QT or not

[DeepSea1]

Hello, I am new to maintaining a saltwater tank. My family and I have caught a few Cowry Snails. Do I need to QT them? How long and how do I feed them in QT? From what I have researched inverts do handle meds well.

 

[Stomatopods17]

QTing inverts is strictly for the sake of preventing what's on their shells from entering the tank.

That being said any medication will kill them, QTing them is basically just keeping them in a fishless environment for quite a while to guarantee any ich or velvet goes through its cycle and dies since no fish host is available.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hello, I am new to maintaining a saltwater tank. My family and I have caught a few Cowry Snails. Do I need to QT them? How long and how do I feed them in QT? From what I have researched inverts do handle meds well.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Chances of inverts bringing in disease are low, but - unfortunately - not zero (see the quote in the link below), so I would personally QT them, but most people don't. The QT (as mentioned in the quote below) should last a minimum of 45 days if kept at 81F (longer is safer; 76 days is the usual suggestion here on R2R). If the temperature is lower than 81F, the QT needs to be longer. As mentioned above, no meds - at best, the meds would do nothing; at worst, your cowries would all die.

As far as feeding goes, do you know what species of cowry you have, or could you post pics for us to try and ID it with? Some species of cowry are easy to feed, but others are definitely not (and, some are not reef-safe) - so knowing what species you have may greatly impact how you would feed them.

The odds are astronomically low - but not zero. For most people, nothing bad will happen (at least disease wise; algae, hydroids, and the like are a different matter) if they don't quarantine their inverts at all. For a few people (like the OP in the thread below), however, they'll draw a short straw.

Whether the extremely low-probability of a highly negative outcome is worth quarantining for 45 days at 81F (the temp being 81F or more over the duration of the QT is important for maximum biosecurity here) over or not is up to you, but most people will say it's not. If you're particularly risk-averse (like I am with things like this), though, then you may believe it to be worthwhile.

Keeping CuC Alive in Quarantine.

So it’s coming time for me to restock the crew. While the exact composition and numbers are TBA, thinking it will be around 15 blue leg hermits, 5 nassarius, 1 mexican turbo and a skunk shrimp. Ultimately they’re going in my 260gal, which currently has a tuxedo urchin, 1 hermit crab, 1...

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[DeepSea1]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Chances of inverts bringing in disease are low, but - unfortunately - not zero (see the quote in the link below), so I would personally QT them, but most people don't. The QT (as mentioned in the quote below) should last a minimum of 45 days if kept at 81F (longer is safer; 76 days is the usual suggestion here on R2R). If the temperature is lower than 81F, the QT needs to be longer. As mentioned above, no meds - at best, the meds would do nothing; at worst, your cowries would all die.

As far as feeding goes, do you know what species of cowry you have, or could you post pics for us to try and ID it with? Some species of cowry are easy to feed, but others are definitely not (and, some are not reef-safe) - so knowing what species you have may greatly impact how you would feed them.

Thanks for the advice. I am not overly cautious and have essentially two tanks one is a sort of qt tank and a learning tank and the other I will take more caution before adding. I am in HI and based on the laws here it is virtually impossible to have any live corals in my tank. The fish I have are all wild caught so I think I may chance it.