Quarantine Inverts?

[Nate5154]

Hello, So i’ve been having tons of trouble dealing with ich and all those things with fish in my tank, so I think I might just try to do a coral and invert tank, at least for a while. Is this duable? and would I still need to quarantine inverts before putting them into my tank or without fish would it be safe? Then also will fish Diseases still live on my inverts? Thanks!

 

[Tahoe61]

Anything wet has the potential to carry a pathogen.

 

[Lavey29]

Lot of LFS run copper in their fish tanks so inverts are in their own separate systems so chance of them bringing disease in is almost 0.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Should you quarantine inverts, ideally yes. Diseases can hitch a ride on them, even though they won’t actually infect the inverts.
That said, most people don’t and are totally fine. I don’t qt my inverts and haven’t had a problem. If you trust your source, it should be okay (I wouldn’t touch a petco tank though).

 

[Louis Z]

Well if you get to petco when the ORA shipment comes in , you can usually get the target species before they put it in their tanks . If you are lucky to get a petco with a marine system . They are usually cheaper on some fish vs your local fish store. now you can complain how inexperienced their staff is but if you talk to them you will realize that they aren’t different from any of us . They are trying to earn a wage and care for all the animals from rodents to reptiles to birds and fish . They have a lot of things to manage and stock an

 

[SliceGolfer]

“Inverts” includes snails, which can introduce various flatworms like acoel and aefw (acropora eating flat worms). I learned the hard way and introduced AEFW by adding a couple Mexican Turbo snails. Clean all snail shells with peroxide and quarantine if you have the means to do so.

 

[BryanM]

Not saying it’s right, but thus far I’ve added close to 200 inverts without qt.

All from reef cleaners

 

[slingfox]

It is safest to quarantine inverts but few people do so. If you are worried about fish disease then those should not survive if the inverts are in a system without fish for 45 days.

I try to buy my inverts who keep their inverts in fishless systems.

 

[Alexraptor]

Probably should, but in 20 years i've never felt the need to, and afaik I've yet to introduce any harmful pathogens that way. *knock on wood*.

Only pest i've run across, are pyramid snails on a shipment of trochuses, but they are dealt with easily enough with a pair of tweezers and a toothbrush.

 

[NancyFish]

Not saying it’s right, but thus far I’ve added close to 200 inverts without qt.

All from reef cleaners

No pest?

 

[BryanM]

No pest?

Not that I am aware of, no.

Got the all from reefcleaners

 

[Louis Z]

Don’t mean to knock anybody . But I gotta to say for all those new aquarists , they should qt Inverts , not everybody gets from reef cleaners . Most of my lfs May house inverts seperate from fish system. Yet they still mix fish in with them thus allowing some parasites to pass through their tank . I am glad to hear of reef cleaners track record , I have bought from them before too . . I hate doing QT and treatments . But the moment I don’t do it , I can have a catastrophe on my hands . I have cultivated a school FOWLR and have very , very limited funds . No room for simple errors or lack of effort. I have to be diligent in care of these fish . Many of the fish have names , most students always look to see what’s going on or what may have been added new . They can’t wait for the zebra eel to be added . He has been treated and in QT since Feb 14. I will add him in early April. He seems to be good and eating well . One last prazipro and metro dose and he will be good to go .

 

[NancyFish]

Don’t mean to knock anybody . But I gotta to say for all those new aquarists , they should qt Inverts , not everybody gets from reef cleaners . Most of my lfs May house inverts seperate from fish system. Yet they still mix fish in with them thus allowing some parasites to pass through their tank . I am glad to hear of reef cleaners track record , I have bought from them before too . . I hate doing QT and treatments . But the moment I don’t do it , I can have a catastrophe on my hands . I have cultivated a school FOWLR and have very , very limited funds . No room for simple errors or lack of effort. I have to be diligent in care of these fish . Many of the fish have names , most students always look to see what’s going on or what may have been added new . They can’t wait for the zebra eel to be added . He has been treated and in QT since Feb 14. I will add him in early April. He seems to be good and eating well . One last prazipro and metro dose and he will be good to go .

So you also think reef cleaners is trustworthy? I agree if you’re going to quarantine one thing might as well stick it out for everything. There’s so many mistakes to be had though. Putting your hand in one tank to the next, doing a qt and missing stuff because you never saw it before. Definitely a margin of error. Not to mention time and space.

We had our fish qt at home but that looked different than say marine collectors, and now coral qt, and then if we need CUC but don’t want to break the coral qt it’s another tank. It gets exhausting - but mainly the space. Right now debating just buying quarantined fish, but if they’re faulty then why are we wasting so much time on a coral qt. For people who are new, it’s a lot to sign up for, esp if you think your impulsive

 

[Louis Z]

I know what you are saying , it is exhausting . For 2 years I added nothing new to the tank . I just didn’t have the time or space to do it . Yes cross contamination is so easy . I still do it by accident . I sit there like Homer Simpson “doh” . I haven’t bought from reef cleaners in a while . But every company has to be always evaluated . Look at dr fosters smith turned live aquaria turned petco turned to whatever . But with the local collectors you might have better odds . Vs wholesalers that bring in from all over. . It seems to have gotten better . Late 90’s early 2000’s everything I ordered had ich, and flukes . Velvet , brooklynella , uronema were so common . I lost so many fish didnt know what to do . So I have been burned so many times . I had to educate myself by going down so many rabbit holes . So when someone new enters the hobby . They want to see these fantastic tanks and rush and buy . And crash . They dont know all the details , it’s a ver slow process for me , I hate waiting . .so when someone says they dont QT anything . Russian roulette. . . I just know that I can’t be that way . Early 2000s who knew all of the bugs, nudibranchs , flatworms,bacteria , ciliates would decimate corals and start us dipping and treating ,and QTing . I am waiting when viruses start to be associated with coral demise . I need tostop . But overall I say QT everything . I am more inclined to buy from aquaculture supply lines that don’t deal with wild caught and are kept seperate . Love ORA but I want it before it’s dumped into someone’s system . I want it straight from the bag that they shipped it in .

 

[NancyFish]

I know what you are saying , it is exhausting . For 2 years I added nothing new to the tank . I just didn’t have the time or space to do it . Yes cross contamination is so easy . I still do it by accident . I sit there like Homer Simpson “doh” . I haven’t bought from reef cleaners in a while . But every company has to be always evaluated . Look at dr fosters smith turned live aquaria turned petco turned to whatever . But with the local collectors you might have better odds . Vs wholesalers that bring in from all over. . It seems to have gotten better . Late 90’s early 2000’s everything I ordered had ich, and flukes . Velvet , brooklynella , uronema were so common . I lost so many fish didnt know what to do . So I have been burned so many times . I had to educate myself by going down so many rabbit holes . So when someone new enters the hobby . They want to see these fantastic tanks and rush and buy . And crash . They dont know all the details , it’s a ver slow process for me , I hate waiting . .so when someone says they dont QT anything . Russian roulette. . . I just know that I can’t be that way . Early 2000s who knew all of the bugs, nudibranchs , flatworms,bacteria , ciliates would decimate corals and start us dipping and treating ,and QTing . I am waiting when viruses start to be associated with coral demise . I need tostop . But overall I say QT everything . I am more inclined to buy from aquaculture supply lines that don’t deal with wild caught and are kept seperate . Love ORA but I want it before it’s dumped into someone’s system . I want it straight from the bag that they shipped it in .

I get it, and the older reefers had to be amazing, I can’t imagine going through the research and rabit holes before the internet was as accessible and dense as it is now. I look up everything - and still constantly dumbfounded. The “doh” is so relatable. I will be messing in the coral qt then go feed the fish in the display & instantly took to chat gpt to see the odds I just screwed up my display

All the research though, at the same time it gives me constant analyze paralysis. I started new to saltwater (and fish) a year ago, half of that time was building out the tank, stand and equipment, fish qt lasted a few months because I was so nervous about my stand - it’s solid but I built it. Now I’m paranoid my seams are moving the last two months, I check it like a crazy person because I am slightly off level (but it’s carpet so hard to shim).

Now we had two fish in a huge display and obviously want more fish to make this all worth it since coral take so long to look full, but I just don’t want tanks all over the house. I feel like alcholic who’s sober sitting in a bar if you get the idea lol - just The coral qt had its own rough patches, as did obtaining them. I agree on aquaculture. I thought I had a grip on easier corals, until I got them and realized they weren’t as healthy as they seemed. I rather have stronger odds of survival because it seems like Murthy’s law in this, no matter how much you prepare. The CUC though, I mean say you had a random outbreak - who can wait 2.5 months to qt. And the cost of the additional tanks and equipment, would be so much more enjoyable in a display.

Nevermind my mindless blubber.. just said I get it, It’s hard being stuck between wanting to enjoy and “doing everything proactively”. I’m not surprised people just do the bare minimum- I think about it everyday and I haven’t even done this long.