Do I need to QT the first fish?

[WatDatThing]

My tank has been cycling a little less than 4 weeks. I added 12 snails 4 blue legged hermit crabs and 1 peppermint shrimp yesterday. The guy at lfs said I need more CUC. But I didn't want to add more atm because I'm afraid they will die of starvation. Besides the hitchhikers, I haven't added any coral yet.

I'm thinking of adding maybe 3-4 fish in a couple of weeks. Do they need to be QT?

Oh, I saw a small crab hiding in the crevice of my LR 2 days ago. The claws appear to be slender like its leg, and the tips of the claws are like needles. It's red with white dots on its legs. Close to that crevice was an aiptasia. Yesterday, the crab disappeared. I haven't seen that aiptasia either. Could the crab has eaten or killed the aiptasia?

It's so interesting. I keep seeing new critters appearing. I saw a stomatella, that guy moves so fast and leaving behind a clean path on the glass. I like him.

 

[worm5406]

Let me put it this way:

All the work you are doing to maintain your tank, time and effort wise, would you want to have to take out all the fish and let it go empty for 45-90 days?

If you accidently get some sort of 'nasty bug' from a fish store, that is sometimes only looking for the sale, and you did not QT the fish for a bit, what are you going to do?

Believe me there are hundreds of stories on here about NOT QT their fish. Some people have even gotten out of the hobby because of a total loss of all fish.

Peppermint shrimp are perfect for getting rid of aiptasia.

 

[billdogg]

Let me put it this way:

All the work you are doing to maintain your tank, time and effort wise, would you want to have to take out all the fish and let it go empty for 45-90 days?

If you accidently get some sort of 'nasty bug' from a fish store, that is sometimes only looking for the sale, and you did not QT the fish for a bit, what are you going to do?

Believe me there are hundreds of stories on here about NOT QT their fish. Some people have even gotten out of the hobby because of a total loss of all fish.

Peppermint shrimp are perfect for getting rid of aiptasia.

Or the cliff Notes version:


YES

 

[thomas.torode]

Yes

 

[gone fishin]

I concur with all the wise folks above.

 

[Sk8r]

IT's your tank sandbed you're protecting, from the marine equivalent of fleas---ich.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

QTing isn't just about watching to see if the fish develops anything. It's when you do preventative medicine on a fish to clear out anything it could be carrying. IME QTing is worthless without the preventative treatment, because some diseases like ich, can lay dormant in a fish for up to 6 months (per some literature). Also this is the time in which you worm your fish, and treat them for external parasites as well.

And QTing isn't just for fish. Your corals, your clean up crew (especially hermits which hold water in their shells), can all bring in and or transfer diseases. Those will have to be QTd as well. Although there are no reef safe or CUC safe treatments, those are creatures in which you can only QT for a certain amount of time in hopes that the stuff has time to die off before you transfer them to your tank. And since most parasites like Ich or Marine Velvet have a limited life expectancy outside of a fish, this works really well in preventing the spread of disease.

 

[WatDatThing]

Ughhhh, I didn't QT the CUC I added yesterday :uhoh2:

 

[ericarenee]

Yes

Yes

yes!!!


It will save from the does my tank have ich thread in your near future. Sorry.. But ich is not the only reason of course

 

[matthemmings]

Probably wouldn't stress too much about the fact you haven't quarantined your clean up crew. Though I'd say in future to QT all new additions just in case.

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[Sk8r]

Inverts intended for sale are generally kept unto themselves, and they can't get ich. The only way they could get a fish parasite is if some fish parasite happened to attach to their shell. Frankly, I've never seen it proved (except by guesstimate) that they do that, even when bought out of a tank with fish. Water or sand from a fishy tank accidentally coming with them is far more suspect. It's why I swish them off in discard tank water before adding them.

 

[gone fishin]

Inverts intended for sale are generally kept unto themselves, and they can't get ich. The only way they could get a fish parasite is if some fish parasite happened to attach to their shell. Frankly, I've never seen it proved (except by guesstimate) that they do that, even when bought out of a tank with fish. Water or sand from a fishy tank accidentally coming with them is far more suspect. It's why I swish them off in discard tank water before adding them.

I do the swish method as well, I personally think the risk is low for encysted ich on a shell.

 

[WatDatThing]

I feel a bit better.

I the past I kept discus for 5-6 years. I never QT them and never had problem. They only get sick when I don't keep up with wc schedule.

The only fish that I ever QT and deworm were flowerhorns that I ordered from Thailand.

 

[gone fishin]

FWIW with fish I will do the Tank Transfer Method(TTM) and then put them in my main QT for 4-5 weeks(depending on work schedule). at some point I will do 2 round of prazi pro for flukes.

Inverts I do the above mentioned swish method.

corals I will dip them and keep them in a QT for about a week and dip them again. then into the DT. I am more concerned for coral related pests than fish related.

 

[juanmanuelsanch]

I learned the hard way. You should quarantine everything. Specially if you want to keep ich and velvet (extremely deadly) away from your tank.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Inverts intended for sale are generally kept unto themselves, and they can't get ich. The only way they could get a fish parasite is if some fish parasite happened to attach to their shell. Frankly, I've never seen it proved (except by guesstimate) that they do that, even when bought out of a tank with fish. Water or sand from a fishy tank accidentally coming with them is far more suspect. It's why I swish them off in discard tank water before adding them.

Ich and marine velvet can exist in a drop of water. Anything wet has a chance to be a vector. And hermits especially, keep water inside their shells which is why they can survive out of water for so long. Yes, the chances are less than with a fish, but just a real a possibility.

 

[snorvich]

Or the cliff Notes version:


YES

Indeed

 

[Tanthaitrung]

Ich and marine velvet can exist in a drop of water. Anything wet has a chance to be a vector. And hermits especially, keep water inside their shells which is why they can survive out of water for so long. Yes, the chances are less than with a fish, but just a real a possibility.

I think so. Could you please tell me how to quarantine the invertebrates?

Thanks in advance
Khanh

 

[azsoccerpop]

I made the mistake of not QT the first fish I put in and the tank got ich right away. Two months later 6 fish are in QT. Take the time to do it right don't rush. It was a hard lesson I am learning

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[jcjrogers]

Theoretically, evaporated water could contain parasites. Therefore, keeping your QT in the same room leaves your DT vulnerable and even keeping your QT tank in another room isn't safe because evaporated water from that tank could enter your ventilation system and get into your DT. Therefore, you should keep your QT in a different building... it really depends on how "safe" you want to be. Remember, operations performed in what are thought to be sterile environments sometimes result in infections to patients.

If you believe you can create a QT system that 100% guarantees absolutely no disease or parasites to your DT, then go for it. Otherwise, do your best with the equipment you have and can manage. If you have a system with pristine water conditions and strong lighting such that you can quarantine corals for 3 months, then do it. Otherwise, dip your corals, stick them in the tank, and take a little risk. If you have a tank with good water conditions and stable salinity that has never had copper or any other medication run through it and can keep some algae growing, quarantine your CUC for a couple of months. Otherwise rinse them off the best you can, put them in the DT, and take a little risk.

I agree with doing something and fish should probably be quarantined for at least a month, but there are diminishing returns which are also offset by the poor conditions in many quarantine systems. Some folks say to medicate the hell out of fish in quarantine while others say to observe only. My thought is to utilize hypo salinity or TTM during fish quarantine as these are likely less stressful than medications and have little or no long-term effects.

At the end of the day, there is always going to be some risk. And even though you will see people claim they got ich from a snail or marine velvet from a coral, they really have no idea where these problems came from. To identify that, you would have to first prove it didn't exist anywhere in the DT, then verify the problem on the organism prior to introduction, and then see the problem develop in the DT after the organism was introduced. Who has done that?