Do quarantine your cleaner crew? (if not where is a good place to buy "clean" cleaner crew?

[CyberGuy]

I am not sure if buying snails/hermit crabs, or other cleaner crew from a local fish store because I am not sure if the shell of those invertebrates have spores, eggs, or microscopic pests not seen with the eyes. I am talking about bubble algae, hair algae, aptasia, etc.....

So do you quarantine your cleaning crew? If you do, for how long? If you do not quarantine, which internet site do you buy the cleaning crew to minimize pests? (reefcleaners.org? algaebarn? etc...?)

 

[DLHDesign]

If the inverts are housed with )or in the same system as) fish, then it's a good idea to QT them as if they were carrying fish parasites or pathogens. That means 76 days in a fallow (fish-free) tank. That won't solve for non-fish problems such as algae and such on their shells, but it would give you time to observe them, at least.

The Nassarius snails I got in from @AlgaeBarn were totally free of any signs of hitch-hikers - very clean (as I would expect having gotten chaeto from them multiple times). I did not QT them - they were acclimated and put in the DT. I wish I could get more of them, but they are out-of-stock again...

 

[CyberGuy]

So I guess Algaebarn is the best place to get snails and hermits free of pests.

 

[Hermie]

ipsf.com raise their livestock IIRC

 

[DLHDesign]

There's also this just from @reefcleaners:

We do not have fish at our warehouse.

All the Best,
John Maloney
www.reefcleaners.org

 

[JaimeAdams]

I would imagine that a sand dwelling snail would look pretty clean, after all their shells are being polished by sand all of the time.

The store that I work has dedicated invert systems that are fishless, however I could not tell you about my supplier, or their supplier. I'm sure that I could ask, but then I am relying on 3rd party hearsay.

If you want to be 100% certain of parasite or pest free anything in this industry either QT it yourself or have it QT by someone that you would trust with anything.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

If the inverts are housed with )or in the same system as) fish, then it's a good idea to QT them as if they were carrying fish parasites or pathogens. That means 76 days in a fallow (fish-free) tank. That won't solve for non-fish problems such as algae and such on their shells, but it would give you time to observe them, at least.

The Nassarius snails I got in from @AlgaeBarn were totally free of any signs of hitch-hikers - very clean (as I would expect having gotten chaeto from them multiple times). I did not QT them - they were acclimated and put in the DT. I wish I could get more of them, but they are out-of-stock again...

Thanks for the shout out! All of our inverts are kept in vendor specific systems (each supplier gets their own system) and kept fallow (fishless) and far away from any fish. We should have more nassarius instock at the end of the week.

 

[L1g_reefer]

I am not sure if buying snails/hermit crabs, or other cleaner crew from a local fish store because I am not sure if the shell of those invertebrates have spores, eggs, or microscopic pests not seen with the eyes. I am talking about bubble algae, hair algae, aptasia, etc.....

So do you quarantine your cleaning crew? If you do, for how long? If you do not quarantine, which internet site do you buy the cleaning crew to minimize pests? (reefcleaners.org? algaebarn? etc...?)

I personally haven’t ever quarantined cleaner crew and haven’t had any issues with parasites. I would say that if your that worried about parasites from clean up crew you could dip them but I’ve never heard or had an instance of deases from cleanup crew. Happy reefing!