Quarantining new goldfish

[GoldfishMomma]

What are your thoughts about this? I only have Petsmart in my area and they keep a 100 all together.
I just got home with 4 and I don’t want to infect my pond. I’m planning on quarantining these for a few weeks before adding. Should I just observe them or do you all recommend chemical treatment as a preventative?

 

[Mmathis]

Do you already have fish in your pond?

 

[GoldfishMomma]

Do you already have fish in your pond?

Yes, I have several goldfish. They are all healthy which is why I wanted to quarantine these new ones. I wish I had a more reliable place to get new fish. I live in a really rural area in TN.

 

[brokensword]

Yes, I have several goldfish. They are all healthy which is why I wanted to quarantine these new ones. I wish I had a more reliable place to get new fish. I live in a really rural area in TN.

it's not a bad idea to quaranteen and I'd just watch and wait. When I just got new koi the other week, I didn't (and generally don't) quaranteen because I trust the place I'm buying from. Petsmart? Not so much. If they're acting and eating normally (DON'T overfeed, esp if you have a small quaranteen tank and make sure the filtration/water changes are monitored) after a week (imo) I'd put them in the pond. But you have to be sure by both physical and behavioral inspection.

Others typically are ardent supporters of this but I've kept fish for well on 50 years now and found I lost more when quaranteening than I kept. The aseptic and often empty quaranteen environment is a lot different than a community tank and I found they just did better when I put them straight in. I never had much negative results, so I've kept that philosophy. But then, I learned from my dad not to buy specimens that weren't totally healthy and to assess the LPS I got them from for healthy habits.

YMMV

 

[GoldfishMomma]

I totally get what you are saying about losing more by quarantining. I jokingly said that to my husband in a roundabout way when I got these. “Off to go get some sickly fish to slowly watch die in a tank.” I wish I had a more trustworthy supplier.

Right now I have about 6 goldfish in my pond. I had BEAUTIFUL large fancy goldfish in there but a crane discovered my pond last year. In my 10 years living here that had never happened. I have netting up but I’m trying to work up to the 12 I used to have.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I, too, live 'rural' and have no local supplier for pond fish (of any quality!) I was really scared to 'order fish on line', but my experience with Blackwater Creek has been very good. The first time (three years ago) I set up a holding/quarantine tank for the new arrivals. They were super stressed, *never* ate while in the holding tank (which super stressed ME out!!) so I ended up just introducing them to the pond after about 4 days. A bit later that Spring we had an outbreak of disease & I ended up losing three of my oldest fish, but none of the new ones.

The next time (following year) that I ordered fish from Blackwater Creek, I just acclimated them to the pond temperature & then released them with a prayer & a song. We had zero loss of fish ( either old or new) other than the one little new one that got stuck in one of the skimmers & didn't recover.

So..... I'm still not sure how I feel about quarantining new fish. When I tried to do everything 'right' I suffered more loss than when I just bit the bullet & tossed them in (so to speak)