national parasite epidemic?

[orion12]

I have been in the SW aquarium hobby for over 15 years now and have never seen as many disease carrying saltwater fish as I have within the last year...
nearly all the clownfish arrive w/ brook....and most other species are carrying ******...
I have had a very tough time getting fish through a quarrantine period...and losing nearly 100% of the clownfish...regardless of prevention methods....
Just wondering if anyone else is seeing a similar trend in increases in SW parasites...???
Thanks

 

[bang guy]

I'm hearing this trend from store owners.
As a guess i think that one or more wholesalers has an infected system and is passing it on to the stores. I have heard reports of 100% losses of Clownfish & Banggai Cardinalfish.
Many of the stores here are VERY happy to see me walk in with baby fish because none of mine ever die on them.

 

[innsmouth]

That's very depressing.

 

[beth]

Well, unless wholesalers/store owners start addressing the issue of sick fish BEFORE selling fish to hobbyist, I can only see this problem escalating; especially with breeders and aquacultured fish. Face it, these fish just don’t have the do-or-die immune system that wilds have. If an aqua cultured fish get brook, then the breeder does absolutely nothing to clean up the mess in their system.
The people who sell fish do next to nothing to address infestation or epidemics. If a batch of incoming fish have ich, they simply pass the problem on to the buyer. Do they clean up the tank, the equipment, etc? Does any wholesale or retail fish handler even exercise a smidgen of caution/hygiene in handling fish equipment [nets, buckets, etc.] Absolutely not.