Do parasites stay in the water?

Two of my little fish died in the last week, about 4 days apart. Before
they dies they were bent in 'u' shapes and then they just skulked away
to die. They looked like they had 'internal bleeding' if that makes
sense. One of he fish was spending a lot of time on the bottom of the
tank before it got really sick, so i medicated the tank. That didnt
help though. The other fish died suddenly. Does anyone have any idea
what that could be and what would have caused it? More important to
know what would have caused it so I can prevent it again.

My other main question is about my remaining fish. It seems fine and
healthy now but I'm worried it will die the same way as the other
two... do parasites live in the water? I just dont know what to do
about the water because obviously i don't want to put compltely new
water in the tank, but i don't know if there is some 'disease' in the
water? So i am reluctant to put any new fish in there as well...

All advice would be appreciated.

"Lucky" wrote in message
ups.com...
Two of my little fish died in the last week, about 4 days apart. Before
they dies they were bent in 'u' shapes and then they just skulked away
to die. They looked like they had 'internal bleeding' if that makes
sense. One of he fish was spending a lot of time on the bottom of the
tank before it got really sick, so i medicated the tank. That didnt
help though. The other fish died suddenly. Does anyone have any idea
what that could be and what would have caused it? More important to
know what would have caused it so I can prevent it again.

My other main question is about my remaining fish. It seems fine and
healthy now but I'm worried it will die the same way as the other
two... do parasites live in the water? I just dont know what to do
about the water because obviously i don't want to put compltely new
water in the tank, but i don't know if there is some 'disease' in the
water? So i am reluctant to put any new fish in there as well...

All advice would be appreciated.

If it was parasites that killed your fish, then yes they could still be
present in the water. However if your remaining fish are 100% healthy then
the chance of the parasites being able to infect your fish are greatly
reduced. Many common parasites only infect fish that are stressed and
unhealthy anyway. Remove any unhealthy fish to a hospital tank, as soon as
you spot them, to protect the remaining fish.

You need to take great care of your remaining fish, doing minor water
changes frequently and ensuring they remain in peek condition. Over time any
remaining parasites will perish without a suitable host fish. You are
correct in saying that a 100% water change will probably stress your fish
more so then maintaining them in the current water. Stressed fish would
become susceptible to further parasitic infections. (you could never
eradicate all the parasites with a total water change anyway).

If you want to spend some money on this problem, then get a UV filter. This
will kill all parasites as they pass through the filter. Not a cheap
solution though.

**SS**

Lucky wrote:
Two of my little fish died in the last week, about 4 days apart. Before
they dies they were bent in 'u' shapes and then they just skulked away
to die. They looked like they had 'internal bleeding' if that makes
sense. One of he fish was spending a lot of time on the bottom of the
tank before it got really sick, so i medicated the tank. That didnt
help though. The other fish died suddenly. Does anyone have any idea
what that could be and what would have caused it? More important to
know what would have caused it so I can prevent it again.

My other main question is about my remaining fish. It seems fine and
healthy now but I'm worried it will die the same way as the other
two... do parasites live in the water? I just dont know what to do
about the water because obviously i don't want to put compltely new
water in the tank, but i don't know if there is some 'disease' in the
water? So i am reluctant to put any new fish in there as well...

All advice would be appreciated.

Most diseases that cause fish to bend are muscle tissue infections.
This includes fish TB, and some sporozoans. They're usually transmitted
when a healthy fish picks at a dead one and ingests the cysts. Also,
when an infected fish dies, some types of sporozoans swarm from the dead
fish into the water and infect healthy fish that way.

The muscle tissue diseases are difficult to treat without injecting
antibiotics, and you have to know what you're trying to treat. It's
best to keep the disease from spreading by removing sick fish to
quarantine so that they don't die in the tank.

The second sudden death may have been caused by the medication,
depending on what you used. Or it could have been a different variation
of the same disease. It's hard to tell.

I would do some extra normal-sized water changes - maybe change twice as
often as you usually do. Then I'd watch and wait for a few weeks before
adding any new fish to be sure the remaining fish is healthy.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com