What do intestinal parasites do to the tank? Is it like ICH?

[Trever]

Assuming my clowns have some sort of parasite that's causing white stringy poop, what is the status of my DT?

They are the first and only inhabitants.

I do have a hospital/QT tank I can put them in (and no doubt should have put them in when they came from the reputable store that does proper QT- see how far that got me).

I'm of the impression that not all intestinal parasites require a host. My suspicion is my DT is now "ruined" (assuming I want to practice disease eradication for my husbandry approach), but not sure what folks do for this. Do I need to start over? This would be easy to do, in the sense that I'm only 4-5 weeks into this and it's just the clowns so far.

(Let's also assume for arguments sake that this is the ONLY ailment the fish brought with them.)

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Assuming my clowns have some sort of parasite that's causing white stringy poop, what is the status of my DT?

They are the first and only inhabitants.

I do have a hospital/QT tank I can put them in (and no doubt should have put them in when they came from the reputable store that does proper QT- see how far that got me).

I'm of the impression that not all intestinal parasites require a host. My suspicion is my DT is now "ruined" (assuming I want to practice disease eradication for my husbandry approach), but not sure what folks do for this. Do I need to start over? This would be easy to do, in the sense that I'm only 4-5 weeks into this and it's just the clowns so far.

(Let's also assume for arguments sake that this is the ONLY ailment the fish brought with them.)

IMO, you don’t have too much of a problem: the bacteria and protozoans that cause intestinal issues are found in most fish, just in lower numbers. Tapeworms need intermediary hosts, so no issue there. That pretty much just leaves nematodes and viral causes that *perhaps* could linger. Besides, clownfish sometimes develop this symptom for no real disease.
Jay