Can corals carry diseases/parasites?

[dangle]

To make a long story short, I had a qt tank set up. It had no fish in it at the time so I moved a xmas tree worm rock in there because I they were always too scared to come out much. So then I got a wrasse, put him in the qt. About a week later, wrasse doing well, I bought a pipefish and put him in the qt with the wrasse and xmas tree rock. Everything was fine for about 5 days, pipefish and wrasse eating well, then one morning the lights go on and the pipefish is dead. That afternoon I notice the wrasse has white spots. Doesn't quite look like ich, I've had fish that had ich before (and cured them might I add!). The spots look more like a fine white powder so I don't know quite what it was. So I was starting to do a hypo treatment and lowering the salinity, but the next morning the wrasse is dead.

So now I want to clean out the qt tank, empty it, dry it out and start it up again, but I don't know what to do with the xmas tree rock. Can I put it back in the main tank or because it was in the same tank as the fish that died, would that be a very bad idea? And if I keep the xmas tree rock in a bucket for a few days while I clean, dry and start up the qt again, if it's not a good idea to put the rock back in the main tank, then it's also not a good idea to put it back in the qt tank right?

So am I stuck with qt'ing the rock for six weeks now? And does anyone have an idea of what might have killed the fish so fast? The wrasse especially, fine white powder-like spots in the afternoon, dead the next morning.

Thanks.

[Hattie B]

Ya, pretty much anything wet can carry a parasite. all 'wet' things should be QT'ed. Thats how you will aviod items such as nudies on zoa, red bugs, flat worms esc..
Ich and other parasites for fish.

Since the rock was in the qt, and the fish had something that made them pass, I would not add that rock back into your aquarium until you QT it. You can always add it to another cheap QT, if you want one just for fish, esp if you are going to do anything that might kill the fauna and 'good' items on the rock.

As for the fish, I am not sure, could be something like, brooke (usually appears as a film on the fish).

did the fish have any other signs before they passed, like scratching or beathing diffuculties?

[TerryB]

It is possible for the tomont stage (reproductive stage off of the fish) to attach to any hard surface, including heaters, pumps, glass etc. This means it is possible for tomonts to attach to coral, clam shells, shrimp shells, etc. The inverts and objects are not infected, but they can carry tomonts if they come from a tank that is infected.
Almost all parasite infections are imported into a system via infected fish. It is unusual, but possible, to happen another way. If you quarantine ALL new fish for a minimum of three weeks prior to adding them to the display tank you reduce the odds of getting an infection in the tank by what must be at least 90%. People that quarantine all new fish rarely have parasite infections in their display tank.

Terry B

[dangle]

Thanks for the replies.

One more question, is it safe to lower the salinity and do a hypo treatment while qt'ing the xmas tree rock? Or will that kill the worms and porites? If not I guess I could set up a separate, small tank with maybe just an airstone and keep it in there while I set up and cycle the 20g qt tank.

And back to why the fish died, I was kind of thinking it might have been brooke, I know that kills pretty fast. But it wasn't a film, it really did just look like a dusting of white powder. Not all over the fish, mostly on the upper body and top fins, a few little spots on the face. They weren't scratching or breathing heavy, althought both the pipefish and wrasse were a bit listless the afternoon and night before they died. But they also both did eat normally that night. So the mystery continues.

[dangle]

Never mind on the question about is it safe to do a hypo treatment, I was looking at past posts about another question I had and came across where you (TerryB) said "Don't use hypo on live rock, live sand or any inverts." So that answers that!

If I may ask one more question, this about cleaning the infected qt tank. Is scrubbing and rinsing then letting everything dry for a few days enough or should I use something like vinegar to make sure I kill everything? Being that I don't know what killed the fish in the first place I want to make sure I have a nice clean sterile tank to use.

Thanks again.