Shrimps molted in qt. Dt ready?

Liron Mishal · Mar 5, 2019

Hi
I've been QTing 3 shrimps for about two months now.
All of them molted about three times while in the qt.
If any ich was present on them, wouldn't them molting makes them ich free and dt ready?

K-Philly · Mar 5, 2019

From my understanding this is a fish-only parasite or at least maybe more common in fish. It can hid in gills and go undetected though. Here's an article with more information.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ich-cryptocaryon-irritans.191226/

Big G · Mar 5, 2019

The standard fallow time is 76 days for Ich. There have been recorded cases where an encysted Ich parasite lasted for 70+ days. So 76 is the mark we shoot for. Is your QT barebottom?

Liron Mishal · Mar 5, 2019

Big G said:
The standard fallow time is 76 days for Ich. There have been recorded cases where an encysted Ich parasite lasted for 70+ days. So 76 is the mark we shoot for. Is your QT barebottom?

It is, but I can't see why it is relevant to my question...
If they didn't molt then 76 days would make sense, but ich cannot be transferred from invertebrate to another, in a fishless environment,
So i would think that if they mold they would be considered ich / velvet free...

K-Philly · Mar 6, 2019

Liron Mishal said:
It is, but I can't see why it is relevant to my question...
If they didn't molt then 76 days would make sense, but ich cannot be transferred from invertebrate to another, in a fishless environment,
So i would think that if they mold they would be considered ich / velvet free...

Well, in reference to the transferring of the ich I am not sure how it can be to where that can't happen. Ich, once again from my understanding, has a sessile form that will go out into the tank to inhabit new areas. That's why the the concept of "treat the tank, not the fish," has been adopted so much. Because the mature life forms, if I am not mistaken, are attached to the fish and they usually die off within a few days or maybe weeks? Somebody may need to correct me on that. However, I personally could only find one testimony pertaining to a skunk shrimp that supposedly was infected with Ich. The only problem is, I do know Ich can be quite often misdiagnosed due to it's symptoms being so relevant to other illnesses. Also, I do know that Ich often hides for a while in the gills, which it does seem that the gills molt as well. That's a tough one because usually we see a build of the "white dots," when the inner layer of skin has been penetrated. The dots or spots are from how the immune system reacts. So, I can see your case about molting for sure. But to be noted, shrimp exoskeleton is thinner than most other crustaceans. With that being said, I think you are okay. If anything, by taking an educated guess, you would probably have noticed a change by now, especially the period preceding a fresh molt. This is just my opinion.

puffy127 · Mar 6, 2019

Are they in a QT by themselves or are there fish in there with them? If no fish in the QT, I would think that if there were any encysted ich/velvet tomonts on them, they would have fallen off them with the molt. They could not get reinfected if there were no fish in the QT, so they should be ich/velvet free. Are you sure all 3 molted? Or could one of them have molted more than once? You should probably rinse them a few times in clean SW before transferring though.

Liron Mishal · Mar 6, 2019

No fish, its corals and invertebrates qt only.
They are all different so I'm sure all of them molted.
That's what i thought, but wanted to hear what you guys think