What is a skin flukes life cycle?

[obiwanthegoby]

I QTed a pair of purple firefish end of july, early august that displayed signs of external skin flukes. I unfortunately lost both fish. I kept a few pieces of LR in the tank with them when the fish died I let the tank go fallow for about a month then dumped the rock back into a holding tub i have with about 150 - 200 lbs of LR. Did I infect the rest of the rock or is it safe for use ina system. I placed two pieces into a QT with a tomini tang yesterday, and in hindsight started to worry about it..

A lot of the reading I have done says that the external flukes are mostly species specific but if they have no host they will die. I am hoping that withalmost 4 months without any fish hosts and hypersalinity (1.030) I have nothing to worry about as I was going to use this rock in my fuge/display to fill in holes, but have been reluctant to.....

Anybody with some answers on their life span/cycle/

Obi

 

[Thanks Don]

First off, that is a great name! I have had lots of experience dealing with flukes while working at a wholesaler. I don't know the life cycle but if you are worried I would simply soak the live rock in fresh water for at least an hour. If you have ever used a fresh water dip to rid a fish of flukes you will know that they hate fresh water and will start to die/seek refuge after only 5 minutes. Keep close watch on the eyes as it is the easist place to see flukes and the easiest place for flukes to attach to the fish.

 

[obiwanthegoby]

This would be my last resort, much of this rock came out of my 120 and 55 gallon reef tanks, it is full of life, several small to medium sized brittle stars, as well as tons of pods ect, I would hate to loose all of that beneficial life for a worry.

Anyone with a good answer, please chime in! I had planned on adding this rock into my current system over the holidays sometime.

Obi

 

[obiwanthegoby]

Not that Don's answer was bad, just wanted a more definite answer on weather the rcok would need to be "killed off" and restarted or if it is safe....

And thanks "thanks don" for the compliment on the name.

 

[SAT]

Assuming you're dealing with monogeneans or turbellarians, they cannot survive more than 2 weeks without a host (per Noga). Even if they are something else, 4 months is long enough for any obligate parasite to die out unless it's hibernating, which is unlikely at aquarium temperatures.

 

[steelersfan]

I had the same situation with my display tank, and I had asked the same question about the life cycle of flukes. The response that I received was 10-12 weeks should be enough time, if the tank has remained fallow. You should not have any issues in your case, based upon the fallow time.

 

[obiwanthegoby]

I got the same answer from the folks at Wetwebmedia. thanks guys! sometimes its hard to get people to chime in, appreciate it!

Obi

 

[JHemdal]

Neobenedenia is a common aquarium fluke, and it is an egg-laying species. I don't know of anyone who has actually looked into how long those eggs can remain viable....so anyone who gives a time frame is just guessing. Here is my guess(grin): for sure more than two weeks, probably less than four months.

Jay