09/10/2016
FISH TANK TECH TALK #3: QUARANTINE
In many literatures or articles, it is recommended that you quarantine your fish for, at least, two weeks. In my fish room, I usually quarantine new fish for at least two months.
Some will say this is overkill. However, I am in the production aspect of the hobby, and I have no plans giving freebies along with my fish to clients. Freebies, like fresh anchor worms, healthy fish lice, etc. I hope to give just fish. You have to consider that there are parasites that do not appear right away. Some will be dormant for more than two weeks and then will become active when you have already introduced your fish to the community tank.
I cannot officially declare disease-free fish from my tanks because that will mean certifications, ELISA tests, or PCR for virus indexing, laboratory tests, etc. I do not have that capacity. I am poor and just make use of whatever is available.
What I can do is to breed generation after generation of fish under some sort of biosecurity measures. Try to distance it every generation from diseases. And part of the breeding program is to destroy or remove previous generations and start fresh with the current generation of fry. I do have a program, I don't just simply breed fish for stock inventory, there is a sequence of events like selection, culling, etc., that I follow. And this will go on and on. The grind does not stop.
Biosecurity begins with quarantining all incoming fish. Feriod.
How do you go about it? To start, you need a dedicated "hospital tank". It need not be an aquarium, it can be a bucket, a basin, or anything that can contain water and does not react with some of the chemicals that you will use later on or contain toxic materials that will leach out from it. It is best if you can see through the container so you can observe your fish.
Prepare this tank before buying the fish, or else you will end up using fresh tap water; not good, definitely not good. Clean water and no adornments or gravel. This is to make it easier to clean or disinfect the tank. And also enables you to observe the fish a lot more easier.
Also, if you can, give it a dipnet of its own. Sometimes, when I buy a fish, I also buy a dipnet from the store; and use it to catch the fish from their tanks. I feel more secure that the net used did not go swimming in other tanks. Also, my dipnets don't last long because of the regular sterilization using bleach, so I buy it together with fish. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of bleach for disinfection/sterilization of equipment. Hey, that's real. And, cigarette smoking is dangerous, it can cause fires.
To make the fish feel a little bit less nervous, I sometimes put black plastic bag material that was cut into strips, something the fish can use for cover when they want to hide. You can use other materials, like yarn, that will also cut the direct line-of-sight and help reduce nervousness or aggression.
When you have the fish, temperature acclimate by floating the bag in the tank, if necessary. Sometimes it is not necessary. Open bag or closed bag, it depends; but generally you can use either method because, most likely, it's just a local purchase. For large shipments or commercial establishments, I can give a technical discussion on this topic but then, I will have to bill you. Hehehe.
Once acclimated, put the fish in the tank. Just the fish, the transport water is discarded, properly.
And then observe the fish for any signs of parasites or disease. The usual parasites or diseases that I encounter here are: White spot, Anchor worms, and Fish lice.
Prophylactic additives in the water depends on the species of the fish and the targeted organism. Some fish cannot withstand certain chemicals while other fish can. I do not recommend the use of antibiotics. I usually use salt at approximately isotonic concentration, or around 5 grams per liter. This will be another topic that I hope to discuss a little more because there are many opinions to this subject. Iodized vs non-iodized and how iodine breaks into three (iodine, iodide, and iodate), how much to use, osmotic potentials, osmoregulatory functions, species specific toxicity, etc. Salt is kinda broad spectrum but it will not work with fish lice.
Of course, I am no expert and sometimes, I do it in a very unscientific way, throw in salt in the tank and just eyeball it. But, it's more fun to brag to friends and say, "Oh, I just used 285 grams of salt in my 15 gallon tank." And enjoy seeing the bewildered look on their faces at the amount of salt. Wait, I think I can put in 1 kilo of salt in my 55s. Yup, I just did.
Once your fish is in the hospital tank, observe it during the duration of your chosen quarantine period. You need not follow my length of observation period, although, I do recommend it, if you have the patience. Wow, I have that kind of patience? Not really, I forget about them, old-age territory, you know. And, then two months later, I will recall I bought a fish.
My most expensive fish purchase which I bought as a present for myself, and it's been more than two months, I seldom see them. I just harvest their fry, but don't really 'see' them. See as in admire or scrutinize or count their spots, etc.
Just remember, it is in quarantine. It is in isolation mode. So, anything that is related to the procedure: water, equipment, and other stuff that is related to the quarantine tank, must never reach the other tanks. Disinfect them first.
Yes, you can use the protocol to isolate individuals contaminated with zombie blood.
