Wow seriously thanks for taking the time to write all this out. I learned a lot just in these paragraphs.
So the only way to “guarantee” coral won’t carry parasites is to quarantine for 76 days, because any parasites would just starve?
Does it make you feel any better that I only buy coral from LFS in person and they keep fish in their frag tanks? Or do you see this as equal risk of ordering online from someone?
Is the key to just QT the coral from the fish? If so does that mean I could theoretically move the coral to a new QT tank, drain the DT, treat the fish for 14 days or whatever you mentioned with copper and prazi, and then put them back in the DT with clean water without the corals? And then add corals back in once they have been in QT for 76 days?
Are inverts (CUC) generally at risk of getting sick and dying from these parasites? Or just potentially carrying them as the article mentioned?
Yes, the only way to
fully guarantee that your corals won't carry any parasites is to QT for 76 this will starve the parasite as there is no host for them.
Having fish in their frag tank provides some assurance that there isn't velvet (which is a way
deadlier disease, it can kill fish in a matter of hours in my experience). but the possibility of ich still lurks as some fish have very thick mucus to hide symptoms. Buying corals online is pretty much equal but I prefer to go to the LFS since you know, you can actually see what you're getting lol and some corals don't do well during shipping.
The key is to QT both corals and fish as they are both possible carriers. The parasites affect fish, however, corals and CUC (inverts) are not affected by parasites but can
carry them. Most inverts and corals have a hard surface allowing parasites to attach to them and when you place them in your DT they will hatch and infect your fish. Qt is fish is less bothersome since they only have to remain in (0.5 ppm) copper for 14 days. I forgot to mention earlier but you need to slowly raise the copper for the duration of 4 or 5 days otherwise your fish can go into shock because of how high the copper is. It's like acclimating them to get used to copper.
Last but not least Yes you can drain the DT and refill and put ur fish back without the corals and leave your corals in another tank. However, you should take precautions with this, you'll need to make sure the DT is sterile, the same thing with rock and the sand.
You have two methods to sterilize the tank. Removing the water and letting the tank dry out. No parasite can live without water this can be tricky since there is sand unless you plan on removing the sand, by the time your done qt your fish your tank should be dry enough and sterile. However, knowing that you have a reefer 250 taking water out of the overflow and the sump can be hard and the pumps in the cabinets may not dry.
Another method is to remove the saltwater to and most of the sand and use warm tap water to sterilize it (science shows that in order to kill parasite cyst the water needs to be at least 104 Fahrenheit for at least an hour (you should leave it there for 3 hours just in case). You might as well just leave tap water in the tank for the whole time you while Qtyour fish. I remember reading that tap water can kill parasites since it effectively pops the cyst because of the drastic difference in salinity. Most tap water faucets can output 120 Fahrenheit so you should be okay in sterilizing the tank in a couple of hours. You can possibly use your return pump and a long hose to take water directly out of the sink and pour it into your tank.
Now you'll also need to sterilize your rock. Leave the rock outside the sun for 3 days. Then place it in a bin with half tap water and vinegar for 3 days, then soak it in water for 3 days to clean the vinegar from it. Rinse it again to get any residue off.
If all of this is done correctly you can get your fish back in the DT instead of waiting 76 days but it takes some work for it to happen.
Another method which I've done is to remove your corals and treat the entire DT this can be troubling however because your fish would need to stay in 30 days of copper instead of 14 since you are leaving them since you are effectively killing everything in your tank except your fish of course. ( I do not advise this method since it requires you to monitor your copper level to keep it up since live rock and sand tend to absorb the copper and can leach back out causing copper levels to go to high sometimes and possibly kill your fish. (I've done it before but it was somewhat difficult)
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