QT'ing question

[chewieee]

I have heard that ICK can hitchhike on LR and on corals. SO my question is how do you QT LR and Corals without using copper and Hypo because that will kill them. SO how can you successfully make sure that there is no ick on the rock and corals before you add them to the display?

 

[paulamrein]

The way that ich works, it only hitchhikes on LR and coral or anything wet. Could be in water you get from a tank with fish in it. There is no treating anything but fish. You just keep it isolated in another tank or container *with proper conditions* for atleast a month, 6-8 weeks to make certain. QT coral, just meet their requirements for survival, worry about color and growth after the QT. Everything else, snails, crab, shrimp, just need food. Light is optional. Lighting a QT that is not for coral could actually be a hinderance. Fish coming from the ocean is used to VERY minimal light. The tank in the house is even brighter than most are used to. Ich can only host, grow and feed on fish. So, no treatment, just isolation.

 

[chewieee]

any other input?

 

[kevin2000]

Ich need fish to perpetuate their life cycle ... if you purchase snails, corals etc. from vendor who keep them separate from fish then you significantly reduce the chance of introducing ich into the tank. If your show tank ends up with ich then you need to remove all fish for about 5 weeks to insure that ich within that tank naturally die off.

 

[wolf pup]

Chewiee, paulamrein and kevin2000 have hit the only point. Ich can be carried in on anything non-fish. Ich will die if it cannot complete its life cycle on fish. 6-8 weeks of isolation will prevent Ich from completing its life cycle and it will die. There is no other way to insure that a tank remains ich free. Any other method may claim to work but no hard science will back it. Generally people are hoping to keep their tank for years so a two month delay on showing off your new coral/fish/snail? is a small price to pay for keeping the most prevalent captive fish disease at bay.