Ich! Hermit Crab?

[Tie]

I know Crabs can't get ich but here is the situation. I was about to pull my large Hermit out of my hospital tank and throw him back in my reef. I pulled him out and notice that one of the new fish in the hospital tank has ich.

Is it safe to put the crab back in the reef if I rinse him off good first with some reef tank water? Or is there a chance that some of the parasite can hitch a ride on the crab? My first thought is no but I wanna run it past you guys.

Oh, and is it safe for the crab to be in the tank with ich treatment in there? I know some inverts won't tolerate it but crabs?

[Reefland]

I guess this is what you were talking about.

It would be totally safe to put the crab in the tank, just make sure none of your q-tank water goes in with him.

As far as the medication your using with the crabs in the q-tank, as long as it's not copper (which it obviously isn't), your ok.

[Tie]

Thanks Scott. That's what I was talking about. I tend to over react when I think something is wrong.

I'll rinse the little bugger off and drop him in.

I guess this is what you were talking about.

It would be totally safe to put the crab in the tank, just make sure none of your q-tank water goes in with him.

As far as the medication your using with the crabs in teh q-tank, as long as it's not copper (which it obviously isn't), your ok.

[Poseidon]

Yup, you should be fine. No copper for Inverts of ANY kind. Rinse the little devil off real well, and drop him in. Or as far as your snails are concerned, leave him in the q-tank, so the snails are SAFE!!! LOL

[Ninong]

I know Crabs can't get ich but here is the situation.

They cannot get infected with the parasitic stage (theront) but they can certainly carry the encysted stage (tomont).

Or is there a chance that some of the parasite can hitch a ride on the crab?

Yes, there is a chance that the cysts can hitch a ride on the crab.

My first thought is no but I wanna run it past you guys.

Your first thought was wrong except for the part about asking first.

Oh, and is it safe for the crab to be in the tank with ich treatment in there?

No, it is not safe to leave the crab in the hospital tank. You can either remove him to a separate quarantine tank or, if there are no fish in your display tank, you could actually put him back in there. Even though he could possibly be carrying cysts of C. irritans, their life cycle will be interrupted once they excyst and enter the free-swimming stage. They are only viable for a matter of hours in the free-swimming stage and if they cannot find a host fish for attachment, they die.

Hard surfaces such as sand, rock, glass, equipment and even some invertebrates (invertebrates do not become infected) can serve as attachment sites for tomonts (Burgess, 1992). If any of these objects are removed from an infected tank or system and placed into another aquarium they may carry some tomonts or cysts. It is also theoretically possible to import an infection when using live foods of marine origin.

Drying the aquarium, sand, rock and equipment will kill attached tomonts. Drying, obviously, cannot be used as a means to kill tomonts that are attached to live invertebrates. If the system that an invertebrate, piece of live rock, or live sand originates from is infected, it may be necessary to quarantine these itmes before they are moved into a display containing fish. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2003/mini1.htm

[Tie]

I think we should give Ninong an honorary internet PHD. As always you bring tons of light to the situation.

I already put the crab in the reef tank. Yes there are fish in there but I did scrub him down real good before I put him in there. I rinsed the heck out of him with water from the reef tank. He got pretty mad too. LOL at first he just tried to stay in his shell but after about 30 seconds of running water on him he decided he had enough and came scrapping and clawing and pinching. Anyway hopefully he's clean. Time will tell.

As for the QT tank. It's not the ideal QT, it's a 20 long with crushed coral bottom and a large stony ornamental structure for the fish to hide in and around. I'm running a Fluval canister filter. I have an empty 10g. I may just pull 10g out of my reef tank and transport the fish over to that for treatment.