Anemone / Starfish

kadamik · Mar 30, 2022

In about 2 weeks I am putting in 2 quarantined fish into my DT. I am wanting to get a couple of invertebrates, but I want to control parasites as much as possible.

Anemone do I need to quarantine it. I have read the parasites can't embed eggs on them because they don' t have a hard surface to attach. The same with StarFish. With a shrimp I should put it in QT until it molts.

You should wash the Anemone and Starfirsh but I can't find any details on how to do it. I assume you do it with matched parameters and dip it in the saltwater bath, but I wanted to confirm?

I have also read a few times that you need to put Anemones in QT for 14 days. I was wondering why on this logic if Jay or others could explain, and does this go for the starfish as well.

Jay Hemdal · Mar 30, 2022

kadamik said:
In about 2 weeks I am putting in 2 quarantined fish into my DT. I am wanting to get a couple of invertebrates, but I want to control parasites as much as possible.

Anemone do I need to quarantine it. I have read the parasites can't embed eggs on them because they don' t have a hard surface to attach. The same with StarFish. With a shrimp I should put it in QT until it molts.

You should wash the Anemone and Starfirsh but I can't find any details on how to do it. I assume you do it with matched parameters and dip it in the saltwater bath, but I wanted to confirm?

I have also read a few times that you need to put Anemones in QT for 14 days. I was wondering why on this logic if Jay or others could explain, and does this go for the starfish as well.

Hi, I've seen the chart that talks about that, the trouble is, the chart is wrong. As I recall, it says starfish can't carry parasites, but sea urchins can - those are both echinoderms, so would both be able to carry resting stages of parasites. Anemones are filled with tank water, so incidentally, they can carry many different stages of parasites.

Here is the issue - different parasites have different resting stages. The chart only discusses where ich tomont stages have been found in aquariums. It doesn't discuss viruses, flukes eggs, velvet, or any of the other protozoans. Additionally, we all know that anything wet (your hands, tank tools, etc.) can incidentally carry parasite just in the water on their surface. So everything moving from an infected tank to a clean tank needs to be "cleared" first.

Putting the animal in a fishless system for 30 days is the best option. Here is an article I wrote on this topic: