Treatment length

[kdpuffer]

So I have all my fish removed from my DT for treatment. My blenny had internal worms and I was seeing some fin rot on my clowns. I also had some suspicions my fox face may have had flukes but nothing confirmed. The treatment has been going for two weeks and was wanting input on how long I should leave them out of the main tank. I know with some parasites it is recommended to leave the tank fallow for 6-8 weeks, just wondering if that is a good time line in this instance also.

 

[kdpuffer]

Anyone?

 

[Innovator]

Hard to determine treatment length when we don't know what the treatment is. If you are just removing fish then that is not treatment, just containment, but any problems will still reside within the animal. Typically, protocol stand for at least 30 days of a fallow DT while an actual treatment is conducted in a QT.

 

[kdpuffer]

Well the treatment is prazipro and some maracin for infections. Been two weeks now. The fish are is quarantine undergoing treatment. I'm not on expert on worms or flukes so I was wondering if it's something that will stay in the main tank for an extended period of time similar to ick or if it would be contained within the fish. I will also add I don't know how the blenny got worms so whether he had them when I bought it or got them after I don't know for certain but I suspect he had them before.

 

[Rosesrblu1]

Do any other fish show signs? If not, I think you can complete the treatment and if the fish looks ok, drip him back. Maybe someone else can chime in?

 

[Innovator]

Most dewormers are dosed at x3/week every other day, no treatment the following week or two and then redosed. Bacterial meds should be dosed for 1 week daily/straight if doing water changes daily and off the following week (shouldn't use bacterial meds more than 2wks straight at a time).

 

[kdpuffer]

Thanks for the help guys but I think I am being unclear, I am familiar with how to treat I need to know how long I need to keep fish out of the main tank given the known and suspected ailments. All fish have been removed and given the treatments listed above to eliminate the parasites (internal worms and flukes)on/in the fish. My maintank only has my inverts and coral and I need to know how long to keep the fish out to ensure all the parasites have been killed in the main tank and prevent reinfection. The treatment has been going on 2 weeks with prazipro and 1.5 weeks of that with maracin also. So fish have been out of main tank for a total of 2 weeks, is this long enough or do I need to keep the main tank fallow for longer? I did see one response saying 30 days just wanting more input. I don't know the life cycle of the parasites in question and was hoping someone else would and be able to tell me how long they take to die without a host.

 

[Innovator]

Cestodes/Nematodes usually require a direct lifecycle so I would think without a direct host it wouldn't last more than a week. 30 days is the overall requirement for general QT periods because of common parasite persistence/lifecycles (ich, brook, etc), but wormies shouldn't survive more than a week outside the body, though 30 days would be safest as usual. It wouldn't be a bad idea to gravel vac the sandbed (no more than 1" as precautionary)

 

[kdpuffer]

Cestodes/Nematodes usually require a direct lifecycle so I would think without a direct host it wouldn't last more than a week. 30 days is the overall requirement for general QT periods because of common parasite persistence/lifecycles (ich, brook, etc), but wormies shouldn't survive more than a week outside the body, though 30 days would be safest as usual. It wouldn't be a bad idea to gravel vac the sandbed (no more than 1" as precautionary)

Thank you for the info, I'll leave them in qt for a couple more weeks to be sure. I'm just itching to get them back in the tank!!!!!