My quarantine journal

Hi all!

I thought I'd start a quarantine journal to keep my thoughts and what I do during quarantine. I'm very new to fishkeeping. I just lost some fish due to that. I've since learned of quarantine tanks. I set up a food grade 5 gallon bucket with a sponge filter and heater. I use seachem prime to condition water. I used api quick start and tetra cleaning bacteria in double doses for a few days with some food to decompose.
Sunday doing water tests with api master test kit I get nitrates so I started another thread on here about stock ideas. It pretty much ended with her getting her way and us getting angelfish. So last night on her way home from work she picked up 2 angel to be put into quarantine.
So far all I've done is let them sit overnight and then this morning I fed them some, they ate but where very scared to come get it. I'm assuming that's normal. And after they ate I netted them one at a time and maneuvered them into a small glass to do a thorough evaluation. The evaluations seem good. No real fin damage. No scale damage. No sign of infection I can see but I'm no expert. I see them at the top sometimes but when I check on them the since behind the filter.
I have API General cure, ICH-X, and tetra ich guard but I dont know if any can be used proactively during quarantine safely to make sure they are healthy. Any responses greatly appreciated since I'm new and learning.
I plan to examine daily in the glass to get a good close look so I can post pics next time if anyone would like...

 

Ok so I got some more angelfish to quarantine. They all look pretty health, except one had a red splash on its gill. I'll keep up on it as I assume it's from the pet shops water having ammonia? After acclimating and adding to the quarantine tank I dosed some ich x to begin quarantine treatment.
It's been 3 hours since ich x at this point and all fish seem healthy tho that one fish still has red gill. So I'm going to change out water and re dose ich x again before I go to sleep.
Ok. I put a pic up of the angelfish in the disease forum and it seems like it's probably genetics not ammonia. So I got that going. And they all seem pretty aware of things. Actively avoiding the net. All in all I've done what can be done for the night. I'll peek in on them before I sleep just in case but I think all is well.

 

I fed the angelfish this morning. It appears they are all eating which is good since last night I gave ich x to them. When they finished eating this morning I gave more ich x. All seems well. I'll give one more dose tomorrow and after 24 hrs I'll do a full water change and begin api general cure for 3 days. I feel that will help prevent deaths in the future.

 

Quarantine is definitely a good decision whenever you get new fish, especially when they are from a tank that hasn't had the best care. Good luck with your angels, hope everything goes smoothly.

 

It seems it is. I put them in a larger quarantine tank a little bit ago. I gave the tank a dose of ich x and general cure. I was advised to use ich x api general cure and antibiotics together for a few days while monitoring thier behavior. They took the meds well tho no antibiotics available atm. Couldn't find them. I fed them some about an hr later. So I'm just waiting at this point. I ordered some blue rabbit snails that are coming Tues or weds. Excited about that.

 

All fish seem fine and healthy except the red spotted one. I noticed almost no scaled on it. Possibly due to pet store stress? The fish has gone through 2 doses of api general cure and ich x. I'll give one more tomorrow with the general cure mixed with thier food. It eats well and swims well. Will continue to monitor "Spot"(fishes new name) till it gets better or worse.

 

All fish seem fine and healthy except the red spotted one. I noticed almost no scaled on it. Possibly due to pet store stress? The fish has gone through 2 doses of api general cure and ich x. I'll give one more tomorrow with the general cure mixed with thier food. It eats well and swims well. Will continue to monitor "Spot"(fishes new name) till it gets better or worse.

How is Spot doing today? After reading your journal, I am now wholly invested in your angels XD

 

He seems quite fine. They all eat 2x a day in they quarantine tank. But last night I noticed ich on one of the others. Im hoping all will be well since I have been giving them ich x for a few day and changing water and vacuuming regularly. Today was the group's last day with general cure in tank. So really all I can do is keep up on ich x for the time being. Last night would be the third night since I brought it home so I'm hoping the ich was a tag along from the store. But like I said last night's the first ich spot I've seen in this group and gravel vacs and water changes of 25% daily followed by ich x dose to sit all day till next water change. Carbon is out I'm just running a sponge, bioballs(quartz) in hob, and sponge filter in tank.
I guess I cant do much but keep up the wc and med huh?
Spot seems very active. I'm thinking there might even be some recovery btw.

 

He seems quite fine. They all eat 2x a day in they quarantine tank. But last night I noticed ich on one of the others. Im hoping all will be well since I have been giving them ich x for a few day and changing water and vacuuming regularly. Today was the group's last day with general cure in tank. So really all I can do is keep up on ich x for the time being. Last night would be the third night since I brought it home so I'm hoping the ich was a tag along from the store. But like I said last night's the first ich spot I've seen in this group and gravel vacs and water changes of 25% daily followed by ich x dose to sit all day till next water change. Carbon is out I'm just running a sponge, bioballs(quartz) in hob, and sponge filter in tank.
I guess I cant do much but keep up the wc and med huh?
Spot seems very active. I'm thinking there might even be some recovery btw.

Yep dont do much but quarantine and medicate. The point of quarantine mostly is time. Give enough time that anything nasty you can't see has died off.

 

So since my last post I was running around getting dinner made and hanging out with my gfs son. After we ate she decided she was going to the super center for ice cream and ice us if we want to go. I decide to leave it up to her son if we were going to go or stay(he's 12 we cant leave him alone) and he want to hang out and watch tv. Ok so him and I stay home. She comes back a half hr later and has 6 harlequin rasbora and 2 what I think are striped rapheal catfish from looking online. Ok. So she surprises me with these fish. They cant all fit in my 10 gallon during quarantine I figure. So I figured I'd pull the trigger and put all the fish in quarantine in my cycled 37 gallon that just has shrimp and 2 snails in it. I'm not really comfortable quarantining all these fish together but I feel I have no choice at this point. My only saving grace is that the quarantine time so far is only 4 day so restarting isn't a huge wait. But in my own research I found out that the striped rapheal catfish is wild caught and needs antibiotics and such during quarantine. So I did what I could tonight getting everyone acclimated to the 37 and hit it with ich x for again. Tomorrow I'm taking a drive to get a few meds including stress coat for spot and antibiotics and if its in super ich cure. I explained to my gf how we weren't ready for more fish yet while I I acclimated all the fish. And explained that now due to the fact that I didn't do any research on the cats and can only guess what they are we know have a lot of guesswork as well as general upkeep work for weeks. I also explained to her we need the 55 gallon tank sooner than later now. I went on to explain to her that she effectively stocked our aquarium with her fish so the 55 is now hers so paying attention to specie is key to thier happiness. Anyways I'm going to bed. I hope all the fish are well but hey. It's not her fault. I told her I medicated the big tank a few times from our ich and she misunderstood when I said I think the ich is gone as hey, free tank to put some fish in let me surprise him.

 

So I asked got no answers and googled salt dip for freshwater fish and found instructions that say 1 tablespoon to one gallon water for minor issues. So I took a pint glass and put 1/2 teaspoon in it then added spot. Spot is now in his salt dip. Its recommended 5-30 minutes as long as fish isn't acting stressed. I'm monitoring him very close. I've been waiting for the one angelfish ich to fall off that I noticed 3 evenings ago. I'll probably dip them all in the salt to help them out.

 

Still waiting on that spot to fall off on my orange yellow and black one. Ran out of ich x but I found some api super ich cure and jungle ich guard I'm in the process of getting a salt dip ready for the bunch. Spots looking good. I think the salt dip has been helping him most. The few scales he does have are bright and shiny. I'll continue treatment. Also since api is next I bumped my heat up to 82 from 78 as per bottle instructions.
Going to start 50% water changes as that spot on yellow tail is getting big. Adding a pick of my tank. I have java fern windolev tied to a piece of driftwood. The java fern is 4 weeks old but I just found out it doent grow well in just sand. So last night I uprooted and trimmed all dead and dying leaves and tied remaining live leaves and roots to the driftwood and buried all but the top. Water wisteria which I have 3 are my oldest plants from this tank. I put them in right after cycling. althernera reineckii rosefolia is about 2 weeks old as is my 2 amazon swords, ones behind the aircraft carrier, I uprooted and pruned all dead and dying leaves yesterday when I did java fern tying.and moss balls. Its the one I'm quarantining in. As per events listed above, tho last night the striped rapheal catfish where acting funny(I read they are very sensitive to medicines) so I put them in the ten gallon I had the Angel's in at first. As soon as I'm done treating I'll hook up co2. I have one of those 2 2ltr bottle co2 generators with glass diffuser and spiral bubble counter but dont want to stain it.

 

following! Could u put some photos of the fishes! It helps to visualize better the narratives about their quarantine haha

 

I'll try. They spend a lot of time in my plants ripping the tips of like brats lol


This is spot and yellowtail. They are the ones I've seen with problems

the center one is yellowtail who is the only one showing ich at this point. These are all quarantine fish still. Spot is definitely growing more scales. Those salt dips are doing good. And I finally found primafix and melafix for after treatment. I'll be salt dipping soon. I'll post a pic of them in the spa lol

 

I'll try. They spend a lot of time in my plants ripping the tips of like brats lol
View attachment 757492
This is spot and yellowtail. They are the ones I've seen with problems
View attachment 757494the center one is yellowtail who is the only one showing ich at this point. These are all quarantine fish still. Spot is definitely growing more scales. Those salt dips are doing good. And I finally found primafix and melafix for after treatment. I'll be salt dipping soon. I'll post a pic of them in the spa lol
View attachment 757501

They're so pretty!!!! Keep ur eyes on them! I'm sure they're gonna be okay soon!
PS: Good way to control ich is to raise the temp up to 86 F! They're sensible to high temp!

 

I did raise temps up yesterday. Spot looks like he's growing scales and yellow tail is the only one with A white spot. It's getting bigger slowly. I'm hoping today or tomorrow it'll fall off. I'm still medicating. I'm waiting to be over ich stuff to start dosing primafix and melafix. Continuing daily salt dips as that seems to really be helping.

 

Not doing anything today. I gave them api super ich cure yesterday after thier salt bath. I'm not doing anything to them today. I figured one day since they've been here being left alone will do them good. Getting another light on the tank today tho. And java fern I tied down seems like its perking up.

 

January 8th I first noticed that spot on yellow tail. Its grown some but not a lot. I followed api super ich cure and turned up heat to 82. So that 8 days now and that spot hasn't changed. I noticed another spot on another fish that's zebra the morning after I noticed yellow tails spot and they all have been getting treatment. Is ich suppost to stay on for days like that at temps? These fish have been given different types of ich treatment since the the seventh. I've done ich x and api super ick cure and vacuum daily to try to get anything that falls off up. And about 4-5 days worth of aquarium salt dips as I figured I'd let them all benefit not just spot. And all who have been following spot is looking much better. I believe the salt dips are speeding up healing time. I'm noticing new scales on his dorsal and long fins, as well as what I think will be yellow scales on its body.

 

Salt dip complete for the day. I still see what I believe to be ich on yellowtail. I'm confused. I have 4 days of ich treatment availabe. 8 days since I first sighted the spot on yellowtail and zebra. 8 days since I started treatment for ich. I haven't seen any other angelfish develop spots. I've been neglecting to mention anything about the harlequin rasbora. I few days ago I noticed the Angel's attacking them so I brought them back.

 

Did a 50% water change yesterday. Dosed with jungle ich cure today. Salt dipped both days. I'm only going to update if things go bad.

 

Been doing water changes every day. Been treating for ich every day according to directions. Yellow tail still has spot on tail. Zebra is doing well. Really seeing a difference in scale growth.

 

Hi all. I'm happy to say that all the angelfish are still alive. I just did a 6 day melafix and primafix regiment. The spots on zebra and yellow tail are still there. I'm noticing some shrinkage but not much. Spots regrowing scales slowly. But at this point I am done with medicating the angelfish tank.
Wednesday night I got 8 albino bronze corydoras that I put in quarantine in the ten gallon. I gave them a dose of api general cure. Giving another tonight. Monitoring the Angel's and corydoras separately. On the 21st of Feb I'll add the corydora to the angelfish tank.