Goldfish and Aquarium Board Article-Quarantine Recommendations for New Goldfish

Goldfish and Aquarium Board Articles
Quarantine Recommendations for New Goldfish
By Betty

With new goldfish we recommend the following:

Quarantine new fish for four weeks while feeding them a nutritious diet and observing them closely. Jump Start is a sinking pelleted food that is highly nutritious and loaded with vitamins and probiotics to help bolster your fishes immune system or home made gel food with acidophilus.
Use salt to reduce and eliminate parasites. You will need a 0.3 solution (3 teaspoons of salt per gallon) added over three days. Keep the salt level up for 7 seven days
Praziquantel to eliminate flukes and internal parasites.

Since, prophylactic use of antibiotics is controversial and many worry about bacterial resistance, we would suggest that you observe closely, and have MediGold or MetroMed on hand in case you see symptoms of a bacterial infection. It is also recommended to feed Jump Start or home made gel food with acidophilus after a round of antibiotic food to help reestablish the normal flora of the intestional tract.

You should have Medigold or Metromed on hand so that if a fish shows symptoms of bacterial infection you can start feeding medicated food immediately.