Coral Quarantine Procedure?

[AEIOU9]

First off, is it necessary to quarantine corals if you plan to dip them first?

Secondly, if I have to QT corals I have the light linked below:

http://www.marineland.com/Products/aquarium-lighting/LED-Aquarium-Lighting/LED-Strip-Light.aspx

Will this suffice to get the corals through a quarantine period or do I need something more?

 

[Sk8r]

Dip them. Use a dip appropriate for the coral type.
And you would be wise to qt zoas for about a week. They take a fairly mild light, so this is not so hard.

I have always dipped stony corals and put them straight across to the display with no problems. If you have any reason to suspect your source, a few days of observation would not be out of line.

The reason softies like zoas should be watched longer is that sometimes predator eggs ride in with them, survive the dip, hatch, and then start eating; or things are in holes, survive and come out to dine. A week of close watching with a strong light and a magnifying glass is not a bad idea.

Predators generally don't bother stony with a few notable exceptions: 'red bug' is a predator on sps stony (the colored sticks and branches). It's tiny, some can survive a dip, you need a magnifying glass, and I'd watch at least for a few days.

There's also a thing called 'brown jelly disease' that afflicts lps stony (large fluffy or tentacled) that has the coral just start melting to brown mush, and the only cure I know for that is not to buy an afflicted coral.

Little asterina stars (usually have one short arm) are not generally a problem to anything but soft coral. I have them with lps stony with no problem at all.

Don't worry about worms, or little white bugs, or any such. Just the teeny red dot sort. And crabs. Crabs are generally not-good, especially hairy ones. Just plop the hairy ones into your sump fuge where they can have a happy life.

 

[Newsmyrna80]

There is no dip that will kill velvet, brook or ich without killing the coral. I quarantine everything for at least 72 days. I've introduced ich from an unquarantined crab and brook from an unquarantined sea urchin.

 

[Sk8r]

Corals don't get these diseases, understand, but if you have a problem coral source, you may find that isolating everything without exposure to the creature on which they prey is a measure of safety. I have been at this for several decades without ever having needed that extra measure of precaution. You take your pick, take your chances. The lifespan of the velvet tomont is 3 days, but the tomite phase is indefinite---and it photosynthesizes, so you can't deprive it of food. Since ich and velvet both are sand dwellers during part of their life, and dependent on it, having no sand in a qt is a very good idea. Brooklynella is a ciliated animacule, which simply divides, so if you have these concerns I would recommend two sandless qt tanks, used in daily alternation, with filter cleaned and filter medium thrown out, aka tank transfer method. If you are still worried, 'wash' your specimen in a bowl of new saltwater before putting it in tank 2, etc.

You may take your choice of the precaution level required. A fish is the most dangerous thing you can put into your tank---but toward other fishes, not corals (unless it eats corals). It's a basic rule that things mostly travel on what they eat.