Do parasites need hosts to survive?

My tank is slowly being wiped out and I think it may have started with a butterfly who refused to eat and came down with a type of ich. The next day my clown died and now my royal gramma is on the way out. My scooter blenny is fine however.

Let's say my fish are all wiped out. Do the parasites on the fish need another fish to survive? If there are no hosts, then the parasites die, correct? I find it odd my scooter blenny is still fine.

 

eventually yes, but they have potential dormancy period in there life cycle that can last a while.

 

i waited about 8 weeks for the ick in my tank to clear then restocked it and my fish are fine, so yeah they need a host to live; just have no fish in ur tank for a while and the ick should die out soon enough

 

Is there anything that can speed that process up?

 

high temperatures

 

The tank should remain fallow (without fish) for 60 days. Sometimes raising the temperature of the tank will speed up the life cycle, other than that I can not think of anything else.

 

agreed. if you have corals i would think that 80 degrees Fahrenheit would be good; not sure about other inverts like crabs and shrimp though

 

never mind someone beat me too it

 

well actually that says it will work if you hit around 100 degrees lol.

 

Yes here is the link

Marine Ich - Myths and Facts

Corailline posted it earlier in another thread. Not sure if its 100% the final word but seems to have good info.
Its just for most practical purposes seems it wont help. You eather have to go too cold or too hot for the fish to live threw it.