How likely is fallow successful? Better to restart?

[bolson]

Ich and velvet out break, I am reading mixed reviews on fallow success. I have no fish left a couple corals and snails in a 20 gallon that is about 6 months old. I don’t want to wait a full 76 days if the chance of it failing is likely. I’ve read tomonts can go dormant, survive past 76 days and the cycle begins again.
My other option is to get rid of my coral and snail drain the tank replace the sand, bleach the live rock and start all over cycling. My fear here is when I go to add a new clean up crew I will introduce ich or velvet back in the tank.

all thoughts and advice is appreciated! Thank you!!

 

[Alaeriel]

As long as you properly treat and quarantine your new fish after the fallow period, you should be good to go!

 

[Tamberav]

Ich and velvet out break, I am reading mixed reviews on fallow success. I have no fish left a couple corals and snails in a 20 gallon that is about 6 months old. I don’t want to wait a full 76 days if the chance of it failing is likely. I’ve read tomonts can go dormant, survive past 76 days and the cycle begins again.
My other option is to get rid of my coral and snail drain the tank replace the sand, bleach the live rock and start all over cycling. My fear here is when I go to add a new clean up crew I will introduce ich or velvet back in the tank.

all thoughts and advice is appreciated! Thank you!!

Turn the temp up to 82 degrees (maybe do it over a few days). This will speed the cycle up. I did 45 days.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Ich and velvet out break, I am reading mixed reviews on fallow success. I have no fish left a couple corals and snails in a 20 gallon that is about 6 months old. I don’t want to wait a full 76 days if the chance of it failing is likely. I’ve read tomonts can go dormant, survive past 76 days and the cycle begins again.
My other option is to get rid of my coral and snail drain the tank replace the sand, bleach the live rock and start all over cycling. My fear here is when I go to add a new clean up crew I will introduce ich or velvet back in the tank.

all thoughts and advice is appreciated! Thank you!!

The reason fallow periods fail is cross-contamination. 76 days is considered a risk free time based on imperfect data and to many, though to be many weeks Longer than needed. I went 76 days after losing half my fish and was successful. Being as you have no life fish currently, cross-contamination shouldn't be an issue.

Restarting your tank at this point is the nuclear option and solves essentially nothing.

 

[brandon429]

Excellent set of posts, these reflect actions in the fish disease forum nicely. Even a new system will face same challenges, fix this current one.

 

[brandon429]

The rate of disease emergence in untreated new cycled reefs within eight months is marked, and worth inspecting for high level pattern and writeup. It is the number one concern in cycling posts, ammonia and nitrite used to be.


Also factors: when you get new corals in 2023 and or new clean up crew, considering the challenges in the hobby, do you add them directly to your fixed tank or do you fallow everything that comes in


How to choose answer: begin tracking fish disease forum posts daily, see if rates of help posts increase or stall out this coming year. See if you think the rates of infection and loss become stronger or weaker just by December this year, the trending is what gives the truth not an individual testimony

 

[bolson]

The rate of disease emergence in untreated new cycled reefs within eight months is marked, and worth inspecting for high level pattern and writeup. It is the number one concern in cycling posts, ammonia and nitrite used to be.

I had a 55gallon and upgraded to 120 about 9 years ago. Never quarantined anything and got stuff from 3-4 different LFS around me in IL. Started this tank in Bay Area, CA and instantly faced problems. Curious if it has to do with the area I am in now and specific shops or if diseases within the livestock is becoming a more prominent issue throughout the hobby as a whole

 

[brandon429]

The only way folks get around the hard work of qt is buying pre ready fish from trusted sources and then they can be added into fallow prep systems at a much higher rate of retention per 100 reefs than the classic untreated method, we all started with that pretty much.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I had a 55gallon and upgraded to 120 about 9 years ago. Never quarantined anything and got stuff from 3-4 different LFS around me in IL. Started this tank in Bay Area, CA and instantly faced problems. Curious if it has to do with the area I am in now and specific shops or if diseases within the livestock is becoming a more prominent issue throughout the hobby as a whole

I'm lucky to have 20 saltwater shops within a 30 minute drive.

Even though, most of them are going to the same distributors for fish in LA, half of those shops I would never bring a fish home from because it is clear disease runs rampant in their system. Those shops operate on quantity not quality.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

76 days worked for me after a velvet outbreak

 

[4FordFamily]

Fallow works well for ich/velvet so long as you do not cross-contaminate. This is critical - don't share tubes/nets/equipment/hands/food or anything between the tank you house/treat the fish in and the display.

Another common reason fallow fails is if you didn't truly remove all of the fish. I had a tiny yellow watchman goby I thought had died that was in the sump -- nullified my entire fallow period.

I too would avoid the "nuclear" option.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

honestly, either option can bring ich or velvet back into your tank, if the mistakes which caused the tank to be infected are repeated.

 

[bolson]

honestly, either option can bring ich or velvet back into your tank, if the mistakes which caused the tank to be infected are repeated.

Well obviously…
I’ll be setting up a quarantine for the future to not repeat this mistake.

 

[Alaeriel]

Well obviously…
I’ll be setting up a quarantine for the future to not repeat this mistake.

You'd be surprised how many people do XD
But yes, the fallow period with proper future QT treatments should be extremely effective. I've set up a coral/invert QT as well because I am paranoid. Basically just mark the date the last new frag/snail was placed in and count from there. Should eradicate all future ich/velvet problems!

 

[brandon429]

New Cycle - Seneye vs API

Hello All, Have just started to cycle a new DD ReefPro 900. Am using Fritzzyme Fishless food and Turbo Start and am 2 days in. I have dosed twice with Fishless food on the back of the seneye readings which are as follows: But the API result seems to be showing a different story. I`ve seen a...

www.reef2reef.com

if you own api, you’re not cycled after buying the worlds fastest cycling bac and must wait weeks more, and must buy new bac to replace the clearly obviously dead original bac.



and then if you own seneye, its done on day two, as Fritz is known to do.


test kit misreads nearly ruined cycling for us, making us permanent retail dependents.

 

[mujimran]

Ich and velvet out break, I am reading mixed reviews on fallow success. I have no fish left a couple corals and snails in a 20 gallon that is about 6 months old. I don’t want to wait a full 76 days if the chance of it failing is likely. I’ve read tomonts can go dormant, survive past 76 days and the cycle begins again.
My other option is to get rid of my coral and snail drain the tank replace the sand, bleach the live rock and start all over cycling. My fear here is when I go to add a new clean up crew I will introduce ich or velvet back in the tank.

all thoughts and advice is appreciated! Thank you!!

I posted a very similar post just now. lol. I am thinking of restarting mine

 

[bolson]

I posted a very similar post just now. lol. I am thinking of restarting mine

I ended up committing to waiting out the fallow period, but I had not added any copper to my system. If I were you I would wipe the tank and start fresh, new rock new sand. It’s not worth the time, stress and potential coral and invert loss to try to save it and then worse case still have to wipe it clean anyway. The fallow period hasn’t been as bad as I thought, the time will pass either way

 

[brandon429]

Well done. The day I buy a reef that weighs more than eight pounds full running / one big enough for fish I’m going to do what you did Bolson.

 

[bolson]

I'm lucky to have 20 saltwater shops within a 30 minute drive.

Even though, most of them are going to the same distributors for fish in LA, half of those shops I would never bring a fish home from because it is clear disease runs rampant in their system. Those shops operate on quantity not quality.

Almost done with fallow, are you in the Bay Area? If so any recommendations on where to buy fish?
Thanks!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Unfortunately not. Ventura County/ SFV