Do you need to quarantine coral?

[Spar]

It seems like every store I go to has a coral section with at least one fish in it. Those strong chemicals wont kill the ich? Is the only way to kill it to let it dry out/ have no host?

No chemicals (that we currently know about) will kill Ich during its encysted life cycle stage (tomite/tomont) without killing the fish/coral/etc along with it. So you either have to let it dry out which is obviously not an option with coral, or let the life cycle complete without a fish around, thus killing the parasites when they are released (Theronts).

 

[karimwassef]

Lots of people use tank water for their qt water changes once the sg is matched, so I don't see why not. Just be aware that some stages of ich can travel short distance in the air so you'd want it far enough away. Idk if the uv would be necessary, they are going to end up on the DT. Also be ready to stop the flow if you are using for fish and want to medicate the water so the level isn't diluted.

No. I meant DT -> UV -> QT -> DRAIN (I mean sink drain, not drain back to the DT sump).

I didn't mean for it to be a closed loop. The idea is to take 1-2 gals a day from the DT into the QT.

The UV is to create a boundary in case there's something in the DT that might get into the QT.

 

[karimwassef]

I guess a general question would be - if coral quarantine is recommended (sounds like it is), then what is the best application of the quarantine system?

 

[Genera]

You could start by cycling the tank (either with live rock, or dead rock with some kind of decaying matter), then dipping and adding all of the corals you want, along with inverts/etc, then wait 7 weeks, and during those 7 weeks, QT a couple of the fish you want. Then add the fish and voila, no ich or coral pests. Add other fish later after QTing. There are probably some flaws to this that I haven't noticed...

 

[CStrickland]

The UV is to create a boundary in case there's something in the DT that might get into the QT.

yeah, I get it. Was just thinking that there's little concern with contaminating the QT with anything from the DT, since that's the destination of the QT'd critters anyway. More worried about anything from QT getting into DT, and the only way I see in your setup is airborn or cross-contamination of equipment etc. But that's true for any setup.

Another benefit is if you didn't filter the dt water much you would get some of that good fish poop for the coral to eat. Avoid the trouble with lack of nutrition in fishless frag tanks.

 

[cloak]

I've never QT a coral before. I have won that battle though.. It was tedious, but fun.. If you just want everything to be gravy and sit on the couch there's an app for that.

 

[karimwassef]

The only filtration between the tanks would be the UV... fish poop would make it, just crispy fried...

 

[reefwiser]

It depends on how much you love your current corals. If your tank has corals in it for many years that you have grown from frags to large sticks. Do you really want to risk those corals for a new piece that might have a hitchhiker that could kill them all.
It is easy to set up a small coral Qt tank with water change water I small light and small powerhead and heater. Its best to be on the safe side in this hobby.

 

[cloak]

In this town, I'm dodging bullets going to the LFS, much or less putting something in a cell for 6 months... JME. GL.

 

[tmz]

Using tank water without flushing it out regualry brings in organic material from the DT without the bacteria to reduce it and leads to ammonia spikes, IME.

 

[karimwassef]

Using tank water without flushing it out regualry brings in organic material from the DT without the bacteria to reduce it and leads to ammonia spikes, IME.

Good point. I would have a basic hang on filter in the QT, but there would be a daily waterchange from the DT into the QT (and equal amount flushed out). At 2gal per day for a 20gal QT, that's 10% daily. That should work with a supplemental hang on filter?

 

[chueu]

I would like to

 

[karimwassef]

Do we also need to quarantine inverts? Shrimp? Cucumbers? Etc...

Live rock?

Not being facetious- really trying get the heart of the need. Contamination could come from any source... Paranoia setting in

 

[CStrickland]

I think its about risk tolerance. Adding a sick fish is pretty much guaranteed to infect the display, the odds of an egg or something on a coral / invert/ dry rock are less. How much less depends on where the item came from. Sometimes you hear about reefers with very strict qt of fish that still break out in a disease, you never know if they screwed up the qt protocol or it came from a frag. People who qt everything wet are very unlikely to have a tank crash from disease. But even only qt'ing fish is way better than nothing, its just not perfect.

What you don't want to do is get a fatalistic mindset, some people are like "well if I don't qt every little rock or pod there's no point in doing the fish either" but that isn't true. It's more like every precaution you can take helps, but each reefer has to decide what risk they are willing to take IMO.

 

[Spar]

I think its about risk tolerance. Adding a sick fish is pretty much guaranteed to infect the display, the odds of an egg or something on a coral / invert/ dry rock are less. How much less depends on where the item came from. Sometimes you hear about reefers with very strict qt of fish that still break out in a disease, you never know if they screwed up the qt protocol or it came from a frag. People who qt everything wet are very unlikely to have a tank crash from disease. But even only qt'ing fish is way better than nothing, its just not perfect.

What you don't want to do is get a fatalistic mindset, some people are like "well if I don't qt every little rock or pod there's no point in doing the fish either" but that isn't true. It's more like every precaution you can take helps, but each reefer has to decide what risk they are willing to take IMO.

This ^^^

I personally QT and treat everything. I have a 20g fully thriving tank to put live rock, macro algae, hermits, snails, cucumbers, etc etc etc through a 3 month fallow treatment before entering my DT.

With a large DT i just don't have the option of failure. If i had a small tank that I could much more easily correct an issue in, them i might be less paranoid, but this has worked for me for five years now with my larger tank.

 

[ScienceRulez]

While not with coral, an unknown person put a bunch of clams in the tank and killed all my fish with brooklynella hostilis. Being used to fresh water, I never saw fish die so fast. Within 3 days every fish in the tank died.

 

[karimwassef]

an unknown person?

 

[JMorris271]

Please pardon my question. I have never ordered anything, fish, coral, inverts or whatever except LR.and I suppose this is rhetorical but
After all of these comments,is this to say that there are no sources available today that can be 100% depended on to provide healthy fish or coral?

 

[tmz]

Some offer time limited guarantees ranging from live arrival to 14 days ;but even then any disease they may have had will have moved to the tank without quarantine.

 

[Spar]

100%, no. The only person you can 100% trust is yourself, and even then 99.9% is more realistic...

The problem is trusting someone else's process with your current livestock. And the said 'trusted merchant' can easily blame something else on your part rather than accept accountability.

Also "healthy" can be true and ich still be present. They may not stay healthy longterm, but you may at least get a healthy fish fir as long as you can keep that fish as low stress as possible...