wrote in message
oups.com...
I've recently setup a new 55 gallon tank. I let it run for a while,
then stocked it with a bunch of plants and three tetras from my LFS.

Yesterday, I read on the skepticalaquarist.com a strong argument for
quaratine for new fish, and for salt and parasite treatments, and for
treating plants as well. It sounds like a really good idea.

My question is, if I were to quantine my fish now, in a small tank that
I could treat and change lots of water on, would my main tank be
sterile in a month, having been free of fish (but not snails)? If
things would live on in the main tank anyway, what would be a good
course of action?

Thank you muchly.


Your strategy assumes that any pathogens were waterborne parasites which
would die without a host, or bacteria which would dilute and vanish. I
don't know if that's a valid assumption. The value of a small quarantine
tank is that it allows you to more closely inspect the condition and
progress of the fish (their consumption of food, emptying their bowels,
coloration and behaviour). Personally, I think that you should not
bother, and your entire tank is now a defacto quarantine tank. The
requirement to quarantine also extends to plants, but this requirement
decreases with the time the plants have not been exposed to fish (but in
a pet shop, wet nets, fingers and splashes tend to travel broadly, so I
don't know what that isolation is really worth ;~).
jmo, ymmv
--
www.NetMax.tk