Quarantining Coral: Do you? Should you? How do you?

[carbasaurus]

It’s an interesting question. First you need a suitable tank for quarantining the coral then you need to decide for how long in a probably less optimal environment. I never used to quarantine my corals and only relied on dipping prior to placement. Then came the montipora eating nudibranchs! After losing all my montis in the display over several months, I then kept the tank monti free for about six months. Now I do quarantine any montis for several weeks in my soft coral tank before they go onto the main sps tank. They seem to tolerate being in with the softies at last for the short term.

I have not quarantined acros as I want them in the optimal environment from the get go and can’t afford to run a whole separate sps tank. I have had occasional acro flatworms but I get them with a turkey baster and a very helpful fairy wrasse which pretty much eliminates them.

Not all pests are equally destructive or difficult to eradicate. So it then would depend on what corals you are keeping and what hitchhikers you want to avoid

 

[MaxTremors]

Acclimate to quarantine tank and place in display tank.

No, what I wanted to know is what ‘acclimating’ actually entails. Is it just temp acclimatation (floating), drip acclimation, just adding cupfuls of tank water, or what? I’m just perplexed by people who have these elaborate acclimation procedures who then dip their corals in harsh chemicals (I’m not against dipping, I do it and recommend it, I just think that anything beyond temp acclimation is at best unnecessary and at worst stressful and potentially damaging).

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Great thread thanks but no good for newbies like me, I have 200litre aquarium and currently have two tiny clown fish, 1 cleaner shrimp, 3 X small stripped leg (haiwian) hermits 5 X very tiny hermits, snails (clean up crew as such). They are alive from purchase so I'm on the right track (1month)
Tomorrow I get delivered.
Pulsing Xenia , green Star polyp, golden silk palythoa? I do not have space for quarantine, (again newbie pack) I have Hydrogen peroxide and seachem reef dip.
1st question. Have I made the rig

It’s an interesting question. First you need a suitable tank for quarantining the coral then you need to decide for how long in a probably less optimal environment. I never used to quarantine my corals and only relied on dipping prior to placement. Then came the montipora eating nudibranchs! After losing all my montis in the display over several months, I then kept the tank monti free for about six months. Now I do quarantine any montis for several weeks in my soft coral tank before they go onto the main sps tank. They seem to tolerate being in with the softies at last for the short term.

I have not quarantined acros as I want them in the optimal environment from the get go and can’t afford to run a whole separate sps tank. I have had occasional acro flatworms but I get them with a turkey baster and a very helpful fairy wrasse which pretty much eliminates them.

Not all pests are equally destructive or difficult to eradicate. So it then would depend on what corals you are keeping and what hitchhikers you want to

 

[Goaway]

Yes! Always quarantine anything going in ur display tank... plus this gave me the excuse needed to get my wife on board with a brand new shiny set up...

Do cowfish not eat corals?

Look at coral for signs of stress, temp acclimate and drop it.

Hospital tank is in need though, for corals that is.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Great thread thanks but no good for newbies like me, I have 200litre aquarium and currently have two tiny clown fish, 1 cleaner shrimp, 3 X small stripped leg (haiwian) hermits 5 X very tiny hermits, snails (clean up crew as such). They are alive from purchase so I'm on the right track (1month)
Tomorrow I get delivered.
Pulsing Xenia , green Star polyp, golden silk palythoa? I do not have space for quarantine, (again newbie pack) I have Hydrogen peroxide and seachem reef dip.
1st question. Have I made the right choice

Its a risk assessment deal honestly. If you only have inexpensive coral or a small amount qt probably isnt worth it. But if you have thousands in sps or lps or large/old colonies that mean alot to you qt becomes more important.

 

[zoaprince]

The amount of people who don't QT coral is THE reason why I QT!

 

[Pistol Peet]

Do cowfish not eat corals?

Look at coral for signs of stress, temp acclimate and drop it.

Hospital tank is in need though, for corals that is.

This 1 don't can't say everybody gets that lucky this is a good boy.

 

[Crotalus]

I dip in Coral Rx and iodine, cut it off the plug, and mount it on a new plug.

 

[damselindistress]

I thought I saw you at the meeting!

Been reefing 4 years next month and just now feel like I'm working my way through the chairs of the Coral for Morons club - hoping to make President next year

 

[neonreef3d]

Temp acclimate, dip, drop!

that's not always a 100%, some pests are deep inside and can survive the dip, just speaking from personal experience.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I probably should QT corals, but I don’t.

I have started dipping all newcomers in Seachem Reef Dip after having a few losses to BJD.

 

[flyfisher2]

Depends on the coralígeno it’s a delicate acro then no. I’ll dip it in Revive. See what comes off. Clean it as best I can and take into consideration the source. If I’m comfortable then I’ll put it on frag rack for a couple months in the display
If it’s LPS or something hardy and came from LFS then it goes into my Coral quarantine
You may ask why not quarantine the acros as well?
Lighting and circulation in the quarantine.

 

[carbasaurus]

I think the coral source matters as well. If wild collected or maricultured, quarantining may well be a prudent step. If Aqua cultured from a reliable source, probably safer. ( though if it passes through the LFS and in a multi sourced tank, all bets are off)

 

[LuizW13]

I don’t QT corals yet, but plan on doing so in the future.
I currently just dip, but having recently found white bugs on an acro frag, I have been more inclined to QT.
I got my hands on some interceptor and will be adding that to my future QT protocol.

 

[KK's Reef]

I’ve been doing a 6 week quarantine with dips every 2 weeks. Got AEFW a year ago and fortunately beat them with weekly dips of ALL of my acros. No thank you again.

My QT tank is 3 gallons and is plumbed to receive waste water from my display via AWC. Excess water drains out into a floor drain via the overflow. This way it gets 100% water changes daily and matches my main systems parameters! It also has a HOB UV and a regular HOB for additional bio filtration too.

What pump are you using for circulation and is it too much?

 

[RedReefer]

A quarantine tank for coral is a must if your in it for the long haul. Coral aren't cheap, but a small quarantine system is.

 

[HotRocks]

Today let's take about quarantining coral! I have to be honest and say that I have never QT'ed coral and that's not to say that you shouldn't because you can easily introduce disease to your fish but also disease and pest into your coral population if you're not careful. Let's talk about it!

1. Do you quarantine new coral before adding it to your reef tank?

2. What does quarantining coral look like to you? What's your regimen?

**Also would love to see some photos of your coral QT!

coral qt image via @Squishie89

I think you absolutely should! If you quarantine your fish and attempt to maintain disease free system. I always have, as well as my fish. I will say QT on SPS was one heck of a headache with such a clean system but it can be done and requires a level of expertise that may not be for everyone!

I always keep corals in a reefer nano for 80-90 days upon arrival prior to entering my main system.

 

[xiaoxiy]

What pump are you using for circulation and is it too much?

The 1600gph Hygger Mini Wavemaker. Seems to work perfectly at 100% random flow.

 

[Vyper]

Most definitely quarantine! I bought a whole bunch of corals from a live auction here on reef2reef and the corals came with every single pest you can get. Red bugs, aptasia, bristle worms and zoanthid eating nudis. May have been other stuff as well. Unfortunately I missed an aptasia and now get to deal with it for ever In my display. Just come out of fallow a week ago and not going to take any chances anymore.

 

[Timfish]

It depends on where a coral comes from. If it's from a system I know hasn't had any problems for 2, 3 or more years and nothing new has been added in a year or more there's not much hesitation to add it right away. On the other hand if someone has said inthe past they maintian "ich maintenance" I'm not going to risk it.