Can diseases be transferred to my tank from coral?

[foxsavage]

I have about a dozen corals that I traded some of my corals to a guy for about a month ago. I now find out that all his fish were wiped out by ick and I'm freaking out thinking I may have introduced it to my tank from his corals. Is this possible? I can't see any sign of it yet but should I be thinking about preemptive treatment? I'm going to be moving everything from my current 100 gallon tank to a 175 in the next couple of months should I take this opportunity to treat the fish? I've had most of them for about 6 months and I haven't treated any of them for anything yet, I haven't seen any signs of sickness in the DT. I did have one chromi that didn't make it through QT but I wasn't able to figure out why.

 

[redneckgearhead]

Well, to answer the question in your title is yes, I believe you can. If the Ick was in the larvel stage and on the coral or plug you could get it that way. You can get "dips" for any new coral frag you introduce later, but Ive never used them so Im not sure of their effectiveness. As far as treating the fish, it would be a good opportunity to treat them since you will have to catch them anyway to transfer to the new tank. But in a monthes time if I didnt see any signs of Ick im not sure I would. That guy could have introduced the ick after your coral trade, so you might be worried over nothing. HTH good luck

 

[Woodstock]

Yes. Anything "wet" could harbor cysts/disease. Sand, rock, corals, snails, crabs, a drop of water, etc... A QT should be utilized for everything. A small QT for corals & inverts will work. Any fish pathogens will 'starve' without a host (fish) present.
Sorry to hear about your losses

I have about a dozen corals that I traded some of my corals to a guy for about a month ago. I now find out that all his fish were wiped out by ick and I'm freaking out thinking I may have introduced it to my tank from his corals. Is this possible? I can't see any sign of it yet but should I be thinking about preemptive treatment? I'm going to be moving everything from my current 100 gallon tank to a 175 in the next couple of months should I take this opportunity to treat the fish? I've had most of them for about 6 months and I haven't treated any of them for anything yet, I haven't seen any signs of sickness in the DT. I did have one chromi that didn't make it through QT but I wasn't able to figure out why.

 

[PSU4ME]

My LFS guy showed me these coral dips as mentioned above.......you can buy them at the counter, 1 Pouch for 1 gallon. he swears by them for all corals. 5 minute soak for all except sps......says he only swishes them around as he found they don't like it too much. They are good for getting spiders, flatworms etc off.

Woodstock, how long could ich live on a plug if it were QT'd without a host?


Fox - looks like you might be in the clear if nothign after a month......at least I hope you are

 

[BigAl07]

I'm with Doni. Nothing from a QT tank should go back and forth to a Display Tank unless it's been "Fallow" for at least 8 weeks.

I'd say after an 8 week stint with no host fish the life cycle of the parasite should have been defeated.

 

[jedi82knight]

On board with Doni and Al. I personally QT 12 weeks

 

[fish101]

i have to agree, coral is a living creture and can transver deseses. its like a comunicable deseise for fish.

 

[foxsavage]

Man I should've thought of this before. I've put every fish in QT for 6 weeks but I've never done it with any of the inverts. If I wait 8 weeks and don't see any sign does that mean I'm in the clear or could it be in the fish and just not visible? I would assume they would act differently if they were sick.

 

[Orcrone]

Man I should've thought of this before. I've put every fish in QT for 6 weeks but I've never done it with any of the inverts. If I wait 8 weeks and don't see any sign does that mean I'm in the clear or could it be in the fish and just not visible? I would assume they would act differently if they were sick.

It is possible that the fish is sick or that there could be some ich parasites within the water that is transferred. But the idea behind a QT being relatively small is that if there is ich in the system it will attack the fish in the small confines and be obvious at some time during the six weeks. I've met some people that treat all new fishes for ich as a prophylactic measure and others that believe you shouldn't treat for a disease that hasn't manifested itself.

 

[foxsavage]

I'll probably treat them just to be safe. I think my purple tang would be miserable stuck in a small QT for 6 weeks as he's almost full grown.