Confusion on quarantine...

When I was in the hobby a decade ago I never ran a QT and things worked out pretty well but I realize that might not make it right. I am pretty experienced and understand the life cycle of things like ich and have done a fair amount of research on the various methods of quarantining, treating, etc.





My confusion is more around the ongoing process. Do you guys quarantine new corals every time you acquire a new one for 4-6 weeks? I realize most parasites need a fish host but they could certainly be transferred on frags when purchasing them, right??? I guess I am just confused how people avoid introducing ich to the display tank over time even if you QT all new fish?

 

I mysef do not QT new corals due to space, but I think it would be best practice to QT them. I just dip all of my corals to kill off any parasites, and that has worked well for me.

 

i qt everything i buy right down to a snail. i had a bad experience with ich when i was just a few months into the saltwater hobby that discouraged me and made me question if i wanted to pursue the hobby any further. ich can survive without a fish host for up to six weeks. i qt corals and inverts for a period of 7-10 weeks before going up to my main 120 display tank.

i have a 10 gallon that i qt corals in (soon to be a 20 long) and a 30 gallon that i qt fish in. i keep two qt tanks to minimize copper contamination of the corals and inverts. my fish automatically get copper cupramine treatment within three days of being placed in my thirty gallon. corals i just use a revive dip and then a melafix dip and a brief saltwater dip/rinse before going into the 10 gallon. i cupramine fish for 21 days and then remove cupramine with cuprasorb and keep the fish in qt for 30 days before going into my display. this is the method that works for me and has so far been effective. i think qt/hospital tanks from what i have read are not commonly used...from my short experience in saltwater aquariums i think they are important and a simple setup can be put together for less then $50 or less.

when i had a freshwater african cichlid tank i didnt qt...i didnt have inverts to worry about...just dose the main tank with copper and let it do its thing...saltwater was a whole new ballgame that i unfortunately had to learn the hard way. by my estimation i think i spent anywhere from $200-300 roughly on getting cupramine, cuprasorb, carbon, a 30 gallon aquarium, filters, heater, light, lids, fish trap etc. to take care of the ich problem i had in my saltwtaer display...if i would have had a qt to begin with i would have had to only spend a fraction of that cost to effectively treat my fish and treat them before setting a fin into my main display.

thats just the process i use to prevent ich... kind of a long answer and more then likely included info you already were aware of. my process may not work for others or may not be what others do to a t... but i have researched and from my research this is the method i chose to do and this is the best fit for me and my budget at this time and so far it works.

 

Excellent info. So do you have a great lighting system over the qt?

 

i do not have much for lighting...i probably should but i havent invested in it yet. i just use flourescent 10,000k lighting for corals....to be honest with you i just finished up my first round of qt of corals ever just a week and a half ago. all of the frags are up in my main dislay and look great...they even looked great when they were in qt. is it enough lighting...maybe not...but for the 8 weeks i had them down there they looked and did great. long term stays in there and i would probably invest in a small l.e.d pendant light set (i am partial to kessil lighting). i just went with the lighting that came with the tank when i bought it and upgraded to a coralife 10,000k flourescent bulb...if i had more funds at the time i would, and i plan to, put a l.e.d pendant on it...for now though i cant justify doing it when i use the qt tank for 8 weeks and then it sits dormant for an unknown amount of time. when i get into buying frags more steadily then i can justify it.

i just have a frag rack that magnetically sticks to the side of the qt tank and i adjust the height of it closer or further from the light depending on how they seemed to respond. one thing i will probably do differently though is add a small powerhead or some way to create a nice flow in the tank...i didnt do that this time and i think it would be a good idea maybe.

 

Yes I QT corals. For sure. I do a dip in coral revive and then QT them for anywhere between 1 day and 6 weeks.

I used to do a dip and inspection but that isn't always enough.

I trust nobody....I got redbugs from a VERY REPUTABLE coral dealer at one of the frag fests recently. So yeah, I trust no one.

 

My biggest thing is trying to prevent Ich to be honest. I read all of these threads that talk about keeping it out of the display tank and the need to quarantine...and that makes sense. The part that I can't get my mind around is that IF ich can live for 4-6 weeks without a host...how could i ever introduce a coral to my tank without quarantining it for 4-6 weeks?

That seems insane to me...so I am trying to figure out a common sense middle ground.

 

thats my biggest hang up also is the ich concern. no matter who i buy from, and it is nothing against any fish/coral dealer, i just automatically qt. i have a theory or belief that sometime within the six weeks of purchasing a coral frag that it has had some sort of contact with fish either during transport of the coral or the frag tank in the fish store itself has a fish or two in it and if a fish has had contact or is presently in contact with the coral at the time or within the six week time period of me purchasing that coral then it is potentially a "carrier" of ich and should be treated as such. even liveaquaria suggests doing a qt on any live item you purchase from them.

in my experience i got ich from a soft leather devils finger that i introduced to my tank. my fish showed no signs or symptoms of ich...two weeks after adding the leather my fish started flashing and showing the "salt" granules on their bodies. from that alone i think their is no getting around a qt for less then 6 weeks minimum. going fallow without fish is the only way to kill off the parasite on inverts and corals. i try to at least do a 8 week qt...i think the optimal amount of time is around 72 days or roughly 10 weeks fallow. in my opinion no matter how much research you do on the topic i think that you will not find any middle ground...i think their are two options 1) you dont qt and introduce corals immediately to the main display or 2) you do a qt that falls within an appropriate time frame that will cause the ich parasite to die off which is within the 6-10 weeks...just my opinion on that.

i do find it surprising though that a good coral dip regimen doesnt eradicate corals of ich...i dipped corals for the first time not so long ago and was absolutely amazed at the tiny little bugs and critters that remained in the dip bowl after the dipping process was complete. it just blows my mind that ich can apparently survive those dips...but from all the reading i have done it does sound like a very resilent parasite that will only meet its fate through hyposalinity, copper or the lack of a fish host after 6+ weeks.

 

Ich ranks down the list on the reason I QT.

I had ich on my powder brown tang about 2 years ago. He stopped showing signs after a few months. Since then there has been no ich 'outbreak' in my tank. Is there ich in my tank now? Yeah probably.

 

i agree potroast...i guess i dont rank my concerns though, but i do agree with what you are saying in that there are far worse organisms to introduce to your main display then just ich. i could only imagine a flatworm, red bug or other coral consuming organism wreaking havoc. is ich bad? yes...the worse thing that can happen to a tank? no...but i qt/hospital tank and treat everything for a list of reasons. like i said before i had to spend a good chunk of change to rid my display of ich...i could only imagine the manpower and investement it would take to rid a tank of some of the far worse organisms...

overall when you look at statistics in this hobby you realize very few people run a qt/hospital tank and a huge majority just buy a fish, coral, invert etc. and just put it directly into the main display. i learned the hard way...since then i try every chance i get to preach the importance of making an additional small investment into getting a sponge filter, heater, small tank some pvc pipe chunks a lid and a light...this is not a cheap hobby by anymeans...my opinionis that anybody in saltwater that could afford to put together a reef tank can afford to put another $30-50 into it for a simple qt setup.

to clarify also i always refer to it as a qt tank...in actuality i think what i am doing when i buy livestock is considered a hospital tank...same set up but i just automatically treat fish and corals from the word go rather then waiting for a symptom to show up. i think a qt tank is the opposite you buy the livestock then place it in qt and observe every aspect of it until a symptom arrises then you act upon it. either route you choose to take in my opinionis better then just taking the gamble of introducing the livestock directly into your main display and keeping your fingers crossed that everything turns out ok.

 

if you dont observe something i qt and never treat though i think you are taking a gamble as well...thats why i chose to treat right off the bat...eliminate the risk...so it goes back to fish automatically getting a copper or hyposalinity treatment (i like copper as in my opinion its easier) and corals getting a fish free environment for 6-10 weeks. 10 weeks being optimal...6 weeks minimal. if you take those steps before removing them from your qt/hospital tank you should really eliminate alot of issues.

another thought that just popped in my mind...you may also consider doing a paraguard treatment as well for alot of other parasites on fish...just dont treat paraguard at the same time you treat with copper...do two seperate treatments. there may be other parasite treatments other then paraguard though but thats the one i have on hand (im a big seachem fan).