I just had a massive parasite out break in my tropical tank despite the fact that I hadn't added anything new in months and I did weekly water changes. My only conclusion was that there was something in my tap water. I'm worried about my goldies and the rest of my fish if the tap water is to blame. Someone advised me to boil my water to dissinfect it. I'm completely willing to do that if it will keep everyone healthy, but is it advisable? and if so, do i need to add anything extra to it?
thanks for the help!

Parasites are unlikely to be brought in through the main water supply so boiling water is not necessary.
The outbreak (if you had not introduced new fish or plants) was most likely triggered by stress, ie poor water quality, a drop in temp. Some parasites can lie dormant in a tank and become a problem only when the fishes immunity is depressed.
Can you tell us what the parasite was? Also, more about your set-up.
How big is your tank? What type of filter? How long running? How many fish? Your water readings? All this info will enable us to figure out where the problem arose.

The only thing I know about the parasite was that it was internal. They kept scraping up against the rocks and driftwood. Jungle Lab's Parasite Clear cleared it up, but not before I lost 10 of them .

I have a 36 gallon corner tank with a penguin 180 filter. Its been running for about 8 months. I now have 23 various platies and mollies, cherry shrimp, snails, a couple of african dwarf frogs and one plecostomus. It's densely planted to keep oxygen levels up and I do 50% water changes every 7-10 days.

I checked the water the day I found them sick and the ammonia level was 0, Nitrite were 0, Nitrates were around 10, pH around 7.2, and temp kept at a consistent 73 degrees.

Their diet varies between tropical crisps, freeze dried bloodworms, various veggies, and frozen brine shrimp.

I've never had a problem in that tank before which is why it's so upsetting. My goldfish are always developing new issues, but the community tank has always been a breeze to take care of because they've been so healthy thus far. They appear to be happy as little clams now that they're feeling better.

Do you QT your plants?

Do you have a UV sterilizer?

I do quarantine my plants before they go in and they usually get a dose of parasite clear to be safe, but no i do not have a UV sterilizer.

So, I'm not quite clear on whether the GFish are in the main tank or somewhere else? Can you clarify this for me?

Regarding the parasite outbreak, flashing and scratching is an indication that the skin is irritated, so your problem was not an internal one. Could it have been white spot? Could you see any white specks on the fish or their fins? If there was nothing visible it was most likely to have been flukes. Parasites are usually present on fish or in aquariums in small numbers - a light load bothers no one until something creates a stressor; the fishes immunity then becomes suppressed and the parasites get the upper hand.
In any case, your tap water will not have been the culprit so do not boil it.

Tell us more, if you like, about these 'new issues' your goldfish are always developing - maybe we can help sort things out.

Pixie, I know that some parasites that effect human can come through the tap water. Cryptospiridium and gardia are two of the nastiest ones. About 10yrs ago Sydney had an outbreak of these parasites and everyone was recommended to boil tap water before drinking or brushing teeth. They said it was even possible to ingest these parasites while having a shower - nasty little epsiode. Since then we use a water filter installed on our kitchen sink that will filter out even the tiniest micro-organisms like these parasites.

The thing with parasites is that you can't kill the eggs with chemicals, that's how the cypto and gardia were getting into people. So I guess it's possible for any type of parasite to be delivered in the tap water if it isn't micro filtered. As for boiling water, doesn't that remove all the oxygen in the water?

To clarify,
I have a 36 gallon tropical community tank.
And a 40 gallon goldfish tank.

The goldfish tank is currently being treated for ich. And every couple months one or 2 of them seem to develope a cyst on their side or bacterial infections. they never seem to stay healthy for more than a month or 2 despite often water changes. I'm hoping to totally dissinfect their tank once they are healthy again. Maybe something just hasn't been killed in the past and keeps popping up.

As for the tropical tank, there were no external signs of anything. Just alot of flashing and rubbing against plants and rocks. It wasn't obvious at all until they started to die... Before then, they were always healthy.

I'm not having alot of luck with my fish this weekend... boo...

Hi FishM - I did know about giardia but couldn't think of any of the typical parasites affecting fish being present in municipal water supply. From the description, do you think that the issues described by LeopardChic could have come in through the tap? Leopardchic -I wonder if you could describe the symptoms in any more detail?
The trouble with boiling is that, you are right, it drives off oxygen, but in addition some of the temporary hardness, too, which is what provides the buffering capacity. So I think that some other kind of sterilzation would be better, if needed.
I wonder if we should ask Daryl for an opinion?

Hi there, I missed your previous post while I was replying to FishM and was recently replying to your 911 post, too.
So, if ich has been dogging your goldie tank, then I'd bet my right leg that it was in the tropical tank, too. It isn't always visible. Do you share a vacuum between tanks or nets? Anything? Cross contamination is very easy.
If you don't quite knock the ich on the head it will dog the tank and secondary bacterial issues are very common - the fishes immunity is lowered, it's skin is pierced by the parasites and it is wide open too infection. I think if you can thoroughly treat the ich this time and maintain pristine water conditions, your fish should recover well.

Pixie, fish live in our water supplies so theoretically fish parasites could be transferred in tap water I guess. Remember the old saying, "don't drink water, fish pee in it". lol Cross contamination from tank to tank is a more likely reason for infection.

It's probably best to invest in separate nets and syphons in leopard's situation. Use a seperate bucket for adding water to tanks, do not put any used tank water in that particular bucket.

cross contamination is definitely a possiblilty...
I've just been sterilizing EVERYTHING today and will now keep both tanks completely seperate....

thanks for all the thoughts and imput!!!