QT cleanup crew?

[Ryanrttu]

Did people here QT their cleanup crew? I was wondering how you would even do this if your QT doesnt have sand/rock or if this even necessary. Since these guys will be the first in my tank for at least a month by themselves, is it even necessary to QT them?

[cloak]

This is a good practice, but I think you'll find that the majority of us don't QT our CUC.

There's not a lot of threads where the snail was suspect, if you know what I mean.

[footballdude2k3]

I have never QT'd a CUC, I don't think I have talked to anybody that does, while I like where you are going with trying to make sure you do things right, I think you can let this one slide.

[Ryanrttu]

Kinda what I was thinking, i'll be QT'ing just about everything else and ill get the CUC in there once the water parameters get good. Shoot though, still a couple months away from cycling. Patience has been annoying but I get it now w/this hobby.

[Dmorty217]

Originally Posted by Ryanrttu

Kinda what I was thinking, i'll be QT'ing just about everything else and ill get the CUC in there once the water parameters get good. Shoot though, still a couple months away from cycling. Patience has been annoying but I get it now w/this hobby.

Depending on how serious you are about not introducing disease to fish you are or not will dictate if you should QT you CUC and corals for that matter. I know that I use to QT fish only and ended up with ich, there is no way when I setup my new tank that I wont QT everything that is wet that goes into my DT

[Ryanrttu]

Originally Posted by Dmorty217

Depending on how serious you are about not introducing disease to fish you are or not will dictate if you should QT you CUC and corals for that matter. I know that I use to QT fish only and ended up with ich, there is no way when I setup my new tank that I wont QT everything that is wet that goes into my DT

How do you QT a CUC though? Do you need a sand bed in there, Live rock?

[cloak]

Originally Posted by Ryanrttu

How do you QT a CUC though? Do you need a sand bed in there, Live rock?

Time perhaps? Nature will take it's course, one way or the other...

[archangel91]

Originally Posted by Ryanrttu

How do you QT a CUC though? Do you need a sand bed in there, Live rock?

My tank got wiped out by ich early on, so like dmorty I QT everything that goes into my DT.

I have a second QT tank with ~10lbs of LR that all my corals and inverts go into for 12 weeks before going to the DT just to make sure if they do have ich cysts on them that they hatch and die before making it into the DT.

When QTing inverts I drop In some food every couple of days depending on what it is. I dont spot feed the corals in QT, just make sure they get enough light.

[Joel_155]

I would eventually like to have a permanent qt setup like this. But the challenges are is that is a complete duplicate system. It's not in the works with this system but it is for the next one.

[Crooked Reef]

Correct answer is to qt anything wet. True answer from me is I have never, or very rarely anyway, qt'd any member of my cuc. The can carry parasites into your system though and like others have said, ich can live for up to 12 weeks without a host.

[Ryanrttu]

Damn 3 months, thats a long time.

My question is, if my tank gets cycled and I add a CUC with zero fish in the tank for 3 months, how would ich live on in a tank with no fish in it for 3 months? Wouldn't in some sense my display tank just be a massive QT tank while I QT my first fish for 3 months? This seems like a win win is it not?

[archangel91]

Originally Posted by Ryanrttu

Damn 3 months, thats a long time.

My question is, if my tank gets cycled and I add a CUC with zero fish in the tank for 3 months, how would ich live on in a tank with no fish for 3 months? Wouldn't in some sense my display tank just be a massive QT tank while I QT my fist fish for 3 months? This seems like a win win is it not?

Exactly, if you add your CuC to your main tank and then wait to put any fish into that tank for 12 weeks it would effectivly be the same thing as putting them in a QT tank. Just make sure you still QT the fish when you get them.

[MondoBongo]

if it is wet, i QT it. period.

i do not treat prophylactically. i use QT strictly for observation purposes. so all things go through the same QT tank and process.

should i suspect any disease, QT gets nuked and treatment (if applicable) would take place in a different hospital tank.

Originally Posted by archangel91

Exactly, if you add your CuC to your main tank and then wait to put any fish into that tank for 12 weeks it would effectivly be the same thing as putting them in a QT tank. Just make sure you still QT the fish when you get them.

depends on what you're trying to QT against.

case and point i have flatworms in QT right now. so i am able to treat there with flatworm exit, rather than worrying about trying to treat the DT. time would not have helped with this particular pest.

[Ryanrttu]

Originally Posted by archangel91

Exactly, if you add your CuC to your main tank and then wait to put any fish into that tank for 12 weeks it would effectivly be the same thing as putting them in a QT tank. Just make sure you still QT the fish when you get them.

I think that sounds like a plan to me!

[Ryanrttu]

Question because I have decided that I will be QT the cleanup crew but not in the main display...


Im going to buy a 10 gallon tank from petco this weekend, if all i have in there is the CUC, do i need to have sand in the QT tank as well? How would i technically feed the CUC in a QT tank? Especially since they are going to be in there for 3 months.

[MondoBongo]

my QT is bare bottom. if something absolutely needs sand, like certain wrasse, i put it in a gladware dish so i can remove it easily if need be.

as for feeding it depends on what CUC you're adding. if i have shrimp or things like nassarius snails i will feed them some fish food, either pellets or frozen, in small amounts. not usually every day either.

for herbivores like certain snails, that's a good question. my QT is fully cycled, so it grows plenty of its own algae to feed them. i would probably try some nori sheets, purchasing some additional macro, or maybe even tossing in a little live rock that has some algae on it for them to graze.

someone else may have better advice there though.

full disclosure, when i initially added my CUC right after my cycle finished, i did not QT them. i didn't have a QT set up at that point, so i just left them in the main DT by themselves for a while.

[Ryanrttu]

Thx Mondo, thats a good point about the Wrasse which I am also getting for my other QT. Im def going to have some hermit crabs, i guess I can buy a lil LR rubble as well for the snails.

When I cycle the QT should I have the live rubble in the QT tank?

[MondoBongo]

you can leave it in there if you like, as long as you're not medicating in QT.

for hiding spots i will often use regular PVC elbows. typically i don't leave a lot of rock in the QT system.

as far as going fully cycled QT or not, that is a lot of personal preference and what works best for you.

for me it is easier just to leave the tank up, rather than taking it down and putting it back up every few weeks as i get new livestock. some people prefer to use a non-cycled QT that they break down immediately after they're done with it. to get past it not being cycled, they typically just closely monitor the water levels and do large, and frequent, water changes.

for future use, i keep some extra sponges for filters, and a few medium sized rock chunks in my sump. that way if i need to seed another tank, or try to quick cycle something, i have a partially established bio filter on those items. you can also use that to help "quick" cycle a QT. this won't work for you if you don't have your DT already cycled, obviously, but just something to think about for down the road.

i should also stress that this is just what i do. it works for me. there are a decent variety of QT techniques out there, so don't take mine as the only version of the truth. there may be a different one that works better for your particular situation. what's important is that you are going to QT, and are asking the right questions about setting it up. you'll do quite well.

[Ryanrttu]

I am going to be running a QT for at least half a year so going to start the cycle on two of them next week, my DT im starting cycle in August but I just want to get a couple QT tanks going since the fish and CUC will be in there for 3 months and that would put me around October I could put them in the DT. This way I am still being patient and doing it the right way (IMO) but I can get fish in my tank in a little over a few months.

[ca1ore]

It all comes down really to the level of risk you are willing to bear. If you want to approach 100% assurance that your display is disease and pest free you should QT everything. However, I do not. I QT all fish for 6 - 12 weeks, isolate all new clams for a month, and dip all new corals. That's it. While I don't doubt that folks have had some dreadful luck and introduced ich via an invert 'carrier', it has never happened to me (that I know of).