Do you qt your corals/inverts?

[John A!10]

Hey all,
So I’m currently doing a fallow period in my dt after buying a coral with ich from Petco. Epic fail LOL. My lfs has a fish less coral system and was wondering how many people actually qt their corals/inverts. I can barely grow coral in my dt I can only imagine growing coral in a qt tank + the cost.
Thanks for all responses.

 

[Sam816]

Corals and inverts are not affected by ich but it's a good idea to QT them for at least 2 weeks.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I don't qt anything but here you go

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals & invertebrates. While unable to host ectoparasites the way fish do, corals/inverts are still able to “carry” fish diseases in one of two ways...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[John A!10]

I know they aren’t affected by it, but after having to do a fallow period and treat my fish I don’t know. Maybe I just shouldn’t have corals, I also wanted to add a shrimp but I’m scared it’ll get my tank ich. After I add my fish back and get my tank fully stocked I’m taking my qt down because it’s to much maintenance.

 

[John A!10]

Corals and inverts are not affected by ich but it's a good idea to QT them for at least 2 weeks.

Will 2 weeks do anything? I heard it’s 6 weeks minimum preferably 76 days.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Will 2 weeks do anything? I heard it’s 6 weeks minimum preferably 76 days.

Check out the link I posted. It will tell you everything you need to know

 

[John A!10]

Check out the link I posted. It will tell you everything you need to know

Yup will definitely have a look. I still don’t think I will qt because of the risk of killing the coral and the cost of running a coral qt.

 

[DrMMI]

I just finished quarantining a bunch of coral I bought off someone else. I had so much that I needed a 55g tank. I put in seeded sponges from my sump, a hob filter, wavemaker, and a some spare lights. It wasn't too much of a pain in the butt, but I guess that's relative. I had the tank in my office. I did once a week 10g water changes. I did have to dose nitrate to keep the levels up. If I had it at home, I would have just used the parasite free water from my DT to do the water changes on the coral QT and that would have helped keep up the alk and nitrate levels.

 

[Macbalacano]

People who follow a strict quarantine for fish, should really quarantine everything that will eventually go into the tank for 76 days in a separate tank without any fish. Inverts and corals included, because ich can technically be on the shells of inverts as well.

 

[John A!10]

Thanks for all the responses, I’m still not sure, I’ll have to get some more votes and see.

 

[zalick]

*** I don't advocate my method.

I dont QT any corals/inverts. In the past, I put new fish in isolation and observe for a few weeks. Treat as necessary. Not a true QT but an observation.

Inverts go straight in. Corals get dipped then straight in.

I assume my system has ich. My fish have never shown symptoms and the youngest is around 5 yrs old. My oldest is around 12 or so. I saw a spot of ich years ago and it went away after a couple days.

My understanding is that healthy fish in a stable system aren't really bothered by ich.


That said, any future fish will go through a QT similar to Humblefish. My concern is diseases, other than ich.

I won't QT coral or inverts. I'm never going to do tank transfer trying to ensure an ich free system.

 

[ReefRusty]

I dont QT but do dip my corals in some reef polyp conditioner for 5 minutes, rids of any flatworms and anything that might be hiding in them but max of 5 minutes.

 

[J_Gard88]

Is ich technically always there and only shows when immune system is down?

Had a powder blue tang come in and didnt notice any ich. after two days the tang is covered and the other fish show almost no spots. Did she bring it or was it because i already had it and the PBT is very common to contract???

 

[John A!10]

*** I don't advocate my method.

I dont QT anything. In the past, I put new fish in isolation and observe for a few weeks. Treat as necessary. Not a true QT but an observation.

Inverts go straight in. Corals get dipped then straight in.

I assume my system has ich. My fish have never shown symptoms and the youngest is around 5 yrs old. My oldest is around 12 or so. I saw a spot of ich years ago and it went away after a couple days.

My understanding is that healthy fish in a stable system aren't really bothered by ich.


That said, any future fish will go through a QT similar to Humblefish. My concern is diseases, other than ich.

I won't QT coral or inverts. I'm never going to do tank transfer trying to ensure an ich free system.

I go on long vacations up to 4 weeks and I’m scared that if I’m managing ich something might happen and there could be an outbreak while am away. I believe this happened last year, I returned after a week long vacation and my water was black and the system had crashed all the equipment was working so I can only guess that it was ich as I didn’t qt.

 

[John A!10]

Is ich technically always there and only shows when immune system is down?

Had a powder blue tang come in and didnt notice any ich. after two days the tang is covered and the other fish show almost no spots. Did she bring it or was it because i already had it and the PBT is very common to contract???

If you don’t qt it was very likely in your tank and on the fish.

 

[John A!10]

I dont QT but do dip my corals in some reef polyp conditioner for 5 minutes, rids of any flatworms and anything that might be hiding in them but max of 5 minutes.

I awlways dip for flatworms and other pests my concern is more with parasites.

 

[zalick]

I go on long vacations up to 4 weeks and I’m scared that if I’m managing ich something might happen and there could be an outbreak while am away. I believe this happened last year, I returned after a week long vacation and my water was black and the system had crashed all the equipment was working so I can only guess that it was ich as I didn’t qt.

Usually it's something else that triggers the ich outbreak in my experience. The ich outbreak is the symptom. I go away for multiple weeks many times a year. Never had an issue. Knock on wood.

Many a reefer with more experience than me have said unless you are doing the strictest TTM for everything and doing it perfectly, without a drop of cross contaminated water, you probably have ich in your system....

 

[J_Gard88]

So its possible to not have ich at all 100%? so only way to rid my tank is 76 day fallow? I got out the powder blue ( Which was most affected by far) and am dosing with Polyp Lab Medic for the rest of my fish. Am I wasting my time?

 

[Sam816]

Will 2 weeks do anything? I heard it’s 6 weeks minimum preferably 76 days.

Definitely. In 2 weeks most of the hitchhikers will settle as the coral settles and start spreading in QT. U can notice them on glass, base etc and treat for them.
Also, I usually buy corals from stores that keep utility fish in their frag tanks. I believe that fish usually build up ich immunity but not against velvet. So if the fish in frag tank are ok there is no velvet in there. And 2 week QT of a coral/invert is more than enough to rid of most ich strains.

 

[John A!10]

So its possible to not have ich at all 100%? so only way to rid my tank is 76 day fallow? I got out the powder blue ( Which was most affected by far) and am dosing with Polyp Lab Medic for the rest of my fish. Am I wasting my time?

I did the same. Polyp lab helped but it won’t get rid of ich. I thought it was getting better and I would manage it but then it came back like a week later, probably the natural life cycle. As I saw it get worst I set up a qt and treated my fish with copper they are all good now.