how to desepier parasites in saltwater tank?

Question

i had try 2 times already my first fish die n i use general cure powder, n it work 4 a bit n after when i though everything was ok he died n them i use STOP PARASITES n it my damsel skin look clear, n eating alil bit .yesterday he die, what can i do make my water healthy so i can fish in, a 20 gallon tank ,1.023, my ammonie 0, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 0ppm n ph 8.2, i have crust coral please only answer if u done this before thank u

Answer 1

You have two issues to deal with here - on one had, you have an unknown parasite in your tank, and on the other, you may be adding fish without quarantining them.

Without a fish in the tank, you can allow it to run for several weeks without any fish. If the parasite has no fish to use as a host, it will die off. But this can take longer than a week - 3-4 weeks is better to be certain.

When you get a new fish, you want to keep it quarantined to be sure its healthy BEFORE you add it to your tank. A 10 gallon tank with a cheap filter and heater (and cover so the fish doesn't jump out) will cost less than continually replacing your fish. It's also a place where you can put fish that get injured, or if they need to be medicated - a place where medications won't affect any inverts that may be in the live rock. It also uses less medication, since the water volume is less. You could get a fish and quarantine it now, while waiting for the parasites to die in your main tank.

A good way to prevent parasites from entering the tank is to keep the quarantine tank at a lower salinity. Most fish can adapt to a salinity of 1.015-1.020, but most parasites can't. Just spend some time acclimating the fish to the lower salinity (since you're using less salt, this will save you some money). If you only plan to keep fish in the tank, you could lower the salinity there as well. It only needs to be 1.024-1.026 if you're keeping invertebrates (shrimp, crabs, snails, hermits, corals, anemones, etc.). Without inverts, you could keep it around 1.020.

Answer 2

ok. the parasites are coming from several places 1.live rock. or 2 your sand or 3.coral. you can do all the tests on your water you want it has nothing to do with your water. I have a 47gal bow front and my tests are the same as yours. what happens is your live rock and sand have these parasites in them and when your lights are off at night the parasites come out and your fish find places in or close to these rocks and the parasites attach themselves to your fish. in the morning looking at your fish you can see them on your fish and it looks bad,ok now if you look at you fish in the evening they are there but you fish look better then they did in the morning,now this going on and on each day the fish will finally die. the thing i would do is to pull the live rock and cycle it in a large container with saltwater and a power head for about a week and also use a fish tank heater with the levels of salt at 1.025.once a day do a 15% water change. at the end of 7days your live rock should be ready to go back in the tank, but before you place it in i would change the crushed coral altogether.this happened to me and this is what i did and no more problem!!! and yes my fish were eating to.p.s. keeping your lighting on 24hours a day will not solve the problem only build up more alerge.if you have no live rock and just coral change your crushed coral. and last clean your filters and hoses theres no light,and they love those places.