How long to starve a Parasite

[ncjetskier]

I started a quarantine tank and removed the one surviving fish (a cleaner wrasse that I removed about 2 weeks agao) from the DT that (my quess) was ich and or velvet disease. I have treated the quarantine tank with caupermine (sp?) and ordered new fish which are in the QT tank and seem to be doing fine.

The only items I have in the DT is an urchine, live rock, soft corals and alot of snails (many without shells). Based on what I have in the DT, is there any item that would allow the parasites to survive? I am planning an additional month of not having any fish in the DT. Thanks for any help.

 

[HumbleFish]

Corals/inverts are fine when going fallow. It's only the fish you can't have in there, as they are the parasites only food source. I recommend going fallow for a minimum of 12 weeks.

 

[snorvich]

Corals/inverts are fine when going fallow. It's only the fish you can't have in there, as they are the parasites only food source. I recommend going fallow for a minimum of 12 weeks.

72 days should be sufficient, although 12 weeks certainly is a good number.

 

[ncjetskier]

The DT only had the cleaner wrasse for three weeks. I have just a couple of other questions;

1) Why go 12 weeks when the life cycle is only 2 weeks?

2) The cleaner wrasse was the only survivor. Is it immune to Velvet or ick?

3) Does water changes help while the tank is fallow?

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Deinonych]

The DT only had the cleaner wrasse for three weeks. I have just a couple of other questions;

1) Why go 12 weeks when the life cycle is only 2 weeks?

2) The cleaner wrasse was the only survivor. Is it immune to Velvet or ick?

3) Does water changes help while the tank is fallow?

Thanks for all the help.

1. The average life cycle is 2 weeks. Some strains take longer, and some tomonts (the "spore" stage) can remain dormant for up to 72 days.

2. It could have acquired some temporary immunity, or it could be infected at a sub-clinical level.

3. Only to keep your trace elements in balance. You should "ghost feed" the tank every few days to keep your biofilter active.

 

[snorvich]

Note that immunity to either velvet or ich is temporary; the literature suggests six months. However those that develop immunity can still be carriers. Remember, visible symptoms and neither necessary or sufficient for diagnosis.

 

[snorvich]

For those that are "analyzing" why a fallow period of about 72 days rather than a fallow period approximating the average life cycle length note that for any given salinity, temperature, light cycle, and most importantly, strain of cryptocaryon irritans, the life cycle distribution is much more likely to be Poisson rather than normal. But for the population (collection) of those distributions, as with most biological processes, the overall statistical description is likely to be normal. As such you do not know what the average life cycle length is for your particular set of circumstances, and with any average, there will be outliers to the average.

If you want to roll the dice, go with whatever you feel is good for you and your tolerance for risk. However for those who are risk averse simply assume the longest reported period which is 72 days. That is probably going to be ok the vast majority of the time. Although that too is a simplification as it is only for one strain of cryptocaryon irritans in one set of circumstances.

 

[ncjetskier]

Based on the above information, and that if you mis-guess and add a fish too early, you will have to start all over again - I think I am going to go 90 days. I am also going to do freguent water changes to get the water quality as high as possible.

My QT fish are doing very well (although it is not the most interesting to watch).