How to deal with new inverts.

[pinda]

If new inverts can carry fish diseases how to you introduce them into the aquarium. Should you quarantine them and medicate them ( not certain if this is good) or do you just add them and hope for the best?

 

[blazeyreef]

quarantine definitely

 

[Lance M.]

Quarantine them. Any copper based medications you added would kill the inverts. And there wouldn't be any visible signs of a fish disease if they were carrying it.

 

[Hara]

I never quarantine my inverts...

 

[pinda]

When they are quarantined what am I looking for, or is it that quarantining them since there is no fish there then the parasites, fungii and maybe ich would die?

 

[Lance M.]

Exactly, you wont see any signs of the disease/parasites on the inverts, but when they are quarantined there is no fish host for it to survive so it dies.

Like from what Hara says, I'm sure lots of people dont quarantine their inverts (or fish for that matter) and they never have problems with diseases;however, the possiblity is still there.

Also remember healthy fish are less likely to contract a disease than stressed/unhealthy fish.

 

[Hara]

There are not too many diseases that inverts will pass along to fish.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I believe the only thing an invert can pass on to a fish will be whatever is hitchiking in whatever water comes over. The parasite will be in the drops of water on the invert.

If you do quarantine your inverts, then to do it right, you're going to have to leave them in the QT for at least 8 weeks. That's the "fishless" time that ich needs before it supposedly will be killed off. Any shorter period and you can still have ich in your water.

When I started this hobby, I had every intention of quarantining everything. But once I thought through the 8 week quarantine, I realized that with my initial cleanup crew, many would have starved because there just wouldn't have been enough to eat in my 10g QT over a 8-week period.

I do quarantine fish though - minimum of 4 weeks.

 

[roka64]

I don't QT my inverts either. I agree with Hara and Kurt, if anything, it would come in with the little bit of water you get from the LFS. I would say, if your LFS had problems with diseases, then don't buy from them.

 

[melosu58]

I dont QT my inverts either. As Lisa said there is very little if anything that an invert can bring over.

 

[pinda]

The reason for my post is that I dont know what I would feed them when they are quarantined. I guess to minimize any probs would be to let as little water as possible get into your aquarium.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I suppose if you want to play it really safe, you could do a 2-stage acclimation. Stage 1 would be to acclimate the snail to your QT. Then after a day, you could acclimate it to your main tank. Doing this, you'd dilute whatever water came over with the snail with your QT water. And in only waiting a day, you wouldn't have to worry about food. Just a thought...

 

[pinda]

Good idea.