How long should I leave my reef tank fishless after a case o

[Dragonlady]

I was able to treat my 2 clownfish in my quarantine tank with hyposalinity,syphoning the bare bottom tank, dim lighting, and quick cure, but I lost 2 other fish to this parasite. How long can the amyloodinum parasite live in my sandbed without a fish for a host? How long should I wait before returning the clownfish to their anemone in the reef tank? They seem so lost without their host anemone. I have read 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and I have read 72 days. Which amount of time is more accurate to wait before reintroducing the cured fish? I need to verify this conflicting information.

By the way, I have no idea how this parasite was introduced. I have not added any fish in around 7 months. The only thing that I added recently was more snails! Could they have been the carrier of amyloodinium? They were in an invertebrate only tank at the LFS with no fish.

[ October 26, 2001: Message edited by: Dragonlady ]</p>

 

[Len]

Got some encouraing and discouraging news:

Amyloodinium can remain in the tank for quite a while. They've got complex life cycles compared to other infectious parasites. Free swimming "dinospores" will quickly die off in the tank without hosts, but the trophont cysts can remain in dorment for extended periods of time. They're protected by a outer cyst that is impervious to most things (copper is an exception, but that's a no-no in a reef). Depending on species, I've heard up to a few years. This accounts for the conflicing information (I hate generalizations).

Good thing is you have a bare bottom. What I'd do to minimize the chances of reinfection is to do a series of water changes (~20% per week) over the next two months. This will effectively dilute any remaining dinospore and trophont populations. The key thing is to keep stress down once you reintroduce fishes. Like all parasites, Amyloodinium is opportunistic and has a harder time invading healthy immune systems. To be absolutely safe, I'd recommend only hardier, disease-resistant fishes (at least for the next year). Pseudochromis and various hawkfish, for example, are good choices.

UV sterilizers are also a good idea. These will kill dinospores in the water column seeking to attach to fishes.

Amyloodinium could have been introduced with just about ANY introduction: water, fishes, snails, live rock, corals, etc. It'd be impossible to trace the source of contamination.

Good luck.

 

[Terry B]

First things first, how do you know it was Amyloodinium? Can you describe the difference between Amyloodinium and Cryprocaryon (common ich)? What about gill flukes? I need to hear details about the symptoms etc.
Terry B

 

[Dragonlady]

Thank you Leonard for your very helpful response to my questions. Hopefully, the parasite will eventually filter out over the next 4 weeks with the lack of a fish host. I will also try the weekly water changes in the reef tank for the next few months. I have been doing daily 10- 20% water changes in the quarantine tank.