cilliates

[btuck]

A fellow seahorse keeper has lost a horse to a disease known as weak snick. Typically this disease is caused by parasites or cilliates that basically eat the snout from the inside out.
The tank was torn down 3 weeks after she euthenasied her horse. There were no other horses or fish living in the tank. The only creatures in the tank were hermits. the live rock was placed buckets with no light for 2 months with a pump. She says the LR went through another cycle and the ammonia levels were quite high (sorry I have no measurement). I'm sure the parasites do not care about the light but would the high ammonia levels be enough to kill them off?
She is worried that when she receives her new horses that this parasite may have lived in the rock just waiting for another host. Just curious if her fear is justified.
She did not do hyposalinity on her rock and is hoping that she will not have to "cook" the rock because it now contains encrusting corals and large amounts of macroalgae. I'm positive the hyposalinity would kill the corals but would the macroalgae survive?

thanks for any advice.

 

[leebca]

You posed a couple of questions -- not sure if you wanted them both answered or not. They are quite two different subjects.

Weak snick in Seahorses is brought on by one of two general causes: microbe or mechanical. The only way to determine what will kill the microbial will be to identify it. Some, like the ciliated Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans will die in a hyposaline solution. Others like Marine Velvet (Amyloodinium ocellatum) will be unaffected by hyposalinity. If they are an obligate parasite, they will die off without having a fish host. Fortunately, many of the nasty marine ciliated protozoan are obligate parasites. A period without any fish of at least 8 weeks will provide a 99% assurance they die.

In general, I would dissuade your friend from allowing any more hermit crabs in the marine aquarium. Choose snails and worms to perform housekeeping/clean up crew duties.

As for macro algae, most will suffer in a hyposaline treatment -- eventually disintegrating and causing significant pollution.

Hope this helps!

 

[btuck]

Thanks for the help, I will pass on the info.