How long after adding corals can I add fish without risk of disease?

[gostby88]

About two months ago I had my two clowns in my 13.5g die from brook. I’m guessing it was somehow introduced from the new corals I had added. After a 6 week fallow period for the brook to die off I added some more corals including two torches, all were dipped and acclimated correctly and have survived. Now I am done adding corals for the time being. I don’t want to add any more fish until I’m absolutely sure there’s no sort of parasite or disease in the water and I know the best way to do this is a QT tank but that’s not a possibility for my currently. How long should I wait to add a pair of clowns for any possible fish parasites to die off? Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Brook is a fish thing - not corals. If you've run fallow for 6 weeks you can add new fish at any time. Note that unless you run some sort of QT you always run the risk of reintroducing something else into your tank.

 

[gostby88]

Brook is a fish thing - not corals. If you've run fallow for 6 weeks you can add new fish at any time. Note that unless you run some sort of QT you always run the risk of reintroducing something else into your tank.

Is there anything that could have been passed on from the corals to kill the fish? Basically what I’m asking is will it make any difference waiting like two days after adding the corals vs a month to prevent the fish from getting any parasites?

 

[Cali Reef Life]

Yes parasites can in crust on corals but die if there is no fish to complete the life cycle. Typically 6 weeks is the standard for having a 99% chance no parasites will have survived that affect fish. I QT all coral and inverts for 6 weeks prior to putting them in tank at around 80 degrees. Its all about risk management on when you feel comfortable adding fish.

 

[Tired]

Theoretically there could be ich or other pathogens attached to the corals. If you wait out a normal fallow period for ich after adding the corals (76 days), there will be no ich in the tank.

As far as I'm aware, there aren't any fish diseases that can live in a coral and use it as a host. I'm sure there are some really opportunistic bacterial infections that can do that, but they'd be the sort of thing that's in every tank, impossible to avoid, and won't infect uninjured, reasonably healthy fish anyway.