Quarantine question

[timwag2001]

Should i quarantine my amano shrimp before putting them in my tank like i do when i get new fish?

 

[CTD]

Yes!

 

[timwag2001]

do they carry the same disease that affects fish?

 

[CaptainAhab]

FWIW, I never QT inverts

 

[timwag2001]

Is there any reason that you dont?

 

[dolittle1026]

I don't think so

 

[CaptainAhab]

Because it's my belief that inverts are not carriers of the common disease's found in the aquarium. Ask yourself this, what medicines would you treat with? The vast majority are not invert safe. Inverts won't tolerate hypo (for SW), high temps, copper, etc. What are the signs of disease on inverts? The QT is meant for observation. If you don't have a plan on how to observe and treat for each possible disease then what are you accomplishing?

Are yo tryin to rule out ich? Ever seen or heard of icd attaching to an invert?

Just some things to ponder

 

[timwag2001]

i have absolutely no experience or knowledge of inverts.


and quarantine isnt just to see if they are ok or need meds. its so that they dont make all of the inhabitants in my 55 dont get sick. if i can't treat the shrimp thats fine... but i dont want to treat everything else because i put a possibly sick animal in my tank, thats what i want to accomplish.

and everything you said is what i was pondering, lol. that's why i asked.

 

[CaptainAhab]

The goal of QT is to make sure you don't transfer disease to your tank. Simply putting them in a place called QT does nothing. You have to observe and then treat what you see. You don't QT and just blast with meds just in case. So, again, unless you have a list of diseases inverts may carry and a way to identify them and to treat them then if they have any of them (what ever 'them'(s) may be') then unless the specimen dies or never reaches of DT whats the point? (please don't call the grammar police; I'm tired)

QT is a process not a place.

Which is why I don't QT inverts. I dipped the few corals I have but never shrimp, snails, crabs, etc

 

[Innovator]

I think one of the biggest factors with invertebrates is what are kept with them at the wholesalers and lfs'. For example, ghost shrimp often come with small live bearers and other miscellaneous fish from wholesalers that would give a cause for concern often passed onto the lfs. Your invertebrates are not necessarily carriers in a sense of infecting another animal, but can be carriers just by having any type of disease causing agent on their body at the time of transfer. As far as what tolerates what, that is a very fine line with much experimentation needed. Either route you choose, I do fully agree with the good Captain

 

[timwag2001]

so lets say you get a shrimp that appears to be sick. do you put it in your community tank or leave it in qt untill it gets better (since you can't treat it)
or if you buy a fish and it appears to be sick and you treat it but meds dont make it better, do you leave in it qt?

i'm not putting a sick anything into my tank untill its better. or dies and i flush it.

 

[CaptainAhab]

IMO for inverts it's taking a risk (though I view it to be highly minimal). I skip the QT.
For fish, it QT and observation for all

But again I can't tell you the signs of a 'sick' invert vs a stressed invert vs a diseased invert vs an annoyed invert.

 

[CTD]

IMO for inverts it's taking a risk (though I view it to be highly minimal). I skip the QT.
For fish, it QT and observation for all

But again I can't tell you the signs of a 'sick' invert vs a stressed invert vs a diseased invert vs an annoyed invert.

The good CaptainAhab would be a better source of advice due to his experience with Inverts than myself, But I still would not choose to skip QT because if the Inverts are not sick or carrying a disease then there is no harm no foul for being in QT.

IMHO a "Slight Risk" however "Minimal" is still a "Risk", And not something I would choose to take at my livestock's expense.

Here are a couple articles concerning this subject:

(a) http://forum.simplydiscus.com/archive/index.php/t-58757.html

(b) http://www.exoticpetvet.net/aqua/parasites.html

 

[CaptainAhab]

While I don't disagree.. There's not harm or foul but also I'm not sure I see the benefit. There's no harm or foul in boiling your tap water just in case your municipality let something sneak through. But it wouldn't seem to be the prudent choice either. The question still remains, how would you identify if the invert was hosting? What treatment? I mean there's nothing wrong with plopping him in your QT (as long as you never treated the QT with anything that will kill ur invert..aka copper) and staring at him. But to what end if it is simply a carrier and not symptomatic of the whatever disease?

My advice isn't any better than anyone elses (though I dig the compliment). As is my problem with most regulatory bodies within corporate America and the government. A rule shouldn't exist just because someone decided the rule applied across the board. The rule needs to make sense within each context for which it is applied, and for me in the invert QT case it just doesn't

My last post on the topic as is seems to be a cyclical discussion but that IMO FWIW