Parasites in LR?

[usmcmarc]

Someone came by my office today and complemented me on my SW tank. Then gave a stern word of warning. He said he had a 125 gal tank that he set up. Put in LR and cycled, did everything slowly, making sure all parameters were correct. Eventually he added about $1000 worth of fish. He then noticed a few white worms coming out of the LR. Turns out they were parasites and ended up killing all his fish...anyone ever heard of something like this? How do you prevent something like that from happening? Now I don't want to put any fish in until I'm sure there are no parasites in it.

 

[ccCapt]

He then noticed a few white worms coming out of the LR. Turns out they were parasites and ended up killing all his fish

Sounds pretty far fetched to me. If these worms were fish parasites, I would think that in the time he cycled his tank they would have died off without having a host (fish). What I would question more is did he quarantine all those fish before adding them into his tank.

 

[Hara]

That is my take on it too..

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Fish probably died, then bristleworms came to clean up? Plus... how do you put $1000 worth of fish in a 125g tank?

So I'll ask the question then... if you're concerned about parasites, you ARE going to quarantine these fish before they go in the tank... right?

 

[Hara]

I could easily spend a grand stocking a 125....a pair of helfeichi firefish, a few of the more colorful wrasses at plus a hundred a pop...wouldnt be hard to do at all.

 

[usmcmarc]

Unfortunately, I dont have a quarantine tank...My tank is in my office, no room for another setup. I have not stocked anything yet. I'm still cycling my tank after adding the LR. At least I can feel somewhat confident that the first fish I put in will be ok. The LFS has been holding it for 2 weeks so far until my tank is ready. Prob will be almost a month by the time I get it put in. I would think that if it made it that long, it must be ok. Although, I'm a noob, what the heck do I know.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I would think that if it made it that long, it must be ok.

That's not really a good assumption, depending on the LFS. Most stores use a common water system that plumb the same water through all the separate tanks.

I kind of assumed since this was an office tank, that you didn't have a QT setup. That's the only reason I brought it up. If you're truly concerned about bringing parasites into your tank, then I'd be waaaaay more worried about it coming in on the fish than anywhere else. And the longer a fish stays at a fish store, in my opinion, the better chance it has to pick something up. Not trying to scare you or anything, but just trying to point out the reason a QT is a good idea.

 

[usmcmarc]

Well, as it seems to be the advise of the vast majority and since it makes sense. I am going to go very, very, very slow. Once I drop my first fish in, I am going to wait at least a month before adding any more fish. I will prob add things like snails and such, but no fish. Thats the best I can do.