Disease questions regarding inverts?

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Jermz79

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Joined
Apr 6, 2005
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I have done alot of research on fish diseases/parasites and most of them inverts are not prone to getting ... why is that?

If you leave a system that has a disease fallow for 6-8 weeks do you still keep feeding the tank like normal or reduce feeding schedules to minimal? I would imagine that if you reduced feeding wouldn't the inverts suffer?

I know this has probably been asked one hundred million times, but let's say a fish contracts ICH, you QT them for 6-8 weeks while leaving the tank fallow, if the fish stresses out when you put them back in the main tank isn't it possible they could contract the ICH again? What is the end all cure for this or is there such thing? On this same note ... if when you buy a new fish you QT them for the proper time and then transfer them to your main tank and they stress out isn't it possible for them to contract some sort of disease and blow the whole QT theory?

I truly think this is a never ending subject that has so many variables to it that one could possibly never come to a concensus!
 
When I had ich in my main I still had a number of inverts. I would feed the tank regularly to feed the inverts and maintain the biofilter. If you did not feed the tank then you would have bio-load issues when you went to re-introduce your fish to the tank.

If you QT a fish for 6-8 weeks, treat it with eithe Hypo or Cuppramine, and leave the main fallow, you will have eliminated the parasite. If these were done correctly the parasite that causes ich will not be present and the fish would not contract it as it enters the main again, regardless of stress level.

tripper
 
Many types of parasites cannot complete their life cycle without an intermediary host. Some require snail>>fish, crab>>bivalves, some incorporate birds into the mix and some require just the fish but must leave to reproduce. Still more can complete their entire life cycle on/within the fish never leaving it. There are many variations and all must be considered on their own merit.

C. irritans in particular is an obligatre parasite meaning it must also utilize a host as part of it's life cycle but in it's case only a fish will do. No other intermediary host will substitute. The same is true of Amyloodinium ocellatum (velvet). This means that only the fish must be removed from the system to prevent furthering the parsites reproductive activites. Once the newly released tomites mature to an infective theront, they have about 12ish hours to find a host or they die.

Ergo, no fish... no parasite. :wink:

Cheers
Steve
 
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