QT of inverts

[mpderksen]

General rule is to QT everything, right? But for shrimp and crabs, what's the process and why? Do they carry potential ich and letting them go through QT prevents spread? How do I even determine if a crab/shrimp has something on it and how to treat it? Fish diseases are more obvious, but I wouldn't even know what to look for in an invert.

[cloak]

Off topic, but are you going to the swap meet today? (NVR) It starts at 10:30 am at Van Buskirk Community Center here in Stockton. It's only about a 15 minute drive from Manteca. There's going to be all kinds of corals for sale and prizes. Just a heads up. :)

[mpderksen]

Nice one, thanks for the heads up. Day already planned with my wife. She started this morning by saying we could do anything I wanted. Already promised her massages in Modesto.

[zeebies]

When the ich parasite is in a certain stage - help me out here disease people - it can hitch a ride on inverts. It can also latch on to rock. You can't see it, of course. The easiest way I've found to deal with this is to run a small, fishless reef and add inverts/rock in 11 week cycles.

I have a 10 gallon reef that runs continuously and only contains inverts. It's just like running a fallow tank to eliminate ich. If I find an invert I have to have, I add it and the clock starts over. Great peace of mind.

It also gives you time to get to know your critters before heading to the DT.

[zeebies]

This came from chucksaddiction.com:

The life cycle and time line of each stage of ich:

1 : TOMONT STAGE: This is where the parasite forms a membrane while attached to the substrate and goes into its reproductive mode, this can take from 3 to 28 days depending on the temperature of the water.

2 : THERONT STAGE: This is where the newly hatched parasite is free swimming in the water and is looking for a fish to attach to. It only has between 24 to 48 hours to do so or else it will die.

3 : TROPHONT STAGE: This is the adult parasite which is attached to a fish and actively feeding and the one that we can visibly see on a fish. This stage lives from 3 to 7 days.

4 : TROPHONT FREE SWIMMING: This is where the parasite has dropped off of the fish and is free swimming within the water looking for a suitable place to attach to so that it can form itself into the Tomont or reproductive stage, which can take up to 18 hours.
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So, I believe it's the tomont stage we have to worry about with inverts/rock.

[mpderksen]

Off topic, but are you going to the swap meet today? (NVR) It starts at 10:30 am at Van Buskirk Community Center here in Stockton. It's only about a 15 minute drive from Manteca. There's going to be all kinds of corals for sale and prizes. Just a heads up. :)

I made it after all. No time to gather frags, but it was my first group event and had a great, if short, time. Wife got her attention when I got back, so it all worked out (she got to shop while I was at the swap, and she spent WAY more than me....)

[pyithar]

anything that is wet should be quarantined. that's the proper way to do. since i don't have a continuously running invert tank like zeebies and being an impatient person i am, i take the risk. the way i do is, after acclimating the inverts/live rocks/corals, (i dip if corals) then i transfer them to a new bucket of water and shake the tomonts off the inverts/rocks/corals. i don't know if the tomonts would come off. after that, free swimming theronts might still be in the water attached to inverts/rocks/corals. therfore i shake them off again and transfer them to a qt with no fish where i let them stay for 3 days since theronts can live for only 2 days if they can't find a host. after 3 days, i shake them off again and move them into the display. i've been lucky so far. :D

[Crooked Reef]

Basically the reason as stated above is that even though inverts do not catch fish disease, they can carry it in the water that is on them. Anything wet should be quarantined to give the diseases and parasites time to die off. Same thing with nets and equipment. You should not use nets and equipment in your quarantine if it will be used in the display system and vice versa.

[mpderksen]

Thanks for the advice. Sine I asked, and you took the time to graciously reply, I'll follow your advice.
I do have a spare 20 for this and I keep a filter for the HOB in my main sump in preparation. (New one each time....).

Last question, should I QT the CUC I get from Reef Cleaners? I never have and get a fresh batch every 4 months.
Also, how about the very first shrimp that goes into a new tank? My plan is to cycle a new tank, add a CUC, then a shrimp before the first fish.

Willing to be patient, since that seems to have worked well in the past.

[mpderksen]

BTW, for the new tank, I plan to cycle with dry sand and rock, but seed with some Marine Pure balls that have been in the sump of my 75 for the last few weeks. I assume that since that tank is healthy, there's no danger of a transfer to the new one of anything nasty while it cycles for the next 6 weeks or so?

[Crooked Reef]

The advice is the correct way to do it. Truthfully I have never quarantined an invert at all. Tank has never caught anything from them either. It is a possibility though so just keep that in mind.

If you are seeding the new tank from your old one and you know it is healthy and pest/disease free, then you are correct that no pests or diseases can be spread to the new tank.

[d2mini]

For those QT'ing inverts, how do you handle a large order, like 200 blue leg hermits?
What size qt would you need and how do you keep them fed during the process?

[formsix]

anything that is wet should be quarantined. that's the proper way to do. since i don't have a continuously running invert tank like zeebies and being an impatient person i am, i take the risk. the way i do is, after acclimating the inverts/live rocks/corals, (i dip if corals) then i transfer them to a new bucket of water and shake the tomonts off the inverts/rocks/corals. i don't know if the tomonts would come off. after that, free swimming theronts might still be in the water attached to inverts/rocks/corals. therfore i shake them off again and transfer them to a qt with no fish where i let them stay for 3 days since theronts can live for only 2 days if they can't find a host. after 3 days, i shake them off again and move them into the display. i've been lucky so far. :D

Yeah, this is my general approach to corals and snails. With corals, I also generally take any plugs off so I'm left with at little hard surface areas as possible (though of course there is still coral skeleton that tomonts can attach to).

For shrimp, I drip acclimate, rinse them in a second cup of tank water, and put them in the DT. While it might be theoretically possible for a shrimp to have a tomont attached somewhere, I think it is highly, highly unlikely. So, IMO, if you're only transferring the shrimp, and no water from the original tank, you should be fine.

There is the ultra conservative approach (QT everything for 9 weeks), the completely reckless approach (drop it straight into the DT), and a whole lot of room in between. For me, I weigh the relative risks of each new introduction separately (what it is, where it came from, was it in a tank w/ fish, etc.), and err on the side of conservative but without applying a blanket rule to everything.

[3dees]

I didn't qt any cuc or coral and never had a problem. I may be wrong, but how can ich be present in a sellers tank with only coral. if there are no fish, then there in no way the ich could be present. it's the same as letting you tank go fallow after an ich breakout. you can leave the cuc and corals in the tank. someone please explain this.

[mpderksen]

I didn't qt any cuc or coral and never had a problem. I may be wrong, but how can ich be present in a sellers tank with only coral. if there are no fish, then there in no way the ich could be present. it's the same as letting you tank go fallow after an ich breakout. you can leave the cuc and corals in the tank. someone please explain this.

My LFS has some fish in their frag tanks. The approach Formsix recommends seems very reasonable. The tank is technically fallow and can be used as a QT for the first fish, I guess. Except that if that first fish does develop something I'd have to pull it to medicate it if I start with coral or any inverts.

In short, I think that, once the new tank is cycled, and the CUC has been in there for a while, I'll add the cleaner shrimp directly, but QT every fish with the proper timeline.
Patience on that part seems to be worth the potential risks. Heck, it's only a month or so, and the fish I want are too expensive to just roll the dice.