SPS coral treatment and quarantine

[nwrogers]

I noticed on liveaquaria.com under the SPS Quarantine System section that it says “The blue raceways are used to house and quarantine new SPS corals so that they can be medicated and monitored to ensure that they are parasite and disease free before we introduce them into our main systems.”

What medications do you use to treat the corals? What parasites do you inspect for? Are these corals guaranteed to be parasite free? I am mainly concerned with red bugs and acropora eating flatworms. Do these practices also go for wild caught corals from the Divers Den as well? Thanks!

 

[dfs/la2]

Nwrogers,

Thank you for your inquiry to Drs. Foster and Smith. Our Aquatic Facilities including our Diver’s Den Facility quarantine our corals in a separate system upon arrival. In quarantine, we monitor and medicate the corals in order to alleviate pests such as Red Bugs and Flat Worms. We work hand in hand with our staff of Veterinarians and compounding Pharmacists who are on site so that we have immediate access to the proper medications in specific doses for the size our system, or size of our dip/bath containers. After the corals have passed through quarantine they are moved and housed in one of our three main coral rows which are then ready for sale.

All of the staff here at Drs. Foster and Smith recognizes the importance of proper quarantine procedures. We take every precautionary step possible, however we still feel strongly that any aquatic life you purchase should be quarantined in a separate aquarium before adding to your display aquarium.

Even with our state of the art facilities and the best procedures possible, we are unable provide a guarantee for the absence of pests.

Again thank you for your post.

Pat S.
Technical Support
Drs. Foster and Smith

 

[nwrogers]

Sounds good, thanks!