Adding New Coral - Dip or Quaratine

[thatsaltyreefer]

Hello,

Adding new corals has always raised the question for me to dip or to QT.
Is quarantining a necessary step or will dipping coral (soft, LPS, SPS) will be sufficient?
What do you recommend for a QT process or products to dip?

 

[Tomplatz]

Hello,

Adding new corals has always raised the question for me to dip or to QT.
Is quarantining a necessary step or will dipping coral (soft, LPS, SPS) will be sufficient?
What do you recommend for a QT process or products to dip?

Quaranteen corals to stop the transfer of fish disease into DT, then all the usual coral dips/treatments and observation during the 72 days. Also gives you time to chase down Aiptasia

 

[truetricia]

Hello,

Adding new corals has always raised the question for me to dip or to QT.
Is quarantining a necessary step or will dipping coral (soft, LPS, SPS) will be sufficient?
What do you recommend for a QT process or products to dip?

Hello!

My understanding is that dip and QT really accomplish two different things.

Generally, dip eliminates free floating parasites attached to the coral. QT helps to ensure that the lifecycle of parasites is taken into account before going into the DT, as well as providing an opportunity to catch any unwanted pests in the QT.

For example, a dip may eliminate free floating ich, but wouldn't necessarily kill the encrusting stage (it's not eggs, but that's what I picture in my head). The same would be true of say montipora eating nudibranchs. Dip will kill the adults, but not the eggs. To get rid of any eggs or encrusting parasites, you have to scrub the coral (which isn't practical in most cases) or simply wait out the lifecycle. Depending on the parasite, you might need to dip every 7 days, or others recommend a dip every 14 days even while in QT to stop the newly-hatched parasites from laying eggs and the cycle starting over.

Sometimes pests like bristle worms, aptasia, or vermitid snails (sp?) may not be affected by the dip, and length of time in QT will provide the opportunity to eradicate the pets before it goes into the main tank.

I hope this helps! I'm not an expert, so if anything I wrote contradicts some actual experts, believe them!

 

[Fishko]

Hello,

Adding new corals has always raised the question for me to dip or to QT.
Is quarantining a necessary step or will dipping coral (soft, LPS, SPS) will be sufficient?
What do you recommend for a QT process or products to dip?

A lot of people just dip their corals and cut off the corals from the frag plug when able to. Buying from reputable dealers also helps. if you have utilitarian fish which hunt down pests you should be fine.

 

[thatsaltyreefer]

I just noticed I misspelled Quarantine in the title... Oops lol

 

[AcroNem]

I always quarantine corals, along with everything else. Along with helping stop the spread of fish parasites, there are many that can come in on corals as well and it's important to deal with them in a dedicated system. What was said above is pretty good advice. My coral quarantine is at least a month, I usually go 34 days, with dips weekly or more often if something that requires it comes along or if it's a group of corals that is likely to have a specific parasite. Also certain fish are great at helping out. Yellow coris wrasses are awesome at natural pest control.

 

[thatsaltyreefer]

Hello!

My understanding is that dip and QT really accomplish two different things.

Generally, dip eliminates free floating parasites attached to the coral. QT helps to ensure that the lifecycle of parasites is taken into account before going into the DT, as well as providing an opportunity to catch any unwanted pests in the QT.

For example, a dip may eliminate free floating ich, but wouldn't necessarily kill the encrusting stage (it's not eggs, but that's what I picture in my head). The same would be true of say montipora eating nudibranchs. Dip will kill the adults, but not the eggs. To get rid of any eggs or encrusting parasites, you have to scrub the coral (which isn't practical in most cases) or simply wait out the lifecycle. Depending on the parasite, you might need to dip every 7 days, or others recommend a dip every 14 days even while in QT to stop the newly-hatched parasites from laying eggs and the cycle starting over.

Sometimes pests like bristle worms, aptasia, or vermitid snails (sp?) may not be affected by the dip, and length of time in QT will provide the opportunity to eradicate the pets before it goes into the main tank.

I hope this helps! I'm not an expert, so if anything I wrote contradicts some actual experts, believe them!

Thank you for your input. This is lot more than i knew before.

 

[truetricia]

Thank you for your input. This is lot more than i knew before.

My general advice is set goals for yourself. What are you hoping to achieve? Then set your dip & QT parameters to match.

For example, do you practice ich eradication v. ich management styles? The first looks to keep ich out of the tank, and the second is about managing ich long-term if you have it already (BRS TV does a good video on this, and Humblefish published an article on the subject). If you're going for ich eradication, then dip plus a 45/72 day QT is necessary. If you're going for management, or long QT periods are feasible for you, then maybe just a dip plus a short QT is all you need to check for parasites that you might not see on the first day (such as aptasia).

Once you select your style, be patient and stick to it. There are tons of videos out there on the pros and cons of QT, why some do it and others don't. There are tons of debates about that here on R2R and in the community. It's not my place to tell you what to do, rather just do some research on the subject so that you can make the best decision for you, your goals, your living situation, and your finances.

Best of luck to you! This community is great!