Clean up crew QT?

[dndlyon]

There was a comment in today's QOT (question of the day) that has me wondering:

Do you quarantine or otherwise inspect/dip/etc your clean up crew?

I've never done this before because I assumed whatever comes with them is nothing I could get rid off. I purchase from places I trust, and hope for the best - similar to using "approved suppliers" in other industries. I look them over for overall health/activity/obvious hitchikers and put them in.

Would love your thoughts!

Didn't want to sidetrack the original thread, so started a new one. You can find it here.

Thread 'Time to restock: How often do you refresh your clean-up crew?' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...en-do-you-refresh-your-clean-up-crew.1027016/

 

[piranhaman00]

Only purchase from Reef Cleaners and you won’t have issues , no fish are kept there.

 

[kevgib67]

I purchase from my lfs and their invert system is separate from the fish system ( probably running low copper) and I don’t qt.

 

[E.R.A.]

Always check the back of shells. Ive seen some nasty stuff on them that you dont want in a tank. normally some spot treatment is fine. H2O2 normally does it not a dip.

 

[brandon429]

excellent thread. anything wet from a pet store=vector of pestilence.

it wasn't like this in 2005

but people still stock their tanks like they did in 2005, skipping preps, and that's what makes todays disease forum the busiest forum on the site by far, thousands of jobs worked by jay, and nearly all of them = biosecurity incompletions.

it became an urgent matter when we started losing fish to the degree we are losing them to transmissible diseases in the majority of cases vectored right over with a lazy antiseptic handling method.

 

[jda]

You need to QT them yourself if you are serious about this and have strict regiment with your fish. Even though some wholesalers and vendors have fishless invert systems new additions are continuous and I doubt that any of them have the required fallow periods to guarantee no fish diseases.

Dips will kill almost all inverts. Don't dip inverts ever.

I do not do a strict or medicated QT for any of my fish, so I don't do that for my inverts either. I add peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs every three years, snails as needed. Pencil, rock and pincushion urchins seem to live forever (at least a decade) so I don't often replace these.

Edit: I will say that a quick scan for Pyramidellid Snails is a good idea when getting new CUC. They can destroy clams, other snails and a few other things.

 

[dndlyon]

excellent thread. anything wet from a pet store=vector of pestilence.

it wasn't like this in 2005

but people still stock their tanks like they did in 2005, skipping preps, and that's what makes todays disease forum the busiest forum on the site by far, thousands of jobs worked by jay, and nearly all of them = biosecurity incompletions.

it became an urgent matter when we started losing fish to the degree we are losing them to transmissible diseases in the majority of cases vectored right over with a lazy antiseptic handling method.

2005 was probably a year or two before I "rehomed" my reef tanks. I QTd my fish back then (mostly because it was an excuse to have another tank up and running).

Never QTd clean up crew. Fast forward almost 20 years and now I'm working as a microbiologist, setting up a few tanks in my free time. I'm a "snails pace is best" reefer, so rock and sand tanks right now, but thinking about what will go in them.

Today's QOT had me thinking - is it even possible to QT/mitigate contamination with clean up crew? If we are worrying about bacterial/fungal hitchhikers, you're probably worried more about gut biome, which QT will do very little for (or am I missing something?).

Totally agree that the vector is there. Where there is water there is potential for life and pathogen growth. So...what do we do?

Not sure an invert only system is the full answer as it does not take into account cross contact between the systems, but...hey...a lot of this is always going to be part of the Swiss cheese approach to risk avoidance (if you stack enough piece of swiss together - i.e. mitigation strategies - you cover all the potential holes in the system).

And yes, I know QT is always a deep subject...just looking to geek out a bit further with respect to clean up crew. Thanks for humoring me!

 

[brandon429]

its for fish disease components not for bacterial vector control

cryptocarion/marine ich disease agents for example are handled very well with a clean fallow phasing

not all transmissible fish diseases can be beaten with fallowing but some of the stronger players can

 

[dndlyon]

its for fish disease components not for bacterial vector control

cryptocarion/marine ich disease agents for example are handled very well with a clean fallow phasing

not all transmissible fish diseases can be beaten with fallowing but some of the stronger players can

Thank you for the clarification! I may have been overthinking this. I saw Aeromonas and Mycobacterium mentioned in the biosecurity article. I've since reread the article and realized that maybe these bugs were used as examples rather than as things we were trying to keep out.

I thought maybe I was missing something...just overthinking it (it's my super power...that and spilling saltwater on the floor).

 

[Mikeltee]

I can barely keep fish alive for a month in QT let alone Inverts who would be put in a sterile tank. I'd kill them off for sure. I just run an oversized UV and hope for the best.

 

[jabberwock]

I can barely keep fish alive for a month in QT let alone Inverts who would be put in a sterile tank. I'd kill them off for sure. I just run an oversized UV and hope for the best.

I hold the steering wheel real tight, and close my eyes.

So far so good!

 

[nereefpat]

I don't keep much for motile inverts. I have bought snails etc from reef cleaners. They don't keep fish.

To QT them, just keep them in a fishless tank for a few weeks.