justanotherfishhead
Lisa
You know it makes sense and i never thought of it that way until this thread. So from a ICK standpoint it makes no sense to waste the money on new filters, water, salt, heater and my time to set up the 55g just for these 3 fish. BUT on the other hand other diseases/parasites and/or behavioral problems could be present on the new fish so i might as well QT them, right? is that the general consensus? I hope so because i already bought a new filter, 50g R/O, salt, PVC fittings and took the time to set it and i'm going to QT those new guys or i guess i have 55g of saltwater standing by for a water change.
Also, say i do QT them regardless to look out for other diseases and/or behavioral problems and i don't see anything wrong with them after 2 weeks. Say there was also no medications put in the water during this time. Do i discard that water or can i use it for my DT. Granted it will have some waste in the water from the 3 fish i was QTing, but it can't amount for too much in 55g of water and i would rather not just waste it. Just asking :)
Like I said I still think its worthwhile for you to QT these fish, especially since you have the QT all set up ready to go. Others may disagree, and Biff and BL1 have much more experience than I do. But from the research I've done, I think its possible that the new fish have something other than ich, like marine velvet, and you will see that in QT so your current fish don't get it. Probably more likely for them to have something if you had gotten them from a LFS instead of LA, but still a good precaution. As far as how long, why not just do at least 4 weeks since you have gone through the trouble to set it up.
At the end of QT if the fish don't have anything and the water is clean and you used no medication, I see no reason not to use the water if you want to when you take down the QT. Perhaps someone else will chime in.