Solving fish parasites with one of two paths
- Apr 11, 2020
- Dennis Kiranya
- 904 0 0
In this topic, we're going to discuss fish parasite and disease management and we're going to get a deeper understanding on how to manage disease and fish parasites in the tank. By the end of this topic, you should have some legit paths to reducing the chances that you run into issues, some of which cost nothing and require near zero effort and just avoiding some low percentage decisions.
UV can play a role in today's discussion but just a small component of a much larger picture. I think it's been drilled into all of us that proper quarantine is the best practice but it's also not clear what proper quarantine is, it seems difficult to most and to be frank, without proper guidance the success rates are also fairly low. So, if you're not going to select the path of proper quarantine, I think most of us need to accept or taking one of two approaches, either active disease and parasite management, or the dump, pray and hope for the best method. I guess I have to say I've done a mix of the two in the past and of course had mixed results to go with it. That approach means risk today when the fish go in, as well as every single stressful event the tank goes through in the future. However, I also believe we need to own the reality that a majority of reefers in the past and likely in the future we'll be practicing disease management, rather than full quarantine, meaning accepting that many of these parasites are already or will make their way into our tanks. My advice to you is that, let's manage that fact and increase the success rates. It's just not helpful to ignore that this is the case, it's time to embrace that many of us are already on this path or will be and move forward.
Utilizing the biggest UV sterilizer you can fit or afford, while a UV will probably never zap all the free swimmers, it will keep their numbers down so that the fish can better cope with the ones remaining. A diatom filter can also be used to remove those free swimmers. The UV also needs to be installed correctly, the flow rates tuned to the goal and run 24/7 for it to be effective at zapping those parasites in the free-swimming stage. So you need the right tool for the right job and installed correctly. Without those considerations, UV is likely a waste of time.
The other thing is to boost your fish's immune systems through proper nutrition. This means feeding a wide range of live and frozen nutritious foods, not just flakes and pellets. Feed nori as that is loaded with vitamins. Also soak fish food in vitamin supplements such as selcon, zelcon, and Vita-Chem to further enhance health. Omega 3 and 6 fish oils are cheap soaking alternatives. There's been a lot of talk about upping the fish nutrition game lately and this fits that bill. My advice to you is that put some thought into it and the fish will reward you and by thought, I mean thinking about the types of fish that you have in managing to that. Active fish like anthias and Chromis burn energy fast and benefit from more frequent feedings while some benefit from small plankton type foods, Tangs, obviously benefiting from algae additions.
One of the things you'll hear a lot is that a varied diet produces a more nutritionally complete diet and this is by switching things up, offering different foods on different days or even different times of the day. You may also want to consider DIY frozen foods because it's very, very inclusive and often the cheapest and just a fun extension of the hobby. The DIY frozen foods can be prepared by just chopping or blending up various seafoods, mixing in some pellets, algae, and supplements. There are also some inclusive foods out there like rod's food, ingredients of whole shrimp, whole squid, whole oyster, whole clam, whole octopus, perch, scallop, krill Pacific plankton, brine shrimp fish egg, green seaweed, red seaweed, purple seaweed, spinach, broccoli, carrot, mini-pellets, brine shrimp, rotifers, astaxanthin, beta-carotene, Omega3-fatty acids and attractants like garlic.
If pellets or dry foods are just a hard reality for your situation like in an office tank, there are varied pellets as well. An example of these is TDO chroma boost which has some of the highest fat or protein or energy content, but also comes in the most variable sizes as well and then the Hikari algae Xtreme pellets, food booster like selcon, Aquaforest FishV vitamin additive, Brightwell Aminomega, all been ways to make the foods even more nutritious and support healthy tissue, mucus coats, and immune systems. There's no universally agreed on right or wrong approach to fish nutrition other than to say research, thought and effort put into fish nutrition has a much better outcome than just picking the easiest or cheapest food out there and hoping for the best.
The next thing is to stay on top of your aquarium husbandry. Maintain pristine water conditions, stable parameters and avoid fish that are likely to fight. Poor water quality, fluctuating parameters, and aggression from other fish may stress the fish out, lower their immune system and make them more susceptible to parasitic infection. I believe this speaks for itself because stressed-out fish are just more susceptible to illness and parasites. One stressed fish can be a breeding ground for a much worse tank wide event. Water quality matters, fish selection, introduction methods matter. Chemistry and stable temperature, alkalinity and other parameters matter.
Lastly, the fourth point is to choose your fish wisely and avoid Ich magnets like fish with thin mucus coats such as tangs, clownfish, anthias, wrasses, and even mandarins are better choices, as those have fixed-line coats protecting their skin from parasites. Also only buy from reputable sources and don't buy fish that look disease, damaged and won't eat or share water with other disease fish. This is probably the hardest part and where reefers tend to jump in and just hope for the best because we want the fish we want. Tangs, in particular, can also be incredibly valuable components of the tank cleanup crew, but even within tanks, some are absolutely worse than others; powder blue, brown and Achilles Tangs having drastically worse survival rates than a yellow or purple Tang. If you're not quarantining, do yourself a favor and just skip the hardest for sure because it's not a gamble on just that fish but a gamble on all the other fish that are currently in your tank and you're the only one looking out for their best interests.
As it relates to fish that looks sick, scratching and services, not eating in tanks or systems with fish doing the same, move on to put more emphasis on this. Don't even think about the gamble for a moment, because it's going to have a very high likelihood of a poor outcome for you, your wallet and the rest of the tank. There's no emergency that justifies that risk. Also know that buying from a reputable source means they wouldn't even sell you that fish to begin with. If they are willing to, don't walk, run. We can only hope that the store or an experienced reefer who knows how to treat them will bring these fish back to health.
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