TTM with hermit crabs

[pacificdiver]

I'm starting TTM with 3 new fish and a few hermits. Do I have to do anything special with hermits for TTM? My concern is that they will be running around near the bottom of the QT, and could have "clingons" that might be carried through to the next stage. Is it best to keep them suspended in some way, or does it not matter?

Thanks in advance.

[lg2725]

I am pretty sure you can not do TTM on inverts and have it with the same effect as with a fish. I believe to truly be sure, you have to put inverts in their own fishless tank for a minimum of 72 days.

[dxdoan]

TTM addresses one of the life stages of Ich that only applies to fish because Ich does not feed off of inverts TTM does not apply to Hermit Crabs.
But as lg2725 said above to ensure ich is not introduced to your tank you could quarantine the inverts for 72 days (longest reported period) which returns a 99.9% rate for eliminating ich.
Question is do you have to the time and money to setup a QT for inverts? and another question will you do this for coral? do you have adequate lights, flow and time to ensure the parameters for this QT to run?
I hate Ich and myself don't leave corals in a QT for 72 days and not sure how many others do adopt this.

[pacificdiver]

Originally Posted by dxdoan

TTM addresses one of the life stages of Ich that only applies to fish because Ich does not feed off of inverts TTM does not apply to Hermit Crabs.

I guess I'm confused, because I've seen several references to doing TTM on inverts, since they can carry parasites, despite not being directly affected by them.

My understanding is that one can send the inverts "along for the ride" with the fish, and either way, everyone should come out ich free, regardless of whether or not they are a host organism.

Is anyone familiar with any research that could answer this one way or the other?

[dxdoan]

Snorvich replied to a thread on this link.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2468003

"Tank transfer works for any animal that acts as a host to the parasite as part of its life cycle. So this means fish. QT of inverts/corals is still desirable but tank transfer is not required."

[FishN00b83]

As some have said above, TTM only works on fish. Inverts and corals have to be in a fishless tank for at least 72 days to prevent ich from getting into your DT. What the 72 days doesn't cover is Uronema.

[ThRoewer]

Sending hermits along for the ride through TTM would render the whole procedure null and void as a parasite could encyst on the hermit's snail shell and by that escape the whole point of doing transfers (which would be to leave the cysts behind in the transfer tanks).

As for invert QT: not all inverts can carry fish parasites. Anemones (unless attached to a rock or pebbles) can't harbor ich (or velvet) cysts. It is also rather unlikely that free stages can hitch a ride in the gastrovascular cavity of anemones.
Anemones however can carry diseases/infections of their own and should be quarantined primarily for that reason.

As for the 72 days - that is just the longest so far observed encystment period of a certain Cryptocaryon strain! For a fallow measure based on this you need to add at least two, better 3 more days to cover the possible 18h before the actual encystment and the two days the hatched theronts can live without a host.
So fallow would have to be at least 75 days.
If I would do it, I would go 11 full weeks.

But even that has to be taken with a pound of salt. This whole period is based on a singular observation in a lab setting. There is to my knowledge no way of telling how long a tomont (cyst) can lay dormant to wait for better times. It could possibly be over a year.
At the same time these extreme durations seem to be very rare which is why there is so far only one observation that is actually confirmed.