tom reilly
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Should I QT starfish and if so for how long? what am I looking for?
Starfish QT?
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greenhorn reefer
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I do for about a week. I just don't want them to go strait into the display tank.
ThunderGoose
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I like to QT everything. If it's going to die quickly (such as from shipping stress), I'd rather it die in my QT tank than in the DT.
greenhorn reefer
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How long do you qt inverts?
Tahoe61
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I see no reason to QT a starfish. Any pathogens/parasites a starfish brings to a system is not going to show in a couple weeks of passive QT, you can not treat a starfish secondary to their extreme sensitivity to medications. Inverts such has Starfish and Urchins often harbor parasites that are specific to those inverts.
ThunderGoose
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I only QT for a week or so to make sure they came in reasonably healthy. I do NOT treat with any medications. Yes, they could have come in with parasites but I find that most mortality occurs in the first week or two and I'd rather it be in QT than DT.
Tahoe61
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It's more common to receive a specimen with nutritional status issues post transport and LFS. Unless the QT houses the mediums to grow film algae and bio mass for the starfish to feed on then one might be actually contributing to the demise of a particular invert early on rather than adding them to the display.
If the system is large and established the death of an invert should have no noticeable affect on water quality, if the system is small than retrieval of dead invert should not be problematic.
If Starfish commonly harbored the same parasites that may infect fish or other inverts such as clams, corals and anemones than QT would be essential but these inverts do not, and you can not treat for parasites or disease.
It's a nice idea to QT everything that goes into a tank but it's not a practical practice for some inverts.
If the system is large and established the death of an invert should have no noticeable affect on water quality, if the system is small than retrieval of dead invert should not be problematic.
If Starfish commonly harbored the same parasites that may infect fish or other inverts such as clams, corals and anemones than QT would be essential but these inverts do not, and you can not treat for parasites or disease.
It's a nice idea to QT everything that goes into a tank but it's not a practical practice for some inverts.
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