I just bought a new baby red cap(less than 1 inch), in a hospital tank, salt added, how many days I supppose to put him there?

I'd be extremely careful salting a fish that small...The little guys don't handle it as well as the larger fish do. Some quarentine for a week some a month. I've had 4 fry quarentined for 2 weeks now and will continue for a least another week.

Congratulations on your new fishie! You will find that everybody has a different take on this. Personally, I say a minmimum of 2 weeks for all new fish regardless of whether they are in tip-top health when you buy them. Some people say 2 -4 weeks, others say longer. Some people only quarrantine for a week and then add them to their main tanks if they are well at that point. The important thing is that you quarrantine them at all and observe very closely.

If there are any problems during that time, I would add more time on to the quarrantine period after all symptoms have gone and the fish is clear.

If you're salting for parasites you probably only need to do that for the first 2 weeks not the entire quarrantine period, particularly if he's otherwise well. Also be careful about salting for a very small fish as I gather it can be very hard on them. If he is otherwise healthy you may not need to treat at all, just observe for symptoms. Your new fish sounds very cute, goodluck with him!

Posted at same time as Katalyst

I quarantine for at least 2 weeks. If fish seems healthy I then add to the main tank.

MB is VERY wise. I, too, agree. Everyone will quarantine for different times and for different reasons. I usually do AT LEAST 2 weeks. If any problems are noted or treated, the fish will be qt-d for at least 2 weeks beyond the time that all problems were successfully resolved.

Any fish going into a tank with a more delicate tank mate gets up to 6 weeks qt. Any fish coming from an "unknown" source ( pet shop, club member, certain on line dealers, certain dealers at shows) is given up to 6 weeks. Fish coming from others that I know VERY well may only be given 2 weeks.....

Some people - if the fish has to reside in less that quality water in a qt tank - will cut the qt shorter. It is more gentle on the fish.

It's not sufficient to wait for some amount of time. I attended a talk recently given by a fish specialist from Texas A&M. I don't remember the exact details (will try to find them) but she recommended to protect from SVC and GHV you should cycle the fish through temperature ranges over several weeks time. Something like 65-85 degrees fahrenheit over six weeks (as I said I will try to find the details). The idea being that certain viral diseases don't show themselves until temperatures are sufficiently low. I have heard that the recent problems with flooding in China have made this a pretty big problem.

Oh that's interesting Jim. I had heard something about how viral diseases are becoming increasingly common in goldfish, koi and other coldwater pond fish. I hope it's not too widespread