wrote in message
oups.com...
Is there a "standard" lenth of time that new fish should be quarantined
before they are added to the main tank?

Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks.



Depends on what you are quarantining against. Two weeks will reveal
problems in appetite, bowel movement, transit shock, external bacterial
diseases and probably expose most visible parasites. Three weeks would
better reveal symptoms of internal parasites, non-visible external
parasites and some internal bacterial contagions, though some internal
bacterial problems can take much longer to manifest, or will simply not
show any symptoms (ie: TB) until they flare up.

Duration of quarantine is also influenced by the emotional and financial
investment in the creatures potentially affected (purchased and
existing), other lives (consequences of medications to plant life,
consequences due to loss of nitrifying bacteria), material costs
(medications) and difficulty (strategy with a 100g tank is quite
different from 20g tanks).

With expensive fish and larger tanks, if you have enough smaller tanks,
then 3 months is a comfortable period of time to assess the quality of
new arrivals, but few people have the tanks and space, so much shorter
quarantine periods are used. At the store we typically quarantined for
about 24 hours, and continue adding a 1 day extension if we have any
concerns (not colouring or eating as well as expected). For
sensitive-to-travel fish, quarantine was 3-5 days (Monos, Balas etc).
For expensive fish, quarantine was 1 week (Altums, Discus, Arrowana etc).
Commercial requirements are different though and should not replace your
home quarantine. hth
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www.NetMax.tk