How long for parasites to die off?

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Ziggs180

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 29, 2011
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Miami, FL
About 2 1/2 Weeks ago i had a die off of several fish that i had, 2 Guppies and 2 Blue Rams that died of rather unknown causes. The only thing it could of been was an Internal parasite, becuase they did not display any other symptoms. I have 5 Harlequins, 1 Guppy, and 5 Amano shrimp left in the tank, and they seem to be doing just fine.

Since i've been having very bad luck with fish bought from LFS (almost all of them have died since my initial batch of fish). I'm considering buying off of liveaquaria, however I dont want to waste 60$ on Fish + Shipping only for them to bite it from any parasites inside my tank. So how long does it take for Free parasites to die off without any hosts they can get inside?
 
It depends on the parasite & the tank temp.

Eg. Ich will die off without a host after a couple of weeks in tropical temp, but it can overwinter in ponds when the temp is low.

Internal parasites are even more variable ... some have secondary hosts & can live without fish hosts for a long time, others have eggs that can survive long periods. Something like fish tb (strictly not a parasite, <it is a mycobacterium> but often cause unexplained fish death) can not be eradicated even with bleaching, etc.

If you still have fish in the tank, there is no way one can guarantee that no parasite remains. Even if the fish looks fine, the parasite may still be carried in the fish. Typically, parasites do not want to kill (or even weaken) the hosts. You only see problems when the fish is weak or stressed. Much of the time, parasites are in the fish & show no signs.

personally, if I have a serious parasite problem, i would sterilize the tank & start over. However, with surviving fish, this may not be desirable. I would QT the fish for an extended period to minimize any risk of residual disease. <ie keep them separate from new fish, or just not get any new ones.> I waited 6 months the last time I had problems. This is on the rash side for goldfish ... Serious goldfish keeper would QT a contaminated stock for a year or more ... koi keepers are known to have 2-3 year QT's for sick stock ....
 
Not sure if its a Serious problem, it might be possible that I've just had very bad luck and picked up sick fish. However, I am not able to Quarantine new fish or even the ones i have, due to space issues. I've been considering the idea of starting over a new tank, however i have money and space issues that wont allow me to do so. I also believe that i may have some sort of fungus in the tank, because several fish i had showed smiley whitish areas on their skins after becoming sick. I've heard that Fungus can live for years as spores, and attack when the immune system becomes weakened.

Would it be best to purchase from tanks where there are no fish that show signs of sickness? if i order from liveaquaria, how stressed would the fish be at delivery, and could it possibly cause a large infection that could wipe out the new stock?
 
Fungus & various bacteria are opportunistic ... ie they are in the water at all times, but only cause problems with stressed/weakened fish. So, you really can't eradicate all the bugs from your system. The best defense is to have happy & healthy fish.

If you are still seeing signs of disease in your current fish, then something is still going on. I would not add anything new until all signs of problems are gone for at least a few months.

It is almost always stressful to ship fish, what with confined water with no filters, temp change, etc. It all depends on who is shipping it, how much care is used to pack the fish, how far it has to travel, & the temp outside. <Shipping fish to Canada in winter is at best a lottery ....>

I personally would not have fish shipped unless there is a QT setup so they can recover optimally. A QT doesn't have to be elaborate .. a rubbermaid tub with filter & heater is all you need. If you can't do QT, it may be safer to look for reputable lfs that will do QT. Many good lfs will order & hold a new fish for you in their tank for a few weeks (some for a fee) ... that gives you time to make sure the fish don't come down with anything before you take it home.
 
Only possible thing i could do is get a 5 Gallon tank for incredibly cheap, and use the Heater that i use for my 29 Gallon (since im not even using it anyways, because water stays at 80 Degrees without the heater). I also dont need the filter media on my main tank, could i use the filter media and just drop it into the new tank to cycle it immediately or would that possibly bring in the very pathogens that are killing weak and stressed fish in my main tank?
 
If your tank is healthy, then using the filter media is a great way to instantly cycle a QT. But if your main tank is not healthy, then you will risk transfer of disease to the QT itself.

It is prob simplest to wait till you are sure your tank is healthy before adding new fish. <I know, staring at an empty tank is boring .....>
 
My friend gave me her 5 Gallon tank for free anyways. So i will be using that as a quarantine tank for now, filter included and everything. Whats the amount of time to quarantine fish before normal diseases show themselves? I've heard a range from 3 days to 2 weeks.
 
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