# It Finally Happened....Ughhhh



## Mr Tobias (Oct 8, 2014)

I've been keeping fish for a very long time but for some inexplicable reason I have never quarantined new fish and never had a problem. Until now. I added 5 fish (two species) from a very good breeder and soon developed Ick on two of the existing fish. I treated right away but there were secondary diseases/parasites apparently and my fish started dropping one by one. Beautiful, big (slow growing) fish. Heckeli, satanoperca, severums. The tank has been decimated and I considered just shutting it down. Crazy thing is that the new fish are all fine. The new fish, two angels and some tetras are the only things left. By far this is the worst thing that's ever happened to my tank.
I actually do have a question. If the new fish are still fine how would quarantine have helped? I've read not to medicate a quarantine tank if there are no signs of illness. Wondering if I want to start again. Thanks in advance for the help.


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## wortel87 (Apr 15, 2014)

Bacterial infection.

Probably a cross infection. You dont hear allot of it outside the discus world. But it can happen with all fish.

It hapends.


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## Mr Tobias (Oct 8, 2014)

wortel87 - What tells you it was a bacterial infection? And, how do I know when it's safe to start stocking fish if I choose to do so?


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## wortel87 (Apr 15, 2014)

Well it probably is.

Because your new stock wasnt affected.

If they go belly up in a short amount of time and if you just added new fish. Its probably a cross infection.

Quarantine doesnt help with this. If you quarantine and slowly let them get used to eachothers bacterial load it will work out. Exchanging small ammounts of water and such.

It doesnt happen that often with stronger fish. But its diffinatly verry possible.

If you buy fish always try to buy new ones from the same store you had your first batch. Getting fish from multiple sources is always more dangerous.

Havent you had the experience that fry born and growing up inside your tank seem allot more hardy? Its because they are perfectly adjusted to your tank. And ofcourse only the strongest survive


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## dledinger (Mar 20, 2013)

There is always a chance of this happening when adding new fish.


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## Mr Tobias (Oct 8, 2014)

I guess I've been lucky until now. This was drastic and I've never had anything close to this happen.


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

That would be horrible. I too have been lucky in that respect.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I had a nasty outbreak of ich recently that took a few months to cure. In the process, I lost a great many fish. Ich seems much more virulent than it used to be.

I use a 17 gallon tank with some cories (who won't stop breeding) as a quarantine tank. I purchased some emperor tetra, kept them in quarantine for 2 weeks and didn't see the spots. I infected my 90 gallon tank. I have some new fish that are staying in quarantine for a month or so.


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

It's worth it to dose for ich any time you buy a fish, or keep the quarantine at 83 degrees to make sure it's gone before they come in.


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## pancakeloach (Feb 4, 2008)

Yep, had something similar happen to me as well. Added new fish to tank without quarantine... plague and death ensued, but only in one species of fish I already had (the most expensive of course!) while the others and the new fish were fine. And now that I think on it, the fish that died were from a different source than all the rest. Wortel87's idea of sharing water sounds very reasonable, maybe after several weeks in qt and no problems start doing this so the fish can be "inoculated" before joining the main tank?


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## Mr Tobias (Oct 8, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies. After reading this I think a couple of things:
1) Quarantine would not have changed anything here
2) Unless you see outward signs on your quarantined fish you don't know if they're infected
3) You can't really do a preventative treatment to a quarantine tank if you don't know what you're treating for
So the effort of putting fish in a quarantine tank for weeks seems likely not to pay off. Am I missing something here?


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## wortel87 (Apr 15, 2014)

Yup your missing something.

Like mentioned before.

If you quarantine your new fish for a few weeks. Keep an eye out for anything that resembles disease. After those 2 weeks. Slowly start adding little bits of water from the quarantine tank to your main tank. And also add some water from your main tank to your quarantine tank. Keep this up for another 2 weeks. If everything is ok. Introduce them.

The new fish werent infected. They just had a different bacterial load than your existing stock. Allot of the time this isnt a problem and your fish can handle and adjust to the brand new bacteria that come with new fish.

See it as collumbus comming to america. Allot of the natives died because of disease that came with the invaders. They werent used to it.

Just keep antibiotics on stock for these things. It can save your fish. Like i said. It doesnt happen that much but is verry possible.

I never quarantine. Its a risk I like to take. Because quarantine also causes allot more stress on the fish.

the above is an option if you want to be on the safe side.

Just try to buy from the same source.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I think that you always need to quarantine. Ich is so prevalent and virulent. Some fish, especially scaleless fish, don't tolerate well most of the harsher ich medications.


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## Mr Tobias (Oct 8, 2014)

So you would treat every fish in a quarantine tank for Ick even if they don't show signs of it?


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

It depends on circumstance I guess. If it's a delicate fish I just plop it in, no quarantine. Like when I got a hillstream loach a while back. If it's a tough fish and I have delicate fish in the tank I give a salt and malachite green dip for a while with a bubbler, just in case.

Actually, looking back at your post I notice all your big fish died and your little fish lived. It's also really weird to see big tough fish die of ich like that.

Maybe that is not the problem, maybe you added too many fish for the amount of oxygen in the tank. I didn't really look closely before because there's not much you can do to help already dead fish, but death of fish from biggest to smallest when you add fish or change water is usually a sign of not enough oxygen.


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## wortel87 (Apr 15, 2014)

He treated for ich. If they still had ich he would bave mentioned it in his first post.

His fish didnt die of ich.


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

wortel87 said:


> He treated for ich. If they still had ich he would bave mentioned it in his first post.
> 
> His fish didnt die of ich.


The whole point of my point is that I doubt illness. I guess your english ability is the problem.


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## Mr Tobias (Oct 8, 2014)

Well there was definitely Ick and another external parasite - it was visible. Possibly something else brought in by the new fish as well. Interesting observation about the big vs. small fish. I didn't look at it that way.


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