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How to Quarantine Invertebrates
Last updated on November 17th, 2023
Why Quarantine Invertabrates?
Much like when you quarantine saltwater fish, when you quarantine invertebrates, you are attempting to prevent diseases and parasites sich as marine ich and velvet from entering your aquarium. Invertebrates are more challenging to quarantine, however, because they cannot be medicated and cannot tolerate hyposalinity. So how do we quarantine invertebrates? And why do we quarantine invertebrates?
Why Quarantine Invertebrates?
Invertebrates such as snails, crabs, and shrimp cannot actually have ich. The Ich parasites can't feed on inverts. Nor can many other fish diseases and parasites. So why should you quarantine inverts?
As it turns out, while these parasites can't feed on invertebrates, they can attatch themselves to the inside or outsite of their shells. This is why quarantining invertebrates is encouraged. But if you can't medicate, use hyposalinity, or even dip invertebrates, how do you QT them?
How to Quarantine Invertebrates
If you are looking to prevent ich or velvet, or other parasites from hitching a ride on your cleanup crew or ornamental invertebrates, then you will need to quarantine your invertebrates. Though this may not be very likely, it is possible. If you maintain an ich free aquarium, then this is another step toward the perfect environment for your fish.
Since the most common parasite in reef tanks is marine ich, I will focus on that as the 80% rule, or the "if we handle this, we are likely good" concept. Before trying to quarantine invertebrates to prevent ich from entering your tank, you will want to read "Saltwater Ich Treatment in Reef Tanks.
The main take-away is that ich can only live for 84-90 days without a fish to feed on. That means there is a very simple way to quarantine invertebrates. The easiest way to quarantine invertebrates is to keep them in a tank, seperate from your main system, with no fish, for 90 days, or 3 months.
If you add any fish to the quarantine tank, or add any other invertebrates, the 90 days restarts as these may provide more parasites, or a food source for the parasites in the tank. Is 90 days really needed? Probably not. In fact 78 days is more than enough in most cases. That being said, anything is better than nothing!
Every day that you keep the invertebrates in a fallow aquarium, is a day better for your display tank. Though 3 months feels like forever, it is nothing compared to the life span of the reef tank. But if you only quarantine your invertebrates for 30 days, that's still 30 days better than nothing!
Other Articles for Parasite and Illness Prevention:
Other Tips
If you decide to add the invertebrates before the 90 days are up, there are some other tips that can help prevent parasites from hitchhiking.
1. Clean All Shells
Using a clean toothbrush, inspect and clean off all shells. Rinsing the shells in saltwater from your tank, in a small bucket or bowl, before adding them to the tank itself. This will help remove loose parasites and other hitchhikers before they enter your reef.
2. Avoid Contaminated Water
Pretend as if your invertebrates are coming from a tank of toxic sludge. You don't know what's in the water the invertebrates are in, or if there is any bacteria or parasites. So you may want to keep them in a small tank for a couple days to dilute the amount of "old water" and whatever was in it. Then rinse the invertebrates in a bowl of water from your tank to clean it off even more. If nothing else, this will help reduce the chances of hitchhikers.
3. Inspection of the Source
When you purchase the invertebrates, inspect the tanks they're coming from. If there is any ich, velvet or anything else in the systems they're coming from, you can assume it is in their water. If the local fish store doesn't quarantine their fish before adding them to their tanks, then you can assume that the water has all sorts of bad things in it. If the store does quarantine, keeps invertebrates in a seperate system, and you've never seen any health problems in these tanks, then you are far less likely to have issues!
Conclusion
Let's be realistic, most of this is excessive. You likely won't do a full 90 day quarantine without adding other life, scrub shells, inspect, etc. Though you may not do all of this, I highly encourage at least some of it. Every step you take toward preventing these hitchhikers from entering your aquarium is better than not doing so. Every bit that you do should be celebrated, but remember there is no perfect solution, so do the best for you and your aquarium!
About the Author
John Krenzer
John is a Software Engineer with a passion for saltwater aquariums, as well as the founder and president of Reef Stable. He started in the aquarium hobby as a child with a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium. His interest in aquarium life grew and in 2008, John set up his first saltwater aquarium.
Today, John maintains an over 300 gallon reef tank system, consisting of a 120g reef and a 210g reef. These large tanks are contained within the same system, sharing a sump as a means to reduce total maintenance and increase total water volume.
John writes articles for the blog as a means to learn about more reef aquarium topics. These articles act as a reference for the readers as well as himself. John updates these articles frequently to provide additional information or make corrections as new information becomes available.
If you would like to request an article, tank tour article, or to collaborate, let me know via the Contact Me Page!
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