Aquatics Unlimited takes pride in our knowledge and quality of all our fish. With your love and support we have been able to take another step that sets us apart from everyone else. This blog post will hopefully answer all the questions you may have in regards to our quarantine process, as well as a few other things that will be related to these topics.
The saltwater hobby is a wild animal, literally. Most saltwater fish are still wild caught. It is important to know that these fish are bringing the wild with them. Their behavior, eating habits, stress levels, and diseases are among the most important things to be aware of and can make this hobby unnecessarily challenging.
So many stores or online vendors would rather “turn and burn” fish. Sure, you might get a cheaper fish, but why take a gamble?
SALTWATER FISH SHOULD NEVER BE A GAMBLE.
There are differences in how fish are collected, shipped, fed, and cared for. This extra care for the animal will in turn show a higher price tag.
We want to do better by the fish as well as by you, their future caretakers. We are not that kind of “turn and burn” store. These fish are living creatures that require our care. We want your new pet to be healthy, eating, and happy in it’s future home.
WHAT IS QUARANTINE?
Quarantining a fish is to first introduce it to a tank that is not your main display tank. It is a system set up to monitor and eradicate any problems (eating, personality, and/or disease) before that fish is added to the rest of the group.
WHY QUARANTINE HEALTHY FISH?
A fish may look happy and healthy, but there is no guarantee. Why risk the health of all your other fish when you can take a precautionary step?
OUR QUARANTINE PROCESS
Some of you already know how to medicate and quarantine a fish. We would like to be transparent with our procedure so that you know what steps we are taking to ensure a healthy fish. (The steps described below are a general overlook. If you would like more details or have questions, do not hesitate to ask!)
All fish, from any source, will be going through our 28 day quarantine cycle.
– After being acclimated to a biologically cycled quarantine tank, the fish will start on Copper Power.
-Throughout the 28 days, fish will be fed a varied diet including frozen foods with medications (Praziquantel, Metronidazole, and Kanamycin with Focus as a binding agent) to address other potential ailments copper does not.
– DAYS 1-8
We slowly increase the concentration of copper until we reach an optimal level to appropriately treat parasites (1.5-2.5 ppm).
-DAYS 8-23
We will maintain that level of copper. If at any point a fish develops symptoms of a disease copper does not address (e.g., bacterial infection), then that tank will begin treatment with the proper medication.
-DAYS 24-28
Copper will be slowly removed from the tanks over the course of these few days and fish will remain under observation.
-DAY 28
If the fish does not appear ready after 28 days it will remain in quarantine for observation and/or another round of treatment.
OUR RETAIL TANKS
Historically, our fish have not always gone through a 28 day quarantine process. This means that any of our tanks originally would have had the potential for harboring a disease. We took measures to “reset” and sterilize our retail aquariums at the beginning of 2020, to ensure that the fish coming out of quarantine remain healthy for purchase. (Note: We do not have to do this every time we put new fish out. We only had to do this once.) We will still be running UV-Sterilizers as an added precautionary measure.
MAY I STILL QUARANTINE MY OWN FISH?
Yes, you may still want your fish to go through your own regimen. Nothing beats peace of mind.
WHY DO OUR EMPLOYEES ASK YOU SO MANY QUESTIONS?
Perhaps you have been in the hobby for many years, but it’s just us doing our part to make sure you have all of the important information you need. We want to ensure that the fish are going to a suitable home. We want to help minimize risks and have you be successful and for the fish to be happy.
DISCLAIMER: We go through a lot of effort and have many fail-safes in place to ensure healthy fish. Due to the nature of keeping wild animals in captivity, we would be disingenuous to guarantee no risk of disease. We feel we have reduced that risk greatly, but there are a lot of variables out of our hands.
Please see our SALTWATER SET UP & SALTWATER CARE GUIDE blog posts for more information regarding keeping a saltwater aquarium.