Can I inadvertently reintroduce ich, brooklynella, velvet, flukes, etc with coral?

[cab395]

Hi all. I am about to start a 10 week fallow period to rid my tank of any protozoan diseases or flukes. I was planning on adding more coral pieces and really focusing my attention towards that portion of the tank, but then something dawned on me.

Is it possible that I can introduce ich, brook, velvet, flukes, etc from adding dipped coral to my tank? If so, what preventative measures do you all--who work so hard to prevent diseases from entering your tanks through quarantining fish--take to quell the possibility of inadvertently introducing a parasite through such coral additions?

Thanks!

 

[HumbleFish]

Simply put, anything wet can transfer disease to your DT. All it takes is one unlucky drop of water. I have a (fishless) secondary reef especially for QT'ing corals/inverts.

 

[cab395]

That sure is disappointing. So, I guess my best bet here is to add these corals and then start the 10 week fallow period countdown. Thank you for your help!

 

[Deinonych]

Simply put, anything wet can transfer disease to your DT. All it takes is one unlucky drop of water. I have a (fishless) secondary reef especially for QT'ing corals/inverts.

+1

It happened to me with coral and I'm still dealing with it.

 

[Spar]

Simply put, anything wet can transfer disease to your DT. All it takes is one unlucky drop of water. I have a (fishless) secondary reef especially for QT'ing corals/inverts.

+2. Everything non-fish spends 12 weeks in my fishless QT.

 

[snorvich]

Simply put, anything wet can transfer disease to your DT. All it takes is one unlucky drop of water. I have a (fishless) secondary reef especially for QT'ing corals/inverts.

Yep. +2

 

[mbingha]

This is the exact reason so many people don't quarantine. It can be discouraging and problematic to have 3 tanks... display, quarantine for fish, and quarantine for coral (not to mention added cost for lighting and filtration capable of sustaining coral on both systems)

 

[Deinonych]

I don't see how it is discouraging. Does it add complexity? Sure. But, if the end result is a disease-free tank, then it's worth it to me.

 

[mbingha]

The cost associated is prohibitive in the lighting alone. Not all of us in the hobby are made of money. I can comfortably afford my addiction, hobby, but I don't want to part with more money than necessary.

 

[snorvich]

Perhaps that is why so many folks drop out.

 

[M.phenax]

+1

It happened to me with coral and I'm still dealing with it.

Me too! I'm going to pull up an old thread of mine, because I am still paranoid about diseases

 

[HumbleFish]

The cost associated is prohibitive in the lighting alone. Not all of us in the hobby are made of money. I can comfortably afford my addiction, hobby, but I don't want to part with more money than necessary.

The coral/invert QT can be small, just 10 gals if you want. Personally, I use a 29 gal. And I bought a used 24" 4-bulb T5 fixture (with bulbs) for around $100. Got it on craigslist from someone who didn't QT their corals and all their fish got Ich. But, yes, I do agree all this QT'ing zaps a lot of the "thrill" out of the hobby.

 

[ca1ore]

The coral/invert QT can be small, just 10 gals if you want. Personally, I use a 29 gal. And I bought a used 24" 4-bulb T5 fixture (with bulbs) for around $100. Got it on craigslist from someone who didn't QT their corals and all their fish got Ich. But, yes, I do agree all this QT'ing zaps a lot of the "thrill" out of the hobby.

I agree. Also, although perhaps not helpful to the newcomer, I also find that I accumulate older equipment and before long enough to actually run a secondary tank. I run a 30 gal secondary tank and didn't actually have to buy anything new beyond a few pieces of live rock from a fellow reefer and one Par38 LED bulb. Water from the main tank is used to do water changes, so the only non-sunk cost has been the power bill.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

I agree. Also, although perhaps not helpful to the newcomer, I also find that I accumulate older equipment and before long enough to actually run a secondary tank. I run a 30 gal secondary tank and didn't actually have to buy anything new beyond a few pieces of live rock from a fellow reefer and one Par38 LED bulb. Water from the main tank is used to do water changes, so the only non-sunk cost has been the power bill.

+1 I use my old T5 since I upgraded to LEDs. I've even used a Rubbermaid container and air stone for water movement in a pinch. Right now I'm using a Halloween candy bowl to hold a couple of corals because the other 2 QTs are occupied :clown: gotta do whatcha got a do. Btw got brook from an unquarantined sea urchin.

 

[cab395]

I added some coral to my tank yesterday so i will start my fallow period soon. Thanks for al the help, all!

 

[Tek]

I got ich from 2 turbo snails! My fish were netted and have been in a hospital tank for alost a month while the DT is fallow for 10 weeks. All of my fish had been through proactive treatments and a QT period. Some people still do not believe I got Ich from snails but after this I am a believer. Nothing else was added recently and the Ich appeared exactly a week after the snails were added.

Qts are cheap and easy to setup. I have even used a 1g tank to QT.

 

[jcdeng]

I run 3 tanks currently, 100g DT, 20g fish qt, 20g fishless qt. Fish qt will be gone is 2 months because after I reach my DT's max capacity on fish I will not be buying more fish. And if my DT is disease free my fish won't die, then I can't buy more fish without overloading the bio load.

So at the end you really just need 2 tanks, DT and 1 qt for snails (those die just because they fall and can't right themselves up so u do need to replenish from time to time). And corals you can really just QT together with your inverts, just add a cheap 2 bulb T5 light and you are good to go.