is/are there any alternative quarantine products that would work?
You’ll probably have to use Prazi.
Hello! I was wondering about this Pro Tip you posted.
“Use a healthy amount of activated charcoal (aka carbon) in a filter to keep ammonia and nitrite levels at 0 while the new fish are in quarantine.”
Carbon doesn’t remove ammonia or nitrites though.
Hm in my experience I’ve found it does… wouldn’t have run my last QT tank without it. Maybe depends on the brand?
I have 2 fancy goldfish (fantail and oranda) that came from a pet store. They were in the same tank at the store. They were part of a birthday gift, so I didn’t really have the time to research or learn more about goldfish keeping at the time. So, now that I’m reading and learning more, I can admit that I didn’t do any quarantine procedures for these fish. These fish were placed in a new tank with a new filter. I do a partial water change frequently, and replace the filter once every 4 weeks. I have added plants (2 moss balls and 2 java fern) to the tank. I love the fish and the set up, but am realizing the tank is a little too small for them; I would like for them to have more room to swim and grow.
That’s basically the back story to my fish. Both appear healthy and active. They aren’t showing any signs of illness at this point. I have had them for almost 2 months now. BUT, I am planning on moving them to a much larger, 40 gallon tank. I would also like to add 2 additional fancy goldfish to the 40 gallon tank setup.
What would be the best way to proceed?
Would the fish be showing signs of illness/parasites by this time?
Is there anything special I need to do with the current fish/plants prior to moving them to the larger tank, for their sake or the sake of the planned additional goldfish?
Once the new tank is set up, I imagine I can use the current smaller tank as a quarantine tank for the new fish.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be great. Thanks.
I would move the existing fish to the new tank then use the old one to quarantine the new fish like you said.
Thank you for great information! I have a 75 gal cycled main tank with no fish (two old goldfish finally passed) and we want new goldfish (dosing ammonia every morning). I want to follow this quarantine procedure, but wonder if anything in it will mess up the cycle. For example, we treated one of the goldfish with an antibiotic, which seemed to give it a few more months, but that destroyed the cycle. It took 8 weeks to get the main tank cycled again. So I wonder if this quarantine shouldn’t be done in a separate tank and we just keep adding ammonia to the main tank to keep it cycled during that time. Thanks!
The salt does not harm the cycle, but when treating with MinnFinn bypass the filters at least the first time if treating in tank. If you treated with MinnFinn just before they went into main tank you’re in a much better position.
I am getting ready to do the Epsom Salt Feed with my new little Ryukin (doing things out of order a bit as my MinnFinn won’t arrive until next week). Would it hurt to feed my big girl the Epsom Salt food too? I never did a full quarantine with her as she was my only/first and I wonder if she might have some internal bugs still.
It’s harmless.
Thanks! The epsom salt feed seem to do the trick and his poops are looking normal now. I just finished the MinnFinn and will be putting my new little one in the big tank after the long weekend! I was really surprised that he showed no reaction to the MinnFinn even at the higher ‘goldfish’ concentrations. Seems like he is a healthy hearty fish!
Awesome to hear!
I see that a variation of this question has been asked, but I am still confused. There is a lot more to goldfish care that I had ever realized! I got 4 goldfish for the fun of watching them with my kids. My husband thinks they look stressed because they are hanging out at the bottom of the bowl, which only has some gravel in it, and suggested a plant. Of course I start poking around your website, which is amazingly informative, by the way, and I see that I could be doing a lot more for these guys. They are admittedly feeder fish. I didn\’t expect to get so attached, so I honestly was hoping for something with a shorter lifespan. But, now I really want to save them! So, what I have is 4 fingerling common goldfish in a 1 gallon bowl with only gravel. They have been in our family for 24 hours, living on our dining room table. The vary in size from 1-3 inches. One fish (my favorite) floats to the top if he doesn\’t swim down constantly. What would you recommend to remediate this entire situation without spending my children\’s college fund? It is clear I should get minnfinn for starters and some testers for ammonia and nitrates. I am still confused about what to do if the levels are high… change the water? I am also guessing I need a bigger tank. And a filter? And which filter specifically would you choose? Or should I just stick with frequent water changes until I know that one or two of them might survive ( I don\’t mind)? One last question for now- how do I do a partial water change? just scoop water off of the top, or do I want to siphon it out of the bottom so as to get some of the particulate matter that I\’m sure is building up in the gravel. Also, none of them have been very interested in the flake food so far. I think each has eaten once since we got them. This really is sounding like a hopeless case, isn\’t it? Let me know if you think there is anything I can do.
Erin, thanks for reaching out. Goldfish can be a fun and rewarding pet for sure! I have made a video that you might find useful for how I set up a 1 gallon goldfish vase.
That said, feeder goldfish as pets can be hit or miss for reasons that have nothing to do with your care of them. Some don’t live long, others live for decades. But all you can do is the best you can do on your end to give them a good life while they are with you, however long that is! Live plant would be a fantastic place to start, in addition to a water test kit. If they are not eating, this can be from stress, either from what they’ve been through or the water. Until you can get the setup more finalized, water changes are a great place to start. You can use a turkey baster to vacuum the gravel and remove water before replacing with clean treated water. The MinnFinn is good. You can give them a few treatments before setting up the bowl fully with plants. But be sure the water is good first; poor water quality will kill faster than most parasites. I hope this helps!
Hello Merideth, I was wondering in what time range I would do all this. I am planning to order 3 corydoras online and quarantine them in a 12-gallon tub. Judging all the separate treatments and protocols that you mentioned in this article, how long would the quarantine take me? 6 weeks? 8 weeks? I am also wondering (sorry if this is a bit off-topic) if 3 corydora catfish with 3 guppies in a 10-gallon tank that I test daily and do 25% changes on every week would be good? Because I am thinking that might be getting close to overstocking, judging that the corydoras might grow to be 4 inches each and the 1 inch of fish per gallon of water rule. Thanks!
My process generally takes 4 weeks. The way you’re stocking sounds fine to me, I think those fish generally don’t get that large. If they do you could always upgrade.
Thank you Merideth, I was thinking that you know what, I could just take care of my tank algae manually, and change the water *sighs*, because as cool as it would be to have corys, it would be a whole other thing to worry about. But after all is said and done, my 10 gallon still only has 2 fancy guppies (it used to also have 2 male powder blue dwarf gouramis but one died of stress and the other one of DGIV) and I’m looking for another beginner level fish that is good at hard water, high temp, and ph around 8. Do you have any suggestions?
Maybe other livebearers like mollies or swordtails?
Sounds good.
Hi Meredith!
I absolutely love your website! As a beginner goldfish hobbyist, your advice has been a huge help to prepare me for my first 2 fancy goldies! I\’m currently setting up and cycling a 29gal tank and hope to be able to start with 2 fancies once its ready!
My question is, am I able to add both fish to a new tank at the same time? or do they need to be quarantined separately?
Also, can I quarantine them in a brand new tank, or must they be in a separate QT container?
I was hoping to get both at once rather than one at a time. But I want to make sure to do the right thing!
Thank you!
Yes you can 🙂 Thanks for your kind words!
Thank you!
One more question, if I quarantine them both in the new tank, am I able to medicate them there as well? I\’m afraid the meds could crash the cycle and have not found a definitive answer to this.
Yes you can. In fact this is best. Some meds can crash a cycle but MinnFinn is very gentle and rarely causes more than a bump.
Hey, a great article thank you. I am about to embark on the ich Salt part of the quarantine for my 3 new goldfish. So to clarify I gradually add the salt every 12 hours until I reach .5%. Unfortunately my quarantine heater only allows for temp of 78% do I need to get a new one or can they be in the salt for longer? The tank is cycled so do I just keep testing the water and nobly changing the water when necessary or do I change the water everyday? Lastly should I take the filter media out of the filter for the treatment? Thanks
78 degrees is fine. I’d just salt for the full 2 weeks.
Is it still important to quarantine fish if you get them from a trusted breeder who already quarantined them before shipping them?
Not as important but I still recommend it if possible. The fish are weak after being shipped to you and can get something from your tank.
Hi Meredith,
Do you know if ATM Paradigm Dechlorinator (water conditioner with Vitamin C) is a reducing agent and lowers the power of MinnFinn?
Also your suggestion to do a MinnFinn bath when getting a new fish from a LFS is an awesome idea. Do you need to use Neufinn to neutralize the MinnFinn bath (a separate 5 gallon buck) or is it ok to just move the fish into the quarantine tank without neutralizing it? Please let me know.
BTW, your website has so many great infos. I can\’t wait to finish your book.
Thank you!
No neutralizing necessary if you do the bath in the bucket then transfer fish when done 🙂
I use Paradigm with MinnFinn and I haven’t noticed it changing its effectiveness, though I can’t say for certain if it has some impact or not depending on your water source.
Glad you like the book 😀
Hi Meridith, I learned so much from your website over my last 2 years of goldfish keeping! Thank you!
I made a deadly mistake— In all eagerness to cheer my fish up with a new friend, I introduced 2 seemingly healthy new fishes to my 2 year old healthy tank. On the 3rd day, I find one of the new fish hiding at the corner, with half a face rotting (looks eaten up with white fluff), I isolated it thinking it got attacked by the older fish. It died overnight with more white spots on its tail and the body was in a really bad shape. Soon the second new fish had more white growth. Took it out and it also died shortly. Soon my originally healthy fishes started hiding and to my horror, they now have a face rot w white fluff. One of the old guy died with white stuff growing on its head.
Now that I screwed up big time, what can be done? They seem to succumb to this disease REALLY quickly. I also found white stringy poop on one older fish.. which died hours later.
Do I drain the entire tank and wash it all out? I do not have readily cycled clean water :’(
5 left in 3 separate QT based on degrees of visible white fluff on exterior.
Thanks for your kind words, Kate, and sorry to hear about your losses. Something killing that quickly sounds possibly parasitic. If the fish are all gone I would start all over, but if you still have one left you can try to save it with a treatment like MinnFinn.
Thanks for your advice Meredith!
I could not get hold of MinnFinn where I live. But I bought Eiho Prazi Gold, SeaChem Polyguard and BeFURAN yellow powder. The remaining 2 fishes are still active with good appetite, thought they bang their head on the wall sometimes, empty poop or white poop with bubbles encased.
I did not use all the medication at once. Is there one you recommend i prioritise? So far they are left in low strength dose of BeFURAN. Yet to start the rest.
Thanks again!
If it’s flukes, the Prazi Gold may be your best option.
Is there a way to quarantine fish without all the medication stuff you listed? I have no way of getting any of it except for sea salt
Unfortunately salt alone will not get rid of parasites such as flukes. You can try a hydrogen peroxide dip on the fish to knock off flukes before you put them into quarantine, but this can be a bit stressful for new fish.
Hey there! When treating for ICH during quarantine, do you remove your filter media, or is it ok to leave it in?
I follow the instructions as per the MinnFinn directions
Thank you for the article and all of your advice! I see that you mentioned that Prime can neutralize MinnFinn? If thats the case, what other conditioner can be used with MinnFinn? Or, is there any way to Medicate MinnFinn along with Prime?
One of my fancies has had clamped fins lately and likes to often skim the surface and gulp for air. All of the water parameters are fine and her appetite is good. But may she possibly have flukes?
(Im sorry if this posted twice, I wasn’t sure if it went through the first time!)
MinnFinn can be used with prime but you may need a higher dose. Surface gulping can have several causes though so I’d look into further symptoms of flukes.
If I get plants and snails for my goldfish tank and they were in a separate tank from fish do I still have to quarantine them?
Depends on if the filtration system for tanks with fish was joined.