[yumseyo]

hello all, my friend is closing down a small salt tank and has some coral and live rock in it. It is safe to take his coral? What should I do before putting it in my tank?

[Proud Texan]

IMO it is safe to take it just make sure you quarantine it for a few weeks

[demonsquirt]

Perhaps a little safer then any other source. Espicially if you know the condition of his tank.

If the frag has ick eggs or glass anemone or red bugs then you could loose a friend. It is best to QT all new fish and frags for less chance of unwanted results.

[unclejed]

I am not a fan of QTs for the added stress but if you are paranoid, there are some good Coral dips out there, use one of those.

[pogodzib]

Placing corals in a q-tank that is setup specifically to house corals is a good idea, but an option that most of us don't do because a fish and coral q-tank would need to be a separate and the coral q-tank would need better water quality with good lighting. I recommend, at a minimum, to do a coral dip to make sure you at least prevent some of the different types of pests from getting into your main tank.

[Lightsluvr]

Originally Posted by demonsquirt

Perhaps a little safer then any other source. Espicially if you know the condition of his tank.

If the frag has ick eggs or glass anemone or red bugs then you could loose a friend. It is best to QT all new fish and frags for less chance of unwanted results.

Actually saltwater ich doesn't have eggs... they form cysts which release dinaspores. The dinaspores are free swimming and are found in most aquaria unless it has been recently treated.

Back OT, uncle jed's advice is what most folks should do, except with SPS. If you are inheriting SPS, you should examine them under magnification for presence of red bugs. Commercial coral dips will not kill red bugs, but that is the subject for nother thread...

LL