quarantining corals

[bmkindig]

anyone quarantining there corals from the swap or in general? i'm wondering how long they should be kept in a tank before transferring to a display the last bunch i got was almost 2 months but my display wasn't running yet at that time. and i'm glad i did because the q-tank had an aptisia outbreak that hitchhiked in.

 

[rickyfins]

Brad, QT corals depends on species. I try and QT acropora species for about 4 weeks. This gives red bugs, flatworms, etc. the time to show their ugly faces and get obliterated when found. I also dip all hard corals (sps) in either Coral Dip by seachem or another coral dip prior to QT to rid them of any hitch hiking bugs. Zoanthids need some time as well, sundial snails when small can be barely noticed as well as the horrible zoanthid fungus(whatever it really is) which will kill of a tank full of zoas in no time.

With captive frags of zoas the virus/fungus as well as sundials are hardly present, but it does happen from time to time.

Most of what we are looking for are coral eating bugs, time always is a good thing and waiting to see them saves a tank from heart ache and die offs. When the coral looks great after weeks of QT its pretty safe to make the move to the display.

There are some hobbyists I trade with regularly and know their systems. I also know what they have had to deal with recently or in the past. I know by my relationship with them whether or not I would need to QT something for a long period of time or at all. But that is my personal practice and not necessarily what I should be doing..

 

[bmkindig]

hey ricky,
thanks, that's kind of what i wanted to know,my prior setup went thou alot of ups and downs but getting fresh start gives me the oppertunity to do things better and form better habits.
and for someone that never really liked sps, i got a bunch of them this swap.

question? i didn't have much time till basically now to do anything with my new frags, will dipping them tonight or in the am work?or is the damage done if there is any,or how can i nurse the tank back if needed.

 

[rickyfins]

That depends. Are they in a QT? If not a bug or two could make the jump. AEFW tend to stay on the coral and lay their eggs at the base. Red Bugs on the otherhand are free water spawners. LOL Depending who you got frags from depends on that I am sure, most of our members do take good care with their corals.

I don't think any terrible thing will happen as you don't have any giant acros in the tank currently. But in the future when the tank matures, you will definitely want to QT to keep yourself from loosing valuable stock and money in a system.

 

[CBehr]

I've had leather eating nudi's, red bugs, montipora nudi's, and porites nudi's from not QT'ing. I've learned the hard way and will never introduce anything without QT and dipping.

 

[Fizz71]

How long can an SPS go without intense lighting? I have a QT setup in mind for my new tank, but it's a 30T so anything I put in there will not get a whole lot of light, especially if I don't put MH over it!

 

[rickyfins]

Kev, it depends on what light you do put over the 30T. You can always build an eggcrate ledge that hangs on the back of the tank so you can put your SPS closer to the light. Some don't need intense light all the time while others will brown out rather quickly.

If you are worried the eggcrate ledge should help a good bit