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How to Quarantine Fresh and Salt Water Fish, and Invertebrates
by Frank M. Greco , AnimalForum.com staff
From Frank's Aquarium.com
Copyright 1997 by Frank M. Greco. Reprinted with permission.
Aquarticles:http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/management/Greco_Quarantine.html
While at first thought quarantining your newly purchased fish or invertebrate may seem to
be a royal pain, this simple procedure can, in the long run, save you from a number of problems that could endanger the well-being of the animals already present in your system.
One should assume that all fish, either captive bred or (especially) wild are carriers of one
form of nasty pathogen or another. From bacteria to protozoas to viruses...any or all may be
waiting to cause you grief. Why take the chance of introducing something like that into an
already established system when a simple quarantine can take care of this potential problem.
I know...I know... you don't have room to set up another tank. Well, in most cases all you
need is about 240 square inches of floor space...which just happens to be the size of a 10
gallon tank. Nor need the tank be left up and running all the time. It can be set up at a moment's notice to hold that one of a kind animal you have had your eye on. And, you don't
need all the fancy bells and whistles you would expect to find on a permanent set up.
In fact, all you'll need is listed here:
-10 gallon tank (or larger if need be)
- cover, preferably with light
- 2 or 3 pieces of 6" long 2" PVC for hiding places
- air pump
- heater and thermometer
- biologically active sponge filter
- net
- crushed oyster shell or calcareous gravel
- ammonia test kit (fresh and salt water)
- AmQuel or similar product
- nitrite test kit (freshwater)
- antibacterial medicated food
- anti-parasitic medicated food
- citrated copper (for marine fish)
- copper test kit (for marine fish)
- malachite green (for freshwater fish)
As you can see, not much is needed to get started, In fact the most costly item on the list is
the canopy and light. This need not be an expensi ???????????????????????????????????????????????((0