how long should I wait?

[thorSvenson]

I have a parasite I introduced to my tank by stupidly not quarantining a new fish. I tried several reef safe solutions but nothing worked and I lost most of my fish including a Majestic Angel I had for 10 years. I know when something like this happens you should wait two months for the parasite to die off before adding any new fish but what if some of the fish survive? It looks like a few are going to make it. Won't they parasite still be present two months later?

 

[Deinonych]

Fallow period is 8-10 weeks. I personally am going 11 weeks to make sure.

 

[MacWilliams]

Is it an internal or external parasite? I used API General Cure on my tank when I had internal parasites in my fish. havent seen a thing since this happened months ago.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I assume you are talking about ich or velvet. There is no such thing as a reef-safe ich cure. For the ich to die off, the DT must be fishless for 10-12 weeks. The remaining fish should be in a HT and treated for ich; its there, even if you don't see it.

 

[MrTuskfish]

Is it an internal or external parasite? I used API General Cure on my tank when I had internal parasites in my fish. havent seen a thing since this happened months ago.

Good catch. The OP didn't mention the type of parasite and I just assumed ich. API is a very good med to keep on hand. It's a combination wormer (same ingredient as Prazi-Pro) and a good antibiotic. It works very well on internal parasites and external worms (like flukes). It won't do anything for ich or velvet, though.

 

[thorSvenson]

Pazipro is reef safe isn't it?

 

[thorSvenson]

No it's definitely not velvet or everything would be dead. It's been two weeks now, and a few fish that were infected seem ok . Also don't think its ich either. Fish had slime coating, patchiness on scales, and cloudy eyes first tried ruby reef rally which seemed to do nothing, than tried microbe-lift Artemiss which clouded my water and made it smell like mint. Fish died anyway and lost a few corals. The remaining fish will be difficult to catch without tearing apart my tank. One of them is a yellow tang I've had for thirteen years which had ich when I first got it and has been fine since. So what do I do if I can't remove the fish. Treat them with Prozipro or the General Care?

 

[Deinonych]

Pazipro is reef safe isn't it?

Yes. Turn off your skimmer and don't run carbon/GFO/etc.

 

[thorSvenson]

thanks

 

[MrTuskfish]

Pazipro is reef safe isn't it?

Gererally, yes. IT will kill featherdusters. It's only a cure for flukes and other worms; not ich or velvet.

 

[Mrscribbled]

Regardless at this point I feel it would be well worth the time to remove all fish to hospital tank, medicate with copper treatment, and prazi, leave the display fishless 12 weeks. Its so well worth having a piece of mind never having to wake up some morning finding sick or dead fish. If you've had ich in the past its most likely still present, I've tore down countless tanks consuming hours of time, but in the end its worth every minute. Some fluke strains are a bit resilient to kill and may require long term periodic prazi dosing in the display to keep under control. Over time I also believe resistance will develope, I've senn this in cattle and is why each year I switch wormers.

 

[Dmorty217]

Pazipro is reef safe isn't it?

To everything but feather dusters, since they are a worm also

 

[thorSvenson]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I will treat the tank with prozipro or general care, just wanted to run my skimmer a few day along with my gfo reactor. I understand whatever the fish had is still present in the tank, but if the two remaining fish show no sign of infection haven't they already built up an immunity to whatever it was? The yellow tang clearly had it and is now fine, eating and acting normal, and the six line wrasse never seemed to get anything. I do intend to not add anything for three months but I guess what everyone is saying is even though the surviving fish are fine now they are still infected and will infect any new fish regardless whether or not I wait three months, correct?

 

[Mrscribbled]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I will treat the tank with prozipro or general care, just wanted to run my skimmer a few day along with my gfo reactor. I understand whatever the fish had is still present in the tank, but if the two remaining fish show no sign of infection haven't they already built up an immunity to whatever it was? The yellow tang clearly had it and is now fine, eating and acting normal, and the six line wrasse never seemed to get anything. I do intend to not add anything for three months but I guess what everyone is saying is even though the surviving fish are fine now they are still infected and will infect any new fish regardless whether or not I wait three months, correct?

Correct, waiting 3 months without removing ALL fish will not solve the problem, adding new fish will be a problem at some point.

 

[thorSvenson]

ok thanks

 

[Deinonych]

Correct, waiting 3 months without removing ALL fish will not solve the problem, adding new fish will be a problem at some point.

+1

You must remove the parasite's hosts or the cycle will not be broken.