Quarantining Inverts

[OnePsychLynne]

I've seen in several sites where you should quarantine inverts such as corals, bivalves and crustaceans. But I don't understand why. What are you looking for? Can you treat them if you see something? Tia!

[Simulated Fish]

I've seen in several sites where you should quarantine inverts such as corals, bivalves and crustaceans. But I don't understand why. What are you looking for? Can you treat them if you see something? Tia!

Yes you can treat later but you risk exposure to the entire tank. The goal is keep disease out of the tank. Not all diseases pass from from critter to critter. A number of them actually live in the water or on the surface areas in the tank.

 

A QT is not for treatment initially. It's to obserive for signs and keep out any unwanted pests, nuisance, or disease.

[seabass]

Unnecessarily introducing pests into your display can risk all of your coral (or at least certain species). Plus treating an outbreak is much easier in quarantine than in your display. Using a quarantine tank for new coral is a good practice to observe.

 

However, for coral, some people use coral dips instead of a quarantine tank. With limited resources for another tank, and when the coral is purchased from a reputable source, this is usually an acceptable method (especially for a nano reef, where your liability is limited by the size of your display tank).

[mo'smyname]

If it wasn't for a quarantine/inspection routine, I would have introduced pyramidellid snails into my display tank. They were tucked in nicely on some new astrea snails. Although most of the time people worry about them feeding on clams, they would have had a buffet with my existing snail cleanup crew.