Question regarding ich fallow period and life cycle

[mitchrapp]

If you are quarantining inverts and corals for 72 days in a fishless QT to prevent any encysted ich tomonts from hatching in the DT, does the clock start over for everyone if you add more inverts or corals? I'm thinking no because there is no way for the encysted tomont to infect and encyst onto the other corals/inverts due to no fish host, thus breaking the life cycle. The new inverts/corals would have to undergo 72 days, but the existing ones can continues on their original schedule. Am I correct in my thinking?

 

[Dmorty217]

If you are quarantining inverts and corals for 72 days in a fishless QT to prevent any encysted ich tomonts from hatching in the DT, does the clock start over for everyone if you add more inverts or corals? I'm thinking no because there is no way for the encysted tomont to infect and encyst onto the other corals/inverts due to no fish host, thus breaking the life cycle. The new inverts/corals would have to undergo 72 days, but the existing ones can continues on their original schedule. Am I correct in my thinking?

Yes any time you add something new to QT that was wet the clock starts over at day 1. This is why its so important to plan out purchases and really think things thru

 

[mitchrapp]

I understand resetting the clock if there are fish in the QT.

For a fishless QT with just corals/inverts, the 72 day period is just to allow any encysted ich tomonts to hatch and then die due to lack of a fish host. If I add new corals/inverts, any encysted tomonts on them that may hatch will not infect (encyst on) anything else in the tank since due to lack of a fish host- the lifecycle never progresses to trophonts and dies off. Is that correct?

 

[Dmorty217]

No, if you add ANYTHING wet to the QT be it coral or shrimp or whatever the clock starts over at day 1. The ich can survive without a host for up to 72 days, hence the fallow period for ich. Doesn't matter if no fish are present or not, you add something new like a coral, clock starts over, otherwise what your trying to accomplish isn't going to happen. Trophonts are what lay and wait for a host to present itself, if no host within 72 days it dies. The reason the clock resets is because you have no way of knowing what stage of ich may or may not be on the coral or invert. Most come out of a system with fish present so the chances of getting something with trophonts on it is extremely high.

 

[scooter31707]

+1^^^

 

[Deinonych]

No, if you add ANYTHING wet to the QT be it coral or shrimp or whatever the clock starts over at day

Not sure I agree with this. The point of quarantine for inverts is to ensure any latent tomonts have excysted prior to introduction to the DT. If you add a second group of inverts to an existing QT, the clocks starts over for those inverts, but not those already in QT. The reason being is that the first group of inverts cannot reinfect new additions, since there is no fish host present.

That said, I prefer to QT corals one group at a time, for 72 days, to keep things simple and easy to track.

 

[snorvich]

Not sure I agree with this. The point of quarantine for inverts is to ensure any latent tomonts have excysted prior to introduction to the DT. If you add a second group of inverts to an existing QT, the clocks starts over for those inverts, but not those already in QT. The reason being is that the first group of inverts cannot reinfect new additions, since there is no fish host present.

That said, I prefer to QT corals one group at a time, for 72 days, to keep things simple and easy to track.

This.

 

[Dmorty217]

Not sure I agree with this. The point of quarantine for inverts is to ensure any latent tomonts have excysted prior to introduction to the DT. If you add a second group of inverts to an existing QT, the clocks starts over for those inverts, but not those already in QT. The reason being is that the first group of inverts cannot reinfect new additions, since there is no fish host present.

That said, I prefer to QT corals one group at a time, for 72 days, to keep things simple and easy to track.

Good to know. I was under the impression that cysts could potentially be "knocked off" if you will thus possibly getting transferred over to the DT. Unlikely I guess?

 

[Spar]

if you transfer over a protomont, then one could crawl off the new piece and form a cyst somewhere else.

one work around here is to isolate the new piece for 1 or 2 days before adding it to the fallow QT. you would then also have to isolate pieces coming out of the QT for 1 or 2 days to allow for any theronts to die (hatching from one of your late additions).

 

[Dmorty217]

if you transfer over a protomont, then one could crawl off the new piece and form a cyst somewhere else.

one work around here is to isolate the new piece for 1 or 2 days before adding it to the fallow QT. you would then also have to isolate pieces coming out of the QT for 1 or 2 days to allow for any theronts to die (hatching from one of your late additions).

Ok, thanks for clearing up the confusion Cliff.

 

[skp]

Not sure I agree with this. The point of quarantine for inverts is to ensure any latent tomonts have excysted prior to introduction to the DT. If you add a second group of inverts to an existing QT, the clocks starts over for those inverts, but not those already in QT. The reason being is that the first group of inverts cannot reinfect new additions, since there is no fish host present.

That said, I prefer to QT corals one group at a time, for 72 days, to keep things simple and easy to track.

I think there is a small chance that you can introduce a trophont that just fell off a fish and just happened to be in the small film of water on the new invert that then decides to encyst onto an old invert. It's all about risk.

 

[mitchrapp]

if you transfer over a protomont, then one could crawl off the new piece and form a cyst somewhere else.

one work around here is to isolate the new piece for 1 or 2 days before adding it to the fallow QT. you would then also have to isolate pieces coming out of the QT for 1 or 2 days to allow for any theronts to die (hatching from one of your late additions).

Thanks. I did think about 1-2 days isolation for the newcomers to avoid any water transfer, but did not think about 1-2 days isolation coming out of the QT.