Coral dipping and invertebrates avoiding disease
- Thread starter Leggmantn2015
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jamie callard
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Dip and quarintine everything. Dont let the water the coral or invertebra is in get into your system at all
Quarantine your invertebrates (snails and shrimp) by themselves if possible for 70 days. Inspect corals for eggs of pests, dip and quarantine them for 6-8 weeks. Quarantine your fish (several methods available).
Good luck!
Good luck!
Well, the answer is yes. They may have eggs of pests and dipping will not kill the eggs. Now, just quarantining for 8 weeks would not solve all of your problems either. That is because if there were eggs in the frags they would hatch, and 8 weeks would be time enough for the pests to reach adulthood and lay more eggs. So dipping every 5 days or so in quarantine would be even better. Most of the eggs would be in the plug, but some could be in the rack that stays in the tank, so changing racks or tanks after each dip during the quarantine would be the the perfect way to go.
That sounds crazy and I do not know or heard of anybody that does that.
So in short:
Dipping is the bare minimum.
Dipping and getting rid of the plug or rock the frag is attached increases your chance of not bringing pests to your tank.
Adding 6-8 weeks of quarantine will give you the opportunity of spotting pests on the new frags before adding to your main tank. Treating in the quarantine tank is easier than in the main tank.
I do not know of anybody doing more than that, although it is theoretically possible.
I hope it helps. Good luck.
CB
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Leggmantn2015
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So I literally need another tank too quarantine corals for a min of 8 weeks after I dip them. Man thats bad news I thought I could coral dip them and just put them.
This reef hobbie is ridiculously more COMPLICATED THAT FRESHWATER.
Seems like you spend 99% of your time trying to avoid pests and disease by turing your house into a fish store with a ton of tanks while having 1% of time to enjoy the display tank.
I'm trying not to get discouraged because I'm like an addict now, I'm obsessed. But man this is alot more work than I expected, so if one drop of infected water hits the display tank you have to take the tank apart and start from scratch?????????
PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME GOOD NEWS.
This reef hobbie is ridiculously more COMPLICATED THAT FRESHWATER.
Seems like you spend 99% of your time trying to avoid pests and disease by turing your house into a fish store with a ton of tanks while having 1% of time to enjoy the display tank.
I'm trying not to get discouraged because I'm like an addict now, I'm obsessed. But man this is alot more work than I expected, so if one drop of infected water hits the display tank you have to take the tank apart and start from scratch?????????
PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME SOME GOOD NEWS.
Reeflogic
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I told you this when you bought the tank 
You do not have to go to these extremes, but you are playing Russian roulette... What I told you and what CB told you is the safest way to reef. Most of us are impatient and don't have the time or funds to have a perfect "fish room" to prevent issues from occurring in our display systems, so we play the "game" and pray. Just because your fish appear healthy doesn't mean that the first incident that happens in your tank that creates additional stress will not end up in an outbreak of a disease or a parasite. The ocean is the most complex system on earth and with it comes many challenges. You might go 10+ years without an issue, but eventually, you will battle one of the many issues that come from the oceans....
You're doing a great job with your tank, you didn't approach it like some of the more seasoned hobbyists would, but you are doing your homework and you are learning, which is all that matters. Just go slow, like you have been and watch it closely. Your system is fairly small and has minimal rockwork, so if you do get a pest, you could easily correct it, well, much easier than someone with a 200+ gallon system.
You do not have to go to these extremes, but you are playing Russian roulette... What I told you and what CB told you is the safest way to reef. Most of us are impatient and don't have the time or funds to have a perfect "fish room" to prevent issues from occurring in our display systems, so we play the "game" and pray. Just because your fish appear healthy doesn't mean that the first incident that happens in your tank that creates additional stress will not end up in an outbreak of a disease or a parasite. The ocean is the most complex system on earth and with it comes many challenges. You might go 10+ years without an issue, but eventually, you will battle one of the many issues that come from the oceans....You're doing a great job with your tank, you didn't approach it like some of the more seasoned hobbyists would, but you are doing your homework and you are learning, which is all that matters. Just go slow, like you have been and watch it closely. Your system is fairly small and has minimal rockwork, so if you do get a pest, you could easily correct it, well, much easier than someone with a 200+ gallon system.
I told you this when you bought the tank
You're doing a great job with your tank, you didn't approach it like some of the more seasoned hobbyists would, but you are doing your homework and you are learning, which is all that matters. Just go slow, like you have been and watch it closely. Your system is fairly small and has minimal rockwork, so if you do get a pest, you could easily correct it, well, much easier than someone with a 200+ gallon system.
So, there are different levels of risk you can take. If you buy a shipment of maricultured corals from an exporter, or from somebody that just bought them (or even a frag from people that buy maricultured or wild colonies and chop them up) it would be very risky to only dip.
Now, there are several vendors that only sell aquacultured frags. They usually are very strict with their quarantine practices because they would loose a lot of money if they introduced a pest in their grow out systems. Buying from them and "only dipping" is much less risky. With that said, their frags are usually smaller and more expensive than the first exemple I gave. And there is always a risk.
I have risked before, was lucky and never introduced a pest to my systems. My risk was calculated (as much as possible). I bought from people I trusted. Mostly aquacultured frags. Maricultured and wild only from Diver's Den (they quarantine all their livestock before selling). I always dipped, I did not quarantined. I used to use Revive, and more recently I switched to Bayer.
I do not risk anymore on my 400 gallons. I have hundreds of corals, and thousands of dollars in that system. At this point, I don't add any new corals. And I will not until I am able to have a quarantine process similar to the most strict I described in my previous post. That is on the way, but will take a while.
I do sit and enjoy every day. There would be no point to spend the money and the time if I did not. With that said, I also enjoy solving the puzzle of improving and finding solutions for non-catastrophic problems. It's the ride of constant challenges, along with the scenic view that makes it a great hobby for me.
CB
Reeflogic
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Look at it like this... You go out and spend 20 grand on a new car, pay cash, then decide you don't want full coverage insurance on the car, you get liability.... Do you feel comfortable with this decision? If you buy a beat up oldsmobuick for a grand, you don't necessarily need full coverage, so you likely feel more comfortable with it. If you plan on having thousands of dollars worth of corals and fish, QTing EVERYTHING is your insurance policy, it's not fool-proof, but very close to perfect. If you plan on keeping a few hundred dollars worth of stuff, go with liability, play the chance game and don't QT.
@cb684 reading your comment, I realize that it never occurred to me that mariculture and aquacultured do mean different things. I'm so glad you touched on this! You have likely saved me much frustration and heartache. I'm so glad I read through your comment. Thank you!
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