Ich On Urchins?

[Tanked_Life]

Hey Invert enthusiasts, I have a Tuxedo urchin coming in tomorrow night and I do not have my QT set up currently. I have read that althought inverts are not succeptible to ich, they can still carry the parasite on it's hard surface (be it shell or another form of exoskeleton) during the parasites dorment stage. What are the odds that this is true. If I put the urchin in my tank right away is there a high chance that it is carrying the parasite? Also I am grabbing the urchin before he puts it in his store tanks (because I know for a fact that his tanks have ich). Any advice is great as I prefer not to set up my QT on such short notice but if there a chance that my tank will get ICH then I will

 

[Tanked_Life]

any help would be great I really need to know guys

 

[EmptyWallet]

Shame no one answered, I've got the same question

 

[tastyfish]

Short answer: Yes, it is possible, but far less likely than coming in on a fish host.

Long answer: The lifecycle of several parasites such as Cryptocaryon irritans (Marine whitespot/ich) and Amyloodinium occelatum (Marine Velvet) include a repoductive "cyst" or tomont stage where the feeding parasites drop off of the fish, form a cyst and divide. These tomonts may be on the rock, in the substrate or on any surface such as a shell etc. Emerging from 3 days, up to 11 weeks later to infect new hosts.

So, yes, it is theoretically possible that the tomont could be attached to an uchun, a snail etc. However you may take the view that it is an acceptably small risk.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Eggs cannot attach themselves to urchins and starfish. They can on any other inverts though.

All you would need to do is give it a good rinse with DT water.

 

[tastyfish]

Eggs cannot attach themselves to urchins and starfish. They can on any other inverts though.

All you would need to do is give it a good rinse with DT water.

Here's the actual research: https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10026.1/2632/PETER JOHN BURGESS.PDF?sequence=1

As I said, unlikely, but it states "living surfaces" - I guess it really depends on how paranoid you want to be that a tomont (not an "egg" by the way) could be attached to a spine lol. Personally I think there are more important things to be concerned about.

The table doesn't however make sense to me as the research they quoted did not test macro algae. It also noted normal adherence to a fish scale AND to acropora with no effect on maturing or release, so I don't know where the reference to only QT'ing macro algae for 16 days comes from?

Here's the table for those interested.

 

[seamonster]

Never ever rinse live inverts in fresh water! How dumb is that??!! Wait... what the heck is dt water??!!

 

[1WildBill]

Never ever rinse live inverts in fresh water! How dumb is that??!! Wait... what the heck is dt water??!!

Dt is display tank.

 

[cmcoker]

With urchins, also take into consideration if they are carrying any shells or substrate, these could harbor cysts.

 

[seamonster]

Dt is display tank.

Oh! Ok I kinda knew that! Lol! I don’t know why I read ro water! I apologize for the strong response... so anyways.... rinsing an invert in dt ewater will get rid of the trophonts? How long does one rinse?

 

[seamonster]

This is very informative. Thank you for posting. I had no idea that ich can live on live coral! I do have a coral/invert qt but I only qt for 30 days....perhaps I should qt longer!

 

[tastyfish]

This is very informative. Thank you for posting. I had no idea that ich can live on live coral! I do have a coral/invert qt but I only qt for 30 days....perhaps I should qt longer!

All of this really depends on your risk appetite. If the frag or invert had come from a system riddled with whitespot, then I think I'd want to dip, scrub and QT for 12 weeks.

If it's come from a normal environment, then you need to weigh the possibilites up. It's a risk, but arguably a miniscule one vs stocking fish.

 

[seamonster]

With all this dang qt, teeea never going to be anything in my tank.....

 

[davidcalgary29]

Necro bump!

Why can't they attach to the surfaces of asterina starfish and urchins?

I have a jar full of (breeding) berghia nudibranchs. I'd love to know whether or not they could actually be encysted (well, the adults I bought, in any case).