nuxx Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid, but I've decided to QT my inverts (turbos, nassarius, emeralds, hermits) for a few weeks before putting them in the DT. Well so far I've lost a turbo and 2 emeralds. I'm curious if maybe there isn't enough algae in the QT tank and that's why they are dropping off. What method of QT / Cleaning inverts do you guys use? I really don't want to let any fish diseases transfer to the DT with inverts. Would love to hear your guy's thoughts! Edited April 5, 2012 by offshore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 While it is possible to transfer ich or flukes in the minute water still inside shell's of snail's etc., the risk in pretty minimal. You would realistically need to QT for 4-6 weeks for something like ich to run thru it's life cycle. If some flatworm's were hitchhiking in on the shell's then you wouldn't necessarily get rid of those with basic QT. Are you sure your QT has never been exposed to copper??? Also are you acclimating them based on the salinity of the water in the bag's they were purchased from? Are you using a calibrated refractometer or a hydrometer, you could be off in salinity by a large margin, I have seen stores even have invert's at lower than recommended salinity level's which could not only affect their longevity but could cause wierd losses like you are having. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) Yeah it was a brand new 20 long... It's never seen copper, just Prazi. We acclimated for an hour or so, QT is around 1.025. System ran for about 4 weeks with DT water and maybe 30% fresh RODI saltwater before we added any fish. Invert went in a few weeks after that, few fish have been in QT since 6 weeks. Tiny Black Ice Clown, baby yellow bellied blue tang, two small neon gobies. Edited April 5, 2012 by offshore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 How established is the QT tank, and what acclimation procedure do you use? Turbo's and Emeralds typically do very poorly in water with high nitrates, or any nitrites or ammonia. People that setup a tank from an existing filter or new water often are cycling at the same time they are QT'ing. This doesn't fair well with inverts. If they died in an hour, I would suspect ammonia. Also, I've lost at least 2 turbos to unknown reasons in the first week after acclimating them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Yeah it was a brand new 20 long... It's never seen copper, just Prazi. We acclimated for an hour or so, QT is around 1.025. System ran for about 4 weeks with DT water and maybe 30% fresh RODI saltwater before we added any fish. Invert went in a few weeks after that, few fish have been in QT since 6 weeks. Tiny Black Ice Clown, baby yellow bellied blue tang, two small neon gobies. Fish also in there.....what's providing your bio-filter, I do not see mention of LR which I would not really expect in a QT but some use it. Depending on the salinity of the water in the bag, one hour may not be enough. Do you ride around with these after purchasing, any possibility of the water getting warm which would also alter PH of the water in the bag. Something like this is hard to diagnose even with a complete picture, it could also be improper acclimation at the source before you even came into the picture. Are you using a refractometer or hydrometer??? Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Fish also in there.....what's providing your bio-filter, I do not see mention of LR which I would not really expect in a QT but some use it. Have about 10 lbs of LR since I didn't plan on using copper. Also have a filter with 2 bio wheels. Fish seem happy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 How established is the QT tank, and what acclimation procedure do you use?... Nitrites / Ammonia are 0, the nitrates are pretty low ~ 10 ppm I'm wondering if it's just the lack of algae / food source. I put some nori in there every few days and it was gone in no time. I hadn't put any in for about a week, so I'm wondering if they ran out of food that fast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 How established is the QT tank, and what acclimation procedure do you use?... Nitrites / Ammonia are 0, the nitrates are pretty low ~ 10 ppm I'm wondering if it's just the lack of algae / food source. I put some nori in there every few days and it was gone in no time. I hadn't put any in for about a week, so I'm wondering if they ran out of food that fast? Starving in a week is doubtful, if the tanks been up almost two months then there should be plenty of food for them in there. Just because you can't see it dowsn't mean it's not there. Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 (edited) Yeah it's weird, I moved one turbo over to the DT and it seems pretty happy... the other turbo that died fell over and might have been there for a few days. I just flipped another over a few hours ago. It's weird the turbos I've had in the DT have never needed to be flipped over... Also, first emeralds I've ever tried to keep... so no idea what happened to them. Think the Prazi could be doing something? I've dosed the DT once with 5 doses of Prazi and nothing died... but I've never had emeralds before. Edited April 5, 2012 by offshore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Just spied on all the iverts and they all seem ok right now. Couldn't find one hermit... should I move them over to the DT soon? Almost been in there for 2 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Personally, I don't QT inverts (not counting coral) unless there's a really compelling reason to. It's a risk, but the chance of a fish parasite being on a snail is pretty low. So far haven't introduced anything from an invert. If the one is doing fine in the DT, I would probably avoid sacrificing any more to the QT. If you do decide to QT them, maybe try a 2 to 3 hour slow drip acclimation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted April 5, 2012 Author Share Posted April 5, 2012 Yeah been reading a lot... Seems like a two step wash in DT water works well. Then just dump the DT water after acclimation is done. Biggest part is to just get a little LFS water into the tank as possible. Two washes after acclimating should remove the LFS water to near zero. I'll probably leave the nassarius in the QT tank to keep things a little cleaner and move the turbos and hermits. I'll just wash off future inverts I guess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuxx Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Decided to skip QT inverts. Just going to hold off buying any inverts until the 240 and rock are cycled. John at Reef Cleaners quoted me a great price on a custom CUC for my tank size that's acrylic and reef safe. Also ones that are less prone to being Trigger food. I'll let the CUC go in when the diatoms start showing up, then put the fish, old rock, and old CUC in a few weeks after the new CUC goes in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.