Fallow periods: Going Fishless

Okay good to know! And for example, if I wait for 45 days and put a fish in my refugium to test it out and it ends up getting a parasite on it, I would remove it, and then have to start the entire 76 days over again just because of one being in there for a couple days?

 

Thank you for that link (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/marine-ich-and-temperature.232825/). I especially like your conclusions, which mentions a period that should be sufficient as long as above a specific temperature. You also mention that is entirely up to us if we choose to shorten the fallow period from what you advocate, 76 days. (I unfortunately have this belief that world records can be beat [72 days]). I am going to agree with you, "We probably don’t know as much about ich as we think we do." - @Humblefish

I am doing this research as I'm deciding how many days to QT my corals from diseases (corals only QT), in case there are Tomonts on the hard surface of corals (eg. small piece of live rock that the coral can't be detached from). I have a temperature controller that keeps the QT at 79F with one degree deviation (78F-80F). Maybe I should bump up my target temp by one degree?

Now to choose; the amount of days that may be sufficient or what is advocated.

 

In theory you could keep the fish in the refugium for up to 72 hours before you would need to restart the fallow period. The biggest risk with this idea is that a trophont could attach in the gills and not be visible. You really might be on to something though.
I need to think about it more but it might be a very good idea to put a fish in the fuge for 60 hours or so and then move it into its own QT and observe it for a few weeks. This has possibilities for testing how effective the fallow period is.

 

I guess some things we couldn't see would be if the parasite was on the inside of the fish gills and what if there is ick in the water the fish is in, but that fish was eating good and built up immune system to prevent the parasite from getting on it??


I don't know anything about this stuff but that's just two things that crossed my mind with putting a fish in for 60 hours and then watching it in a separate tank....

 

A fish with immunity to Crypto will still act as a host. The parasite just doesn't feed as efficiently so it rarely gets large enough to be visible and reproduces in much lower numbers. Odds are that the moving around between tanks would be enough to reduce the fish's immunity via stress, but it is possible it won't.

 

Right so let's just say i go fallow for 45 days.... On day 45 I put the fish in the refugium for 60 hours and then pull it out and put it in a quarantine tank on its own to see if it shows any signs of having parasites.....well if we can't see them all the time on the fish or in the gills, then how would I know the fallow stage is done and the rest of my fish are good to go in there??

What I was going to do is just put my purple tang or hippo tang in my 60 gallon refugium on day 45 and keep that fish in there only to see if it shows any signs of having the parasite and if it's good for say, 2 weeks then I'd put the rest in refugium also.....worst case scenario is my fish get something and I have to pull them out again and treat them and go fallow another 40 days.....

That was my thought for now I guess

 

Up to 15 more days for Velvet? Page 1 of this thread states Velvet fallow is 6 weeks, which I've accepted until this new (to me) information. Has it been clarified if this 6 weeks includes if light is present or not?

Thanks.

 

So if I add a molly and it's gets the parasite what do I do?? Add it to quarantine or just let it be?

 

And does the molly method restart my fallow period if there is ick in the water still?

 

I have passed the 76 day fallow period and have a black molly swimming in the DT for 4 days without any signs of disease. The fish in the QT are healthy. What are the procedures that I need to follow in putting the QT'd fish back in the DT?

 

Were did the Mollie come from? Was she also in qt? If not you could have just possibly reintroduced something to the DT. If the Mollie was properly Qt'ed I would slow reintroduce a few fish at a time to avoid a possible ammonia spike. Did you keep your bacteria in the DT alive by feeding them during qt? If not your tank will need a cycle

 

I will only be transferring a clown and kole tang. Yes it was a freshwater black molly.

 

Im treating my fallow tank right now for dinos with bleach. We know it kills dinos, I wonder if it kills ich too. Bleach is used to clean the tanks after all right? Could potentially shorten the fallow period.