A seemingly simple topic, but repeatedly ignored or poorly carried out, may initially lead to a very bad condition or even death of the fish, but certainly to malaise and stress. He wants to share some of his own experiences, practical knowledge, but most importantly, he wants to dispel some myths. Let's start with the latter…
Myths.
Myth number 1.
If you buy/get fish from the same breeder, quarantine and longer acclimatization are unnecessary. Quarantine must always be carried out and we condition the fish for their and our own safety.
Myth number 2.
Quarantine means treatment. It's not a treatment, it's an observation. If it turns out that new guests have infections, we must treat them, but mainly we observe, we get used to the conditions we have in the target aquarium. Often, at the beginning, fish have "strange" behavior, it results from the way they traveled, poor packing, etc. Let us remember that for fish, travel is stress and it makes them susceptible to various infections, so preparing for quarantine is very important, especially for discus fish.
Myth number 3.
I don't have the space and the ability to put up a quarantine tank, I won't do it, there have never been any problems. I encounter this approach many times, in a way I understand it, but it is always a risk for the new owner and if we have problems, it is not the seller's fault. Difficult matter I always pay attention to the need for quarantine, but being fully aware of the consequences, I think I care more than the unconscious possible problem of the new buyer.
Myth number 4.
In quarantine, I will deworm/treat prophylactically for everything. For me, the biggest nonsense, this is a controversial topic, because in Poland we use a lot of drugs. We don't listen to experts, but "experts" from forums, groups, etc. We won't use a microscope because we don't have it and we don't want to veto it, or look for a friend aquarist with equipment in the area. But on the Internet, we will diagnose everything. And during the treatment, we will make "hundreds" of mistakes, but it's not our fault, it's drugs that suck. I am generally an enemy of preventive action, because it makes you resistant to a given drug, if you really need it, we have a problem with the action. We can simply poison the fish or, unfortunately, often lead to organ damage, sometimes permanent.
Acclimatization.
What is it and why do we do it. For me, in soldier's words, it is adaptation to new living conditions, and it is done in order to minimize stress during the change of place.
For all fish we carry it out identically, because I have a fix for discus fish and angelfish/altums, I have a slightly different method. I don't soak the bags in the tank and I don't equalize the temperature in this way. I use a plastic tank or a styrobox for acclimatization, if there are few fish, a larger container, e.g. a bucket. After opening the bags, I put the fish into the above-mentioned container and pour water from the bag, place a small heater, always set the temperature lower than in the target tank by 2 degrees and put in aeration. After unpacking and preparing the container, with a thin hose, it drops water from the tank in which the fish will be placed. I use the same hose as for aeration, generally available cheap, I throttle the flow with a valve limiting the air flow, also an economical option, and so I slowly start to acclimatize the fish, usually this process takes about 2 hours, if the tank is full, I drain the water. After these 2 hours, I mainly check the temperature, it should not differ more than 1st. Here I will immediately warn you that the heater actually has lower parameters, but we mix the water so it warms up naturally. The last but quite important element is the pH of the water. Before acclimatization, check the level in the bags, because we know what we have in the quarantine tank (right? ?) if the discrepancy is large, then we extend the acclimatization process until we slowly level the parameter. We always put only fish into the aquarium, never under any circumstances pour the water in which we acclimatized them. It is best to catch the discus flat on the hand and gently put it on the surface of the water. It can often happen that a fish that has traveled a long way lies on the bottom and does not swim, calmly give it time, it's nothing wrong.
Do we add any means, "soak" them in something? Hmmm also the topic of the river, there are acclimatization preparations on sale, which are a wonderful measure and if we use it, we will be in heaven ?. Yes, you can use them because they are approved products for such treatments. In my long aquarium career, I have used various specifics, for pennies and for "millions", for some time I have not used anything since it is a quarantine to observe and, if necessary, act. Often it is the so-called quarantine replacement, i.e. you will use it and you don't need to carry it out anymore, well, nothing can replace quarantine.
Quarantine
All in all, after everything I wrote above, it's a short and simple topic.
Quarantining fish is a necessary process for the health and safety of newly purchased/arrived fish. Transporting or moving them to another aquarium is a stress factor for them. There is then a disruption in electrolyte metabolism, especially of sodium, calcium and potassium ions. For the health and fertility of fish, rapid changes in physical and chemical conditions are unfavorable. The minimum quarantine time is 2-3 weeks - this is enough time for possible diseases to manifest themselves and prevent them. Here there are different schools one says, 70% of the water should come from our main aquarium, the rest we supplement with fresh water. I always give fresh, and from the target during the changeover I add to the quarantine tank. Of course, as with a standard aquarium, partial water changes should be performed. If there is a need for treatment then the so-called water mixing is done after the cure.
And that's all there is to it, the issues related to the size of such a tank, the parameters, etc., there is probably no point in describing any more as this is obvious and depends on the species of fish.