Coral Quarentine Methods

[BuffaloReef]

A few years ago when I got out of the hobby I would see an ich thread a couple times a year, now it seems like every week people are asking for help with ich. Not to offend anyone but I'm going to treat you all, and every LFS, as if they're infested. That wouldn't be an issue if I didn't want frags from all of you too!

I feel secure I will be able to safely quarantine my fish, but not so much my corals. If necessary I'll let them sit in a QT tank for 72 days but are there any other options? I'll mention a few common frags and see what everyone would suggest:

1. A freshly fragged, unmounted Acropora.

2. A Euphyllia frag, unmounted but with exposed skeleton.

3. A healthy fungia, plate coral, completely covered in flesh.

4. An encrusting montipora on a frag plug.

5. Entacmea Quadricolor, a bulb-tentacle anemone removed from its rock.

6. A softball size rock with a mix of soft corals.

 

[tmz]

It's unlikely ich will come in with a frag. It settles on substrate and sometimes other surfaces ,not coral tissue .
I sometimes remove the plugs if I'm concerned or dribble a 50 50 mix of water and 3% H2O2( hrdogen peroxide) on the plug leaving the coral sit out the water for about 5 minutes.
2 and six are trickier particularly if the coral came from an infested tank. I think the chain of fcustody time frames in fishless or amost fishless tanks cut the chances for it to near 0. A 5 minute bath in H2O2 at 1 part H2O2 to 3 parts tank water might kill the cysts but I' not sure about that.

I think many fish in the hobby are infested at one level or another. They move through so many tanks with so many other fish that exposure rates are probably pretty high.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

all my incoming corals are dipped in Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure... not because of crypto... but because of potential coral pathogens.....

 

[NirvanaFan]

does that take care of flatworms as well?

 

[Randy15]

I have found that coralRX is pretty good after some research

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

does that take care of flatworms as well?

I don't think they advertise it does but I've seen it drop 'em

 

[tmz]

TMPC is pretty much a German lugols( iodine/ iodide mix) solution I think. The oxidant should knock off the flatworms but not entirely from what I've read. Some folks use multiple dips over a week or two.
Hydrogen peroxide is a bit stonger as an oxidant and most corals tolerate it well but it's riskier than lugols. Chalice types hate it . Montis don't seem to like it much but various acros, acans ,euphylilia and zoanthidae seem to tolerate it very well.

Revive is nice too and will knock of some stuff but I don't feel confident about it's strength for tough bugs.

 

[tmz]

Randy 15, What research have you done? I don't know much about this dip othr than its's " a proprietary blend of natural extracts". which led me to class it with Revive, more of a cleaner than a treament but I've never used it. I always like to know what it is I'm using and the manufacturers wont tell. LMK what you'v found out abut it. I may wan't to try it.

 

[NirvanaFan]

I don't think they advertise it does but I've seen it drop 'em

Cool. I've started to dip corals with Flatworm Exit, but I'm always looking for a better, more "all-around" solution.

 

[iamwrasseman]

my personal corals see lugols,flatworm exit,and of course interceptor ,sometimes it a PITA but its sooooooooooooooo worth it if you have had the type and volume of loss that i have had from pests.

 

[tmz]

Are there anymore ich qt questions ; can we drive this hihjacked truck now ; or, should we give the keys back to Buffalo Reef?

 

[Randy15]

TMZ, I havent found any exact ingredients for it, but it's based on an all natural formula and unlike others it dosent contain iodine or oxidisers. The best I could find was this ( http://www.coralrx.com/documents/MSDS/coralrx_msds.pdf ) but I guess I was more sold on what it kills and how non damaging it is. It came recommended by a few other reefers I know, and I read around on it and tryed it. Hasn't given me a reason to stop yet

 

[tmz]

Thanks for the information. I'd use it ; just not confident it's strong enough overall to be the only defense.

 

[jeremyjoslin]

following. Would like to hear more experience as it pertains to the specific examples cited by OP. Those examples are very befitting my specific needs.

Another question:

Any way to treat live rock for icy/parasites and get around the 72 day fallow period? If I could just treat my basement sump and live rock tub at the same time I set up my new DT (and then do a dip on corals and QT fish with transfer method), then might I avoid 72 days of an empty, brand new tank? (not meant to duplicate discussion here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20537880#post20537880 but rather compliment it as it pertains to LR and corals.)

 

[BuffaloReef]

It's unlikely ich will come in with a frag. It settles on substrate and sometimes other surfaces ,not coral tissue .
I sometimes remove the plugs if I'm concerned or dribble a 50 50 mix of water and 3% H2O2( hrdogen peroxide) on the plug leaving the coral sit out the water for about 5 minutes.
2 and six are trickier particularly if the coral came from an infested tank. I think the chain of fcustody time frames in fishless or amost fishless tanks cut the chances for it to near 0. A 5 minute bath in H2O2 at 1 part H2O2 to 3 parts tank water might kill the cysts but I' not sure about that.

I think many fish in the hobby are infested at one level or another. They move through so many tanks with so many other fish that exposure rates are probably pretty high.

It really does seem likely that most fish have some level of infection. Tangs are often called "Ich Magnets" and I've always hated that term but it may be somewhat accurate. Trophont Magnet may be more accurate. If an uninfected, wild-caught fish is introduced to an aquarium with ich it's not that fish's fault if the trophonts attach to it. It has not developed the immunity that the other fish have. It then harbors more trophonts that eventually turn into tomonts which create exponentially more trophonts. At that point the fish that have some immunity are overwhelmed and break out with visible symptoms. That's how I see an outbreak occurring but I'm sure there are other ways.

According to this article Gary linked to in another thread http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php it's believed that fish have some natural immunity to strains native to their habitat. Two of the most commonly named "ich magnets" are the Hippo Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) and the Powder Blue Tang (Acanthurus leucosternon). Both of these are Indo-Pacific species leading me to believe that the strains wiping out tanks may not be Indo-Pacific. Is that useful information? Probably not.

The use of diluted H2O2 on the the base of a frag plug is a great idea. I'll keep it in mind but may never use it since to be surefire effective it would require dipping the frag deep enough into the solution to ensure all non-coral tissue is exposed to the H2O2 solution. It would also require knowing the susceptibility of the tomonts to H2O2. The stage is referred to as a "cyst" and the little I remember from micro equates that to "armored." The article Gary referenced also says that the tomont stage is not effected by copper medication which further drops my faith in H2O2 or anything else killing it. It's still a very interesting idea, but like you said it only "might" kill the cysts.

I agree that the time in a frag tank may help. If someone has a fish-free frag tank and nothing that could be infected has been added for months it's almost certainly disease-free and certainly cryptocaryon free.

 

[BuffaloReef]

all my incoming corals are dipped in Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure... not because of crypto... but because of potential coral pathogens.....

From the Marine Depot website http://www.marinedepot.com/Tropic_M...edications-Tropic_Marin-TP2191-FIMEPS-vi.html

"Tropic Marin PRO-CORAL CURE is a highly effective iodine preparation against parasitic flatworms that can be found on corals, especially Acropora."

"... it is recommended to preventively treat all newly purchased Acropora corals with PRO-CORAL CURE and to apply PRO-CORAL CURE to all corals which have been attacked by flatworms. Treatment is done by a bath of 10-15 minutes.

Besides flatworms PRO-CORAL CURE is also effective against parasitic sea spiders (Pantopoda) and microbial diseases."

I hope to never see Pantopoda...

All five-star reviews on Marine Depot. Sounds like it works well.

 

[BuffaloReef]

I have found that coralRX is pretty good after some research

It looks pretty good. I understand why they keep things secret, but man is that annoying...

 

[BuffaloReef]

my personal corals see lugols,flatworm exit,and of course interceptor ,sometimes it a PITA but its sooooooooooooooo worth it if you have had the type and volume of loss that i have had from pests.

This looks like the treatment I'll be going with. I'll probably swap out traditional lugols for Tropic Marin Pro-Coral. It sounds like a good iodine product. I've always dipped everything in Flatworm Exit ever since I had an infestation in an old soft coral tank. As for interceptor I had forgotten about red bugs. I'm glad you reminded me. I never want to get them!

 

[BuffaloReef]

following. Would like to hear more experience as it pertains to the specific examples cited by OP. Those examples are very befitting my specific needs.

Another question:

Any way to treat live rock for icy/parasites and get around the 72 day fallow period? If I could just treat my basement sump and live rock tub at the same time I set up my new DT (and then do a dip on corals and QT fish with transfer method), then might I avoid 72 days of an empty, brand new tank? (not meant to duplicate discussion here http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20537880#post20537880 but rather compliment it as it pertains to LR and corals.)

As for ich I would go with the 72 day holding time if you want to ensure it doesn't get into your system. Don't forget to keep your temp up too; it's possible if you had a lower temperature the life cycle would be slowed down accordingly and the ich could survive.

One certain solution is drying everything out but that's not a very good solution!

As far as other pathogens, keeping things in quarantine will help you spot them and may even help eliminate them. To keep liverock "live" you can't really use medication.