# new fish - to medicate or not to medicate



## im_a_clownfish (Sep 19, 2005)

Hi All!

I have learned the lesson on quarantining all new fish (my whole tank got infected recently and I am just getting over it).

Soooo....I will be quarantining all new fish for a week or two. The question is, should I medicate for parasites and bacteria (even if the fish is not symptomatic) while its in the quarantine tank? I know even if its not sick, most fish are harboring something, and I do NOT want to bring that in my main tank.

I do also know that medicating can be stressful, especially after just moving the fish to a new tank. So, the question is, how to go about this? Leave the fish in the new tank for a few days or a week, and then start medicating for a week or two before placing in the new tank, to avoid a lot of stress?
I dont want contamination of my main tank, but I also dont want to kill all my new fish either.

Any recommendations?

Also, for new corals and inverts, they obviously cant be medicated or freshwater dipped(or is there something you can use?), so is there any point in quarantining inverts when they are obviously healthy?

Last thing - For new sponges, which obviously cant touch air, is there any way from preventing the LFS's water from getting into my tank? I guess I can quarantine the sponge (its an expensive blue one) in the quarantine tank for a while, but it has no where near the lighting as my main tank. How much light does a sponge need?

Thanks so much for the help! 

Happy Easter!


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

i dont know for sure, because im a beginner myself, but i do know that you should quarentine your fish longer, around 4 weeks, the life cycle of most parasites is longer than 2 weeks, i believe some people medicate, and some dont unless they see problems, i believe its just personal preference, as for inverts and corals, some people just acclimate them, and some quarantine for a while, but your right, they dont get medicated


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

The real question is: are you sure there aren't any parasites in your main tank? If there are (you haven't medicated the main tank, let it go fallow for 6 weeks) then it would kinda be pointless to medicate new arrivals unless they are symptomatic, since you aren't really doing anything but introducing the parasite again after the fish has gone through the labor of being medicated. Otherwise I would definately medicate new arrivals. If you aren't sure though, I would just do a few fw dips on fish in the QT tank so they don't get sick from the stress of moving. As for sponges, I'd quarentine them if the LFS had fish with them, or if they had an obvious problem with aipitasia, flatworms, ect. As for corals, most can tolerate a quick fw dip, which will relieve them of flatworms and the like. I qt all inverts in a little 10 gallon... but thats just because I have qt all my fish with meds.


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## im_a_clownfish (Sep 19, 2005)

How quick of a dip for corals?


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