[mitchrapp]

snorvich,

First off, thank you for all you have done here. I started off with this hobby less than a year ago and have used TTM + prazi + 4 weeks observation from the get go. Thanks for starting me off right.

After I had a fish die from uronema (during TTM), I've realized that I need to start doing formalin dips. TheRoewer, I completely agree that it needs to be done right away since brook and uronema are such quick killers. But I don't know how one would do a formalin dip upon arrival since you would want to match the formalin dip salinity to the salinity of the shipping/LFS water. The store may give you a ballpark figure, but I always open the bag to measure it and more than once it has been quite off from what the store told me it would be. You are supposed to make the formalin dip and aerate 1-2 hours prior to dipping, and you wouldn't want to have that bag open for that long. If you pre-made and aerated the formalin dip, based off the ballpark figure and prior to measuring, then opened the bag and measured and it was off, then adjusting the salinity of the dip would mess up your formalin concentration.

Anyhow, so I just add an extra day and transfer into TTM. This is how I have done it with my last several fish and it seems to work well:

Day 1 - into QT
Day 2 - formalin bath then TT
Day 5 - formalin bath then TT + prazi
Day 8 - formalin bath then TT
Day 11 - formalin bath then TT + prazi
Day 14 - formalin bath then transfer to cycled QT
4 weeks observation, then transfer to DT.

Fish seem to do fine with this.