do I need to QT snails in a new tank?

[jaiden]

I've got a cycled tank which started with dry rock and sand. It's got some diatoms and a bit of hair algae from the one piece of "real" LR that's in there. I'm running a sponge in there for a week to move to my new QT, at which point I'll finally get a fish (it's been 2 months since I bought the tank!)

I'm thinking of stopping by the LFS today to pick up some pods, a few snails (astarea?) and maybe another piece or two of LR.

Do I need to QT any of this? Can snails/rock carry ich?

 

[quarryshark]

Since there are no fish in the system to be hosts to any parasite and there will not be fish in the system for several weeks, I would say just go ahead and add them to the main. After a slow acclimation of course.
Yes items other than fish can carry parasites into your main. In the trophont stage they can "hitchhike" their way in. It is rare, but it did happen to me. I had ich enter my system via some live sand from another system.

 

[IfoundNemo]

Get a UV sterilizer. It will kill almost 98% of the parasites in your tank.

 

[steve-s]

Get a UV sterilizer. It will kill almost 98% of the parasites in your tank.

But is by no means 100% effective and should not be relied upon. Personally I wouldn't waste the money. When it comes to fish, QTing them is the first best option. All others are wishful thinking.

Cheers
Steve

 

[IfoundNemo]

Get a UV sterilizer. It will kill almost 98% of the parasites in your tank.

But is by no means 100% effective and should not be relied upon. Personally I wouldn't waste the money. When it comes to fish, QTing them is the first best option. All others are wishful thinking.

Cheers
Steve

98% is better than 0% IMHP. Does QTing 100% effective? I'd like to see some facts.

 

[quarryshark]

98% is better than 0% IMHP. Does QTing 100% effective? I'd like to see some facts.

If facts are what you want spend some time looking through the sick fish forum and see how many people who don't qt end up with a disaster.
100%? Well what in life is 100%? But I believe it is your best bet.
BTW, I'm not against UV, I recently purchased one myself. I would rather employ both, but keeping parasites out of the system in the first place seems the most logical.

 

[supafreak]

so, if your quarantine your snails, etc, at what point do you determine that they have no parasites? after you take them out and look at them under a microscope? what i mean is couldn't you still think that they are healthy, 4 weeks down the line, and have them infect your tank?

 

[IfoundNemo]

Exactly my point. You can't just QT alone. BTW. UV sterilizer does more than just kill the parasites. I'm sure you know that by now.

 

[quarryshark]

so, if your quarantine your snails, etc, at what point do you determine that they have no parasites? after you take them out and look at them under a microscope? what i mean is couldn't you still think that they are healthy, 4 weeks down the line, and have them infect your tank?

You can't "check " them. I simply put them in the qt tank for a week or 2 to lessen my chances of bringing something in. They are not hosts for the parasite and really the only way they will bring them in, is if a trophont happens to be lodged on one.
I don't want to start a new trend here, let me just simplify this my saying the "I" qt everything that comes from a system other than my own. This is due to some bad luck I had with some live sand from another system. You will get different opinions on this and your mileage may very.

 

[supafreak]

i intend to qt, using my small current tank as a qt tank, for my larger tank. I was just curious as to when and how you know when it is safe to add to your tank. Also, I'm going to be putting corals in my new tank, now that i have the proper lighting, although I don't have the mh lighting on my qt tank, and was wondering how I can get arround this. Any suggestions? Are corals a big risk for disease?

 

[quarryshark]

Can't keep snails in a bare bottom for to long or they will starve. As for corals, I'm not sure. I just keep fish and inverts. However with the ability to feed them in a qt tank, I'm sure its possible. Our LFS's seem to have those plastic perches for them. I would think one could employ a similar system.
I don't think anything other than fish are a big risk, but the potential is there IMO.
Lighting is another problem all together, one that the reefers could better help you with.

 

[supafreak]

it's not a bare bottom tank.....does it have to be? I never even thought of that. It is a 33g tank, one that i'v had running for years, and we'v up graded to a 120, and I thought I'd keep the 33 running for a qt tank, and keep just a few pieces of live rock, and substrate, to keep the tank in good condition incase needed for hospital, and use for qt.

 

[quarryshark]

for something like inverts or corals that would be fine, you would not be treating them with any meds. But if you qt a fish and the need arises to use meds, the substrate and any rock would need to go. Meds would kill the rock anyway and anything porous would absorb the meds and effect their potency.
Qt for fish needs to be bare bottom, you can use PVC elbows and such for them to hide. Here is a pic of my qt tank.

 

[foob]

Actually experiments have shown ich requires a fish host. Without a host they will die. So considering the life cycle of ich, 6 weeks of QT or fishless display tank will make sure there is no ich in the system. (life cycle of ich is max about 30 days)

Ich doesn't enter the UV sterilizer, it lives. Ich (theront stage) that doesn't find a fish host in 24 hours will die. The usefulness of a UV sterilizer against ich is obvious.

The risk of ich cyst being carried on inverts, corals is small. But I don't think anybody has tried to place a probability on the likelihood. So you have to make your own choice whether to QT inverts and corals. It depends on how difficult it is for you to QT them.

QT has other benefits, like being in a stress-free environment to recover from transport, instead of being dumped into the main tank where there are animals that will irritate them before they are healthy. The disadvantage is that if you bought snails to eat algae, there most likely isn't any in the QT. You will have to feed them something else.