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FAQs on Marine Parasitic Disease: Prevention
Related Articles: Marine Parasitic Disease, Marine
Ich: Fighting The War On Two Fronts, Crustacean
Parasitic Disease,
Quarantine,
Quarantine of Marine Fishes,
Related FAQs: Marine
Parasitic Disease 1,
Parasitic Disease 2, Parasitic Disease
3, Parasitic Disease 4,
Parasitic Disease 5, Parasitic Disease
6, Parasitic
Disease 7,
Parasitic Disease 8, Parasitic Disease 9,
Parasitic Disease 10, Parasitic Disease
11, & FAQs on: Parasite-infested Systems:
Parasitic Marine Tanks,
Parasitic Marine Tanks 2,
Parasitic Reef Tanks, Parasitic Reef
Tanks 2, & FAQs on: Diagnosing Parasitic
Diseases, References on Parasitic
Diseases, Index Materia Medici for
Parasitic Diseases (medicines),
Treating Marine Parasitic Diseases,
Using Hyposalinity to Treat Marine Parasitic Diseases,
Hyposalinity Treatments 2,
Fallow Tanks, & Best Crypt FAQs,
Cryptocaryoniasis, Marine Ich,
Marine Velvet
Disease Biological Cleaners,
Treating Parasitic Disease,
Using Hyposalinity to Treat Parasitic Disease,
Parasitic Worms, Crustacean
Parasitic Disease,
Isopods, |
Do you dip/bathe, quarantine incoming livestock? You should develop
and stick to an acclimation protocol... to avoid much of the world
of infectious/parasitic disease. |
Quarantine: Quarantine by
Bob Fenner,
Quarantine Marine Fishes,
To Quarantine or Not To Quarantine-That's a Good Question!
by Bob Goemans, Quarantine of Corals and
Invertebrates, by Scott Fellman & FAQs on:
Quarantining Invertebrates, &
FAQs on: Best
FAQs on Quarantine,
Quarantine 1, Quarantine 2,
Quarantine 3, Quarantine 4,
Quarantine 5, Quarantine 6, Quarantine
7, Quarantine 8, Quarantine
9, Quarantine 10, Quarantine
11, Quarantine 12,
Quarantine 13, & FAQs on: Rationale/Use, Methods, Quarantine
Tanks & FAQs on Quarantine Tanks,
Quarantine Filtration & FAQs on:
Quarantine Filtration, Quarantine Maintenance & FAQs on:
Quarantine Maintenance/Operation, Quarantine
Feeding & FAQs on: Quarantine Feeding,
Quarantine Protocol FAQs, Dips/Baths: Dips/Baths
by Bob Fenner & FAQs on: Dips/Baths,
Dips/Baths 2, Dips/Baths 3, & FAQs on
Dip/Bath: Rationale/Use,
Methods, Tools,
Adjusting pH, Additives,
Iodine/ide/ate, Lugol's Use,
Methylene Blue, Formalin/Formaldehyde,
Dangers Will Robinson, Products,
Methylene Blue & FAQs on: Methylene
Blue,
Formalin, Formaldehyde Use & FAQs on:
Formalin, The More Common Protozoans:
(Yes, there are several others):
Cryptocaryon/White Spot: Prevention,
"Causes", Amyloodinium/Velvet:
Prevention, Brooklynellosis/"Clownfish Disease":
Etiology/Prevention, Larger Zoonoses:
Parasitic Marine Worm Diseases:
Etiology/Prevention, Black Spot, "Black Ich",
Paravortex... Turbellaria...
Etiology/Prevention, |
Question concerning Live Rock, Protozoan Dis. harboring
09/14/09
There is absolutely no doubt that you guys are the best in business. The
more I appreciate your service, the less it is. Anyways, enough
polishing, lets get to business now.
<Well, all right!>
My SW tank was setup and things were going fine until ich and/or velvet
showed up and many fish died as usually happens. My question concerns
live rock. I tore apart the entire aquarium had removed all the LR I had
and placed in a bucket with an air stone to oxygenate and cause water
movement.
Since, then I have reset the aquarium once again and have a settled tank
with few fish. And today is the 36th day (5 weeks plus) since I have the
LR in quarantine bucket.
Q) Is it safe to put the LR back in my tank now after 5 weeks?
<The longer the better... but likely yes>
If yes, any special procedure or steps I need to accomplish before
adding it to my tank.
Note: I don't get any foul smell in the bucket. Plus the bucket was
under a table, so its relatively dark even during day time. And having
learnt my lesson, I QT all fish now and am the latest supporter of FW
dips for fish.
Thanks once again.
<Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/fallowtkfaqs.htm
and peruse the linked files above. Bob Fenner>
Re: worm, Naso QT, Protozoan fecal presence 2/1/09
Thanks for the compliments! Coincidentally, I have a Naso tang in
quarantine (for the past 4 weeks) that stopped eating today. I
noticed white hard fecal matter and decided to look at that under a
microscope. Well I saw (pics attached) of something, possibly
parasitic. Could you help identify? <Mmm, other than appears
Protistan/Protozoan, no... but could be a commensal...> The Naso
appears to be behaving otherwise normally. The various pics are all
pics of the same thing. Thanks again! <I would not be overly
concerned re this... I would go ahead and place this Tang... as it
is likely to decline in the present small QT, and unlikely to infest
the DT. Bob Fenner> | Ciliates
at 400 X |
Re: worm 2/1/09 I'm a bit hesitant to put him in the
DT b/c he did have Amyloodinium (verified microscopically).
<Mmm... okay> Treated with Chloroquine diphosphate for 10
days. He's been doing well 4th day into treatment and been doing
well for the last 8 day post treatment (so he's been doing well
for 12 days) up until yesterday. Is it too soon to put him into
DT? thanks <Given this further data/input, it is too soon.
BobF> |
Sanitizing equipment? 1/22/09 Hi Crew, <Hello> I have
been an avid cruiser of your site for some time. I sometimes surf for
fun but I usually come here to find the answers to specific questions.
Of course I am writing because I have a few questions. <Fire away.>
I am currently treating my fish in hyposalinity, after an ich outbreak
(lesson learned, ALWAYS QT!). <Yep> So my fish are currently
living in a 30 gallon tank with two sponge filters and a heater, while
my 125 reef sits without fish. The specific gravity is 1.010 in the
treatment tank, and of course unaffected in the display tank. The tank
has not had any fish since 12/1/08, but I have added some inverts and
corals, the last of which went in the tank on 1/15/08. My plan is to
raise begin raising the salinity in the quarantine tank slowly starting
now, and put the fish back in the display sometime around 2/15/09. <I
like to see them go 4 weeks without symptoms after treatment to help
make sure they are pathogen free.> I am waiting so long because of
the possible contamination from the newer livestock additions in the DT.
Does this sound like a good timeline? <A little quick for my tastes.>
I think I know the answer, but I thought I would throw it your way since
I had your attention. The real questions I have are about sanitizing my
equipment after it has been used in the QT. I think the QT is parasite
free because it has had hyposaline for 7 weeks now, but I still get
concerned about accidentally transferring parasites from the QT to the
DT, and would like to avoid it. <Is a very real concern.> Normally
I rinse my pumps, hoses, and water containers in hot water, and then I
let them dry out before I use them again. Do we know if there is any
temperature that will kill things like tomonts (not in the tank but in
my sink)? Will 120F kill them? <Most likely but not a guarantee, I
often throw nets and such into the dishwasher to help clean them.> Or
is it just safe to assume that when everything dries, it is okay to use
in the DT? <A dip in a mild bleach solution, followed by a good
rinse, and then allowing them to COMPLETELY dry is my method,> I also
ask because on the WWM site there is mention of keeping a sponge filter
in the sump of the DT, so it is ready to go with bacteria when you want
to set up a QT for a new arrival. After using the sponge filter in the
QT, how do we make it safe to put back into the DT? What is the
protocol? <I just throw them out, they are cheap enough to just go
get another. This is one of the main reasons sponge filters are
recommended over other filtration methods.> Thanks so much for your
time and help, Alex <Welcome> <Chris>
Can apparently uninfected fish be carriers? Preventing The Spread of
Parasitic Illness.. 5/6/08 Hi Crew, <Hey there! Scott F. here
today!> On March 30 I had a sudden die off of 3 fish in my 90 gallon.
I had quarantined a little Tang I bought for about 3-4 weeks.
<Excellent practice!> He was only about 1.5 inches so I thought he
would be fine in my old nano which was well cycled. I was pretty sure
the Eunicid worm that used to reside in the rock had met his demise
since I hadn't seen it for a while. Well, one day I went up and I
couldn't find my little Blue Tang. I picked up the rock and turned it
over a few times and no fish. I went downstairs and when I came back up
he was back in his favorite hiding place behind the heater. I was rather
worried that the worm was still alive. Not thinking logically, I decided
to move it to the main tank. <Uh oh...have a hunch where this is
going.> Within a day or 2 he started showing signs of ich or velvet
but he was still eating. The Coral beauty was little aggressive toward
him which didn't help. Any way about 2 days later I woke up and all 3
algae eaters were dead. They were eating fine the night before. I think
if it disease maybe it was velvet because of the speed it took. <A
very good hypothesis. This illness attacks and kills with astounding
rapidity.> We put Advantage on our cats that day also. May be
possible some got on the Nori? <It is possible if you didn't wash
your hands after administering this medication. Although the symptoms
that you are describing seem indicative of a disease rather than a
poisoning event of some sort.> Anyway my 2 Perculas, my corals,
snails and my cleaner shrimp are fine. I immediately removed the Clowns
and initially put the recommended dose of Cupramine in the quarantine. I
removed the live rock from the quarantine to an un cycled tank in the
garage. I dosed them for a couple days and had a hard time keeping the
level up without getting too much. Anyway I quit dosing them because
they are obviously not sick. My question is should I dose them for a
period of time in case they are carriers before I put them back in the
main tank? I'm looking at a 10 week fallow period which would be June 8.
<Good questions. However, I would not dose copper prophylactically in
the future, because of potential "collateral damage" issues/ In your
situation, a two month fallow period makes sense. You simply cannot be
too careful with a disease like Marine Velvet. By removing all fishes
from the display, and by allowing the Clowns a period of time for
observation, you're sort of covering all the bases. Best of luck!
Regards, Scott F.>
What are the Ingredients for Disaster? Ich, Tang Minus Quarantine, &
Overcrowding - 29/11/05 Greetings Crew, My 55 gal FOWLR was
cruising along just fine until I added a small Blue Tang the other day.
Then more trouble, he began scratching on the rocks, but he does not
have any noticeable parasites on him. I did see white specks near the
bottom of the tank on the glass, just above the live sand. They are
moving although my clown fish, trigger fish, and 2 yellow tail damsels
seem fine. <Unfortunately your tank is not large enough to support a
trigger or this tang. Additionally, to save yourself from fish losses
and the resultant heartache, it is important that you quarantine any new
livestock in a separate tank or container for at least four weeks before
adding them to your system.> The water seems to have these white
specks floating all over it too. The population of the white specks is
growing fast. HELP.... Is copper my tanks savior? <To rectify the
situation, I would remove the tang ASAP to a filtered hospital tank or
container, and observe for any parasitic outbreak. Read through the
disease and cure sections on WWM (starting here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ichartmar.htm) and be prepared to take
action. I would strongly urge you not to medicate your display tank with
copper. It's unlikely that you are seeing a cloud of free-living
parasites in your water. It would also be a good idea to return your
trigger to the fish store as soon as possible (and indeed the tang, if
they can isolate it from their other livestock), and read up on marine
tank water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and livestock
choices.> Thanks, MIKE IN S.F. <Good luck, and I hope you manage
to get the situation under control. Best regards, John>
Parasite Theories (7/26/05) Hi gang, it's me again Anthony
with another question also related to QT for new fish. <Hi. Steve
Allen with you this evening.> I've read from your site and from LFS
folks that tanks and fish will always have parasites (just like the
ocean). <There are many who assert that you can have a parasite-free
tank. Since we aren't about to examine every square inch of fish
skin and substrate surface in a bunch of tanks under a microscope,
there will not likely ever be definitive proof one way or the
other.> That It all depends on the hardiness and immune system of
the fish (also cleaner fish and shrimp). <Important factors indeed.>
The new fish could be fine after QT but when it gets stressed out in
a "parasite free??" display tank, the ich could come out. Is this
true? Can a fish be a carrier even if it never gets sick? <In
medicine, we use the term "subclinical infection" to describe
infections that have little or no symptoms in a given individual.
Many of the symptoms you experience when ill are your body's
reactions to the infection, rather than actual physical damage being
done. The white spots of ich are the visible manifestation of
infestation, not the actual microscopic protozoans. Many people who
"never had" Chicken Pox have antibodies. So they really did "have"
Chicken Pox, but did not develop itchy blisters, fever, etc. They
had a subclinical infection. Ich doesn't come from nowhere and does
not go "dormant" for months years. They are either in the tank at a
low level in conditions that allow the fishes' immunity (and
biological cleaners, if present) to keep them in check to the degree
that the aquarist sees no apparent symptoms or manifestations, or
they are brought in with new fish or infested tank water from the
LFS. If a fish gets a spot or two, but no more, you may never
notice. Steven Pro wrote an excellent series on ich for Reefkeeping
that starts here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/ > It was also
suggested that new fish after a 4-6 week QT without signs of ich
doesn't mean it's parasite free. <But very likely is if you have
seen no spots at all during that time, for the live cycle of the
parasites in question means that there should have been some. Of
course, I haven't really touched on internal parasites here, but am
guessing you are primarily concerned with Cryptocaryon and
Amyloodinium.> So the suggestion was to mildly medicate during QT as
well. Is this true? <That's a matter of opinion and disagreement. I
don't like to give medicine prophylactically. There are too many
potential side effects from any of them that work. Also, where's the
evidence that "mildly" medicating works? If you take half of the
recommended dose of an antibiotic, it probably won't work. Same goes
for anti-parasitic meds--you have to use enough to get the job done.
Medicating a QT for new fish would be done on the presumption that
parasites are present, thus requiring full-strength treatment.> If
yes what is the best medication to use (something that would not
totally destroy the good bacteria in the QT/holding tank which would
have live rock and obviously not stress the fish). Would those
"reef safe" parasite meds work (i.e. Ruby Reef Kick Ich)? <I do not
consider this or any other "reef safe" medication useful. There is
no evidence that they are either safe or effective. My general
belief is that "reef safe" medications are not effective and
effective medicines are not reef safe. That is a WWM consensus.>
Remember, this is a question about new NOT sick fish. <Understood.
Read Steve's articles. They are excellent.> One last theoretical
question. If I have a tank with parasite infected fish (no other
fish in tank) that recovers and shows no signs of illness after 6
weeks, does this mean that the tank and or fish are parasite free
(same an infected running a tank empty of fish for 4-6 weeks)? <No.
It could be the fish merely has the situation under control.
Parasites may still be present. The only way to rid a tank of the
parasite is to leave it free of hosts long enough for all the
parasites to die off for lack of a host to allow them to go through
their entire life cycle. That's probably 6-8 weeks, perhaps even
longer.> Thanks for everything and regards to everybody. <You're
welcome. Thanks for the interesting questions. I hope you find my
musings on the subject helpful. Again, do read the articles. He also
recently wrote an excellent article about Amyloodinium for the same
webzine.> More Theoretical Discussion of Parasites (7/27/05)
Hi gang, and Steve thanks for your insight full answers. <Happy to
help. Back with you again this evening, Steve Allen.> Your response
and Steve Pro's article on ich had endowed me with more knowledge
than all the reading I've done in the past month. I guess it put
everything in proper perspective There's something in Steve
Pro's article about a fish getting better only to be infested a
month later by new parasite babies of the guys that infected him
originally where the fish sleeps - is this what is commonly referred
to as a secondary infection? (excuse my non-scientific terminology).
<I suppose you could use that term, but "secondary infection" is
used in medicine to refer to bacterial infections that occur on top
of some other (often viral) infection that weakens local or systemic
defenses to allow the "secondary" infection to occur when/where it
normally would not. An example is developing "secondary" bacterial
pneumonia while ill with "primary" influenza. In the case of
Cryptocaryon, the fish shed the parasites which then go through
their substrate and free-swimming stages before searching for an new
host which then ends up being the original fish. As you read, these
non-infesting stages last a couple of weeks.> Furthermore, these
parasites hatch in the dark. I have a 60g tank where a 5" blue tang
and 5" Auriga Butterflyfish were infected and recovered - thanks to
my hard working red fire cleaner shrimp. <A really beautiful,
interesting, and helpful creature indeed--love mine.> They were
taking turns with the shrimps' cleaning station for almost 2 weeks.
<Yummy for the shrimp. The striped ones <much bolder than the reds>
will clean under your fingernails too. It really creeps my daughter
out.> It's been a week that I've hardly seen the two fish with the
shrimp. Now, the shrimp is starting to stroll beyond its cave - I
think for food. <No more delivery. It has to go out for dinner now.>
So now I have to drop sinking food for bottom dwellers and the
shrimp grabs it in a split second. <yes, very fast and aggressive at
eating pellets, flakes, frozen food, chopped sea food--pretty much
anything remotely edible.> Sorry for ranting. My new question
is, what can I do to cope with the soon to come parasite babies.
<Keep your fingers crossed--perhaps the cleaner ate enough of them
off of the fish that you will see few if any offspring. How big is
your tank? Lysmata shrimp, which are hermaphrodites can be kept in
pairs or groups if there is enough space. I have two amboinensis and
two debelius in my 80g.> And I thought my 60g tank will be fine from
now on since I have no plans in adding new fish. <It may yet.
Definitely consider adding a second Lysmata debelius. They should
pair up, mate and provide live food (eggs/larvae) for your tank.>
Another thing I wanted to verify - Are snails and shrimps (my only
inverts) immune to parasites. <To fish parasites. But not to
whatever parasites naturally can infest them. Most parasites host
in/on only one type of organism. There are certainly many exceptions
to this "rule," but neither Cryptocaryon nor Amyloodinium involve
other aquarium inhabitants in their lifecycles--just fish. You seem
to find parasites interesting (the actually are fascinating), so you
might want to take a look at this book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/074320011X/qid=1122528358/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-7727427-9304642
My other tank 55g, recently wiped out by disease is running with no
fish but still has my inverts. So is the guideline of not adding
fish within 6-8 weeks still hold true? <Yes. In my mind, the longer
the better. If you are the patient type, you might want to go to
three or four months. I've heard from a lot of people for whom 6-8
weeks did not suffice for some reason. Just imagine all the cool
things that will thrive in your tank without fish to eat them.> I
already have September to quarantine new pets and October to
hopefully move them to the 55g display tank, marked on my calendar.
One last thing. What's your opinion about a quarantine and hospital
tank being the same setup bare). Steven Pro said that the
holding/quarantine tank for new fish should be bare (no rock nor
sand). The logic is to make the fish not too comfy (stress it a bit)
- so it can be infected by dormant deceases it or it's companions
may have. <I like having just PVC fitting or two for the fish to
hide in when scared. the nice thing about a bare bottom is that you
can vacuum it to remove parasite cysts that fall to the bottom after
dropping off of the fish. They have no rock or sand to hide in. The
most important reason to not have rock or sand in a hospital tank is
that they absorb the medications (most especially copper) and make
it difficult to maintain a safe and therapeutic level in the water.>
Thanks Again, Anthony <You're welcome.> Parasite Theories,
Part 3 -- Mostly About Shrimp Today (7/28/05) Hi Crew and
Steve, <Back with you again, Steve Allen.> Thanks again for your
comprehensive answers to my never ending questions. The tank which
I'm concerned about a second ich infestation is 60g. I added a
Lysmata amboinensis a few days after the debelius because I thought
the latter was overworked with the 2 fish taking turns. As you said
I like the amboinensis because it's bolder and not as shy as the
debelius. It was doing it's job but I found it dead in 2 days.
<Sorry to hear.> I still wonder why - could it be that the stronger
looking debelius killed it or is it one of those sudden death
syndromes for shrimps (if there's such a thing). My Auriga
Butterflyfish loves nipping on my snails and tube worms - so he's
one of my suspects. <I'd say it is unlikely that a debelius would
kill an amboinensis, especially in a tank of that size--plenty of
room to avoid one another. As I mentioned, I've had two of each
thriving in 80 gallons for two years now. It could have been some
sort of illness, weakness, or failure to adjust to the new tank.
There's really no way of knowing. I do strongly recommend taking a
couple of hours to acclimate as shrimp can be delicate, L. Debelius
in particular per my experience.> The debelius is nicer looking
<and more expensive> and I'm tempted to take on your advice to get
it a partner. Would they eventually show themselves, otherwise what
good are their good looks if you hardly see them. <Purely
utilitarian when not visible.> Reason why I added an amboinensis
instead. Also I read in LiveAquaria that the debelius is aggressive
to it's own kind unless mated. So should I pick the same size or
smaller for the second debelius. <Interesting, I have not seen this
or heard of it from others. Stenopus shrimps are notorious for this
and are best put in mated ahead of time, but I am not aware of this
being so for L. debelius. I'd bet you can add one and they would
pair up--they are hermaphroditic. I'd go with about the same size.
Consider moving the rocks around a bit to confuse the one that's
already in there. You may even find that a pair are more likely to
come out than a single one. Although mine are not out and about all
the time like my L. amboinensis are, they come scurrying forth in a
frenzy of eating activity the minute any food hits the water.>
Getting back to my empty 55g I'm running "a fowl". It has a 4" DSB
so more places for left over parasites to hide. I have a small
amboinensis in it. Will this guy eat parasites in the substrate even
when they're not attached to any fish? <I doubt it. They are
microscopic there, not part of a clump of inflammatory tissue for
the shrimp to dig out and put in its mouth.> If yes, maybe I should
add another one to facilitate ridding this tank of parasites????
<I'd say you best remedy is what we docs call "tincture of time."
Let the tank go fish free long enough for the parasites to die off
for lack of a piscine host.> Thanks again, Anthony <My pleasure.> |
Pestering Parasites! Thanks Scott. <You're quite welcome!>
Quick follow-up. I have read or have been told somewhere along the line
that parasites are often present on most fish even healthy fish - and
are merely latent. <Many parasites are continuously present on fish,
but Cryptocaryon (the causative protozoan of Marine Ich) is not always
present, based on much of the research that I have done.> I suppose
in the case of Ich, they don¹t get through the slime coat on a healthy
fish or are not present in sufficient numbers to cause stress. Is this
true? <Yes to the first part, but the second part is controversial!>
If so, going back to my case, I¹d like to be assured that they¹re dead
before adding a fish to the main system. If no meds, what would you
think about 1) no substrate in the hospital thank (there is none
currently), 2) running a small UV sterilizer or I¹ve also read where
people have used germicidal lamps instead of the regular light bulbs,
and 3) with frequent (daily or every couple of days) water changes from
the main tank to try to capture the Ick while they¹re in their
non-swimming phase? <Well, that's very similar to a technique that
has been proven to do the job every time: A bare tank, with 100% daily
water changes, will do the trick. This way, you're destined to get any
free-swimming parasites if you keep it up or 3 weeks...> Thanks!
<Give the 100% changes a try...Good luck! Regards, Scott F> J.D.
Hill
Fresh water dipping stresses Hi Bob, This time I really am
writing ONLY to say thanks for your response to my last question :)
I just re-read your article on Acclimating Livestock. I see your
point on adjusting the pH of the water that is added to the
acclimation vessel to match that of the shipping water. I feel kind
of silly in not figuring that out for myself, since I work as a
chemist... Anyway, thanks again for your help, I think I'm on
top of this now. Dan <Outstanding. Clarity is pleasurable, and
acid-base reactions are of course very important in biological
phenomena. Be chatting, Bob Fenner>
Re: Fresh water
dipping stresses Hello Again Bob, Just wanted to say
thanks for answering my question re: "fresh water dipping
stresses." Also, thanks a lot for pointing me to your
WetWebMedia site, it looks like a wealth of information is there to
be had. I actually have a follow-up question regarding fresh
water dipping technique. I've read your articles on acclimation at
the WetWebMedia site, but I just want to be extra careful, since my
next purchases will be the first that I'll be dipping. I like to
drip acclimate my new arrivals by transferring them to 5 gallon
bucket, then dripping my water into the shipping water at a slow
rate, over the course of about 45 minutes (emptying the acclimation
bucket half way several times). When this is complete, I plan on
doing the fresh water dip in water that is at the same
temperature, buffered to 8.2, and dechlorinated. To me, it seems
that the instantaneous transition from salt water to fresh would be
quite shocking to the fish. Is there any kind of acclimation to the
fresh water that I should be including here? Thanks again.
Sorry if I'm asking a simple question whose answer I missed at the
website. Hope you're enjoying Hawaii! Dan <Thank you for your
uplifting message. I think I understand where you're coming from
and to. The pertinent comments: I'm leery about not responding
to your statements re your current acclimation procedure. If the
shipping water has little metabolite content, such "drip"
methodology should be fine. If there is any detectable ammonia and
a depressed pH, the addition of higher pH water can have deadly
effects... actually this is how most livestock is probably killed,
all the way from the collectors through to end users... You will
know the relationship between any ammonia and high pH (much more
deadly than low pH situations). And the issue of rapid
freshwater introductions? Not a problem with fish livestock that is
otherwise healthy. Sometimes I'd like you to dream of diving in the
tropics and drifting past a river inlet (to the sea) or being
a small tropical fish yourself, caught in a TidePool and a big
rainstorm... This happens, and no problem with the fishes...
Bob Fenner who has just been in a similar situation (not as a
tropical) at Two-Step on the Big (Hawaiian) Island's dry side.> |
I recently had a few fish pass that showed the same initial symptoms
The fish looked healthy and had been feeding quite nicely. They would
aggressively go to food but then hesitate. If they did eat it, they
would often shutter after eating the food. They became more lifeless;
clamped fins, lack of color, hiding in corners, sometimes a fungus in
the mouth, until they passed. I removed one sebae clown that was headed
down this same road. I thought I had seen something white in his mouth,
so I opened his mouth and noticed what looked like a parasite. I removed
it with tweezers from what I will call the "tongue" of the fish. This
caused this fish to bleed and eventually die. Also due to my rough
handling. The parasite was about 6 cm in length, white with small
eye in the front, and had a arched back that was fairly hard. My guess
is that this guy and his friends are what caused the demise of my fish.
Any idea on what it might be, and how to rid that tank of the creature?
I am worried about buying new fish until the parasite is removed from
the tank and don't want to loose any other fish. One other quick
question, I have little white swirls on the back tank glass that are
about 1 to 2 cm in diameter. A friend said these are snail eggs. Is he
correct? Thanks for all the help. What did we do before the Internet and
e-mail? <And it was gray in color... Well, the animal you describe is
probably a parasitic isopod crustacean (sort of like a terrestrial
Rollie-Pollie, pill-bug... but not near as fun)... and I doubt if it was
responsible for infesting your other fishes... (they tend to be rather
species, size specific). I would definitely start with a search of your
water quality as a prime cause of the losses... Don't know what the
small swirls are in the back of your tank... more likely a type of
encrusting worm than snails... but I wouldn't be overly concerned with
them. Do you dip/bathe, quarantine incoming livestock? You should
develop and stick to an acclimation protocol... to avoid much of the
world of infectious/parasitic disease. Bob Fenner> Re: lots
of questions <Avoiding parasitic problems> Hi Bob, First, I
would like to thank you for the help you have given me in the past. Its
greatly appreciated! Next I have a lot of questions many of which are
unrelated. I apologize in advance if its too much. <Never too much my
friend. Service to you> I have two marine systems: a 30 gallon that I
have had running on and offfor about 5 years with out a problem and a 75
gallon that I have had for about 3 months. After a month the 75 got ich
which also got transferred to the 30 gallon tank. I lost all but a
single fish in the 75 but saved all the fish in the 30 with copper
treatment. I have been keeping both tanks coppered for a little over
three weeks now. Here's my dilemma! I want to remove the copper and
begin adding live rock to both systems, but I am now paranoid of getting
ich again and with live rock in the system I can't use copper if ich
resurfaces. Right? <Yes... this is so... the LR will readily
accumulate the copper, and it will kill much of the life that is the
"live" rock> I usually read the daily questions on your web sight
every other day or so and one thing I have noticed is that every day
there are several people who have ich. Am I doomed to get it again or
can it be easily prevented? If so, how? <You are not doomed... Oh, I
do wish the "trade" would adopt better, consistent practices in
preventing these simple to stop epizootics... I can imagine (as well as
you...) simple pH-adjusted dips to just exclude ich, velvet (and a few
other pests)... Well, back to reality... though I will post an old
"letter to the industry" that I drum up every decade or so decrying the
lack of such prophylaxis and what it could do for the entire interest...
Oh, found it: http://wetwebmedia.com/ltrquartrdbiz.htm Along the same
lines, I have purchased a 20 gallon tank to use as a quarantine tank. I
read info on your web site and elsewhere on how to set it up, but I
still have a few questions. First, do I have to cycle the quarantine
tank? <Hmm, not really... if you can/do use "cycled water"... like
from one of your "clean" systems...> Can I just add water from my
main tanks and consider it cycled or would that not work (I am going to
run an AquaClear power filter on it. is that enough?). <Oh! Yes... do
monitor aspects of cycling, be ready for water changes, feed
sparingly...> Second, because I already have the living room with two
tanks there is really no where for me to put the quarantine tank except
in the basement. Do I need a light for the tank or will the 100w bulb in
the basement left on during the day be ok. Do I need light at all?
<Some, but not much... on a timer... and/or some outside lighting so
there won't be too much light/dark transition> Finally, should I keep
the tank running even when I don't have fish to quarantine or medicate?
<Mmm, probably not... unless you're quite regularly moving livestock...
it's probably better to store the gear in-between uses> Next, the 30
gallon has an undergravel filtration system with a couple of Percula
clowns and a scooter blenny. I am considering changing to an Eheim
canister filter instead. Can I just hook up the Eheim and turn off the
undergravel and remove a lot of the crushed coral from the tank floor or
will this cause the system to recycle or crash?? <Should be fine as
long as there is "not too much gunk" under the plates, within the
substrate... I would encourage you to "break the tank down" rinse the
gravel... and rebuild it (with the plates back in, minus risers)... to
remove chance of there being "too much gunk".> I wanted to change
because there is so much waste that gets stuck in the gravel even after
regular gravel vacuums. I don't have this problem with the 75 which has
an Eheim and a protein skimmer. Should I just leave well enough alone??
<I would make the change, but do the clean out... we'll both feel
better> Also the 75, as I said has an Eheim and a protein skimmer. I
was also going to add an AquaClear power filter to this system as well.
Is this a good or bad idea, or does it even matter? <Redundancy in
life support systems is a good idea/thing/practice> Finally, Could I
put a flame angel and a juvenile (about 2 inches) emperor angel in the
75 together or would they fight? <They would likely get along...>
I realize that the emperor would eventually get too large for this small
system, but could it be kept in there for a little while? How long would
it take to outgrow the tank? <A year or so> Thanks so much for
your help! I don't know how you find time to answer all these emails,
but I am glad that you do! <A passion for me... to provide
assistance, ideas, attitudes to aid people in their quests for
understanding, improving their captive systems, and by way of these
involvements, their lives. Bob Fenner> Sincerely, Jeff
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