Reef tank check up
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Yes I really liked the results and gave me some confidence there were no fish diseases in my tank. Which my QT was meant to accomplish but was nice to get confirmation I don't have anything in my tank that will affect others tanks. (at least for fish diseases) Cough Cough Anemone nightmares
TIL I learned about eDNA testing... very interesting, I might have to order one of these pronto.
But let's be clear, a negative result is not proof the system is parasite or disease-free. The company says a negative means they found no matching DNA and would expect to detect the target if it were present at typical levels, but they also say low-level parasites can be missed and that all tests have a limit of detection. They aim for about 10,000 sequences per sample and say that, in theory, they would be 99% confident detecting a target making up at least 0.05% of the sample, but rare targets can still escape detection, especially if the sample is overwhelmed by DNA from something else.
That matters a lot with ich because of its variable (if well-defined) life cycle, for example, and in general I'd treat this as stronger on positives than negatives, not a magic sterility certificate from just a single test. Now, if you get three clean tests in a row since the last time you added anything from an outside source, THAT I'd say would be a pretty strong argument in favor of a near-guaranteed clean system... but still, the single test is a strong vote of confidence. The science is real, but certainty is not absolute from a single test... which would probably why they offer subscription plans with a 20% discount.
But let's be clear, a negative result is not proof the system is parasite or disease-free. The company says a negative means they found no matching DNA and would expect to detect the target if it were present at typical levels, but they also say low-level parasites can be missed and that all tests have a limit of detection. They aim for about 10,000 sequences per sample and say that, in theory, they would be 99% confident detecting a target making up at least 0.05% of the sample, but rare targets can still escape detection, especially if the sample is overwhelmed by DNA from something else.
That matters a lot with ich because of its variable (if well-defined) life cycle, for example, and in general I'd treat this as stronger on positives than negatives, not a magic sterility certificate from just a single test. Now, if you get three clean tests in a row since the last time you added anything from an outside source, THAT I'd say would be a pretty strong argument in favor of a near-guaranteed clean system... but still, the single test is a strong vote of confidence. The science is real, but certainty is not absolute from a single test... which would probably why they offer subscription plans with a 20% discount.
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