Sea water, fallow period, ich/marine velvet

[Miami Reef]

Sorry for that ugly title, it’s honestly the best I can make to describe my situation.

Backstory: I got marine velvet from adding new tangs to my system without quarantine. I lost over 10 fish already. My tank is 300 gallons and I do a water change once a month with a company that brings clean sea water when the tide comes up.

I never had ich from them, but my tank is fallow right now, and my fish are in treatment in a tub.

My question is, since I had to destroy my rockscape, I’m going to have to drain all my water next month, and redo the rocks—while my tank is fallow. Will doing that bring velvet to my system again? I really don’t want to add my fish after treatment, only for them to get marine velvet again.

I’m treating the fish/ leaving tank fallow for 6 weeks

 

[Humblefish]

Can you describe "clean sea water" in more detail? Do they run it through a diatom filter or UV in order to remove pathogens??

 

[Miami Reef]

No. They don’t. The guy says the water is clean when the tide is up. He gives it the same day he collects it.

 

[Humblefish]

No. They don’t. The guy says the water is clean when the tide is up. He gives it the same day he collects it.

Then you could be getting free swimming theronts/dinospores (or free floating harmful bacteria) from the sea water. Which could continuously be infecting your tank with disease.

 

[Miami Reef]

And what if they pass it through a 50 micron sock (which they do)? Aren’t the free swimmers about 70 microns?

 

[Humblefish]

And what if they pass it through a 50 micron sock (which they do)? Aren’t the free swimmers about 70 microns?

I’m not sure about the free swimmers, but velvet trophonts are round & range in size from 10-80 micrometers in diameter. Ich trophonts are larger, more oval shaped and range in size from 48 x 27 to 452 x 360 micrometers. Both start out smaller, and then grow in size as they feed on the fish. So I would assume the free swimmers are at or below the smallest size.

 

[Miami Reef]

What do you recommend I do? I honestly don’t have the time and equipment needed to make water changes for a huge 300 gallon tank. Especially when sea water is so cheap (100 a month)

Do you think there are any companies that deliver parasite free water? I don’t think I’ve ever had ich/marine velvet from my water. I’ve only had it from fish, but I do want to be safer, so I’m treating them and making the tank fallow. I will also quarantine and treat every new fish with copper.

 

[TheRealDmorty217]

What do you recommend I do? I honestly don’t have the time and equipment needed to make water changes for a huge 300 gallon tank. Especially when sea water is so cheap (100 a month)

Do you think there are any companies that deliver parasite free water? I don’t think I’ve ever had ich/marine velvet from my water. I’ve only had it from fish, but I do want to be safer, so I’m treating them and making the tank fallow. I will also quarantine and treat every new fish with copper.

If you have a LFS that makes their own saltwater without fish or inverts in it, then it should be “clean”

 

[saintsreturn]

A proper water station with valves and pumps could be had for a couple hundred bucks plus your pump. Then you could make water and pump it in and out and not add a significant amount of time or difficulty to your schedule. This would be clean salt water ready to go.

On to your original question, if you tank is fallow and you mix up your system rescaping, but it remains fallow, the living parasites should in fact die off. If you add fresh sea water, you could be bringing in more of the parasite. That said, if your doing this already for however long, stress will be the largest contributor to the fishes health. I recently had a velvet outbreak and lost 3 fish to velvet for sure, 2 who didnt show signs and died, and 1 who jumped. The remaining fish all look normal and have for about 2 months now. I will start adding fish again next month (maybe) and never went fallow.

I believe these types of parasites to be in the environment regardless of what we do and the probability of introducing it higher than i care to treat for. So i dont. After evaluating what changed for me and what could have contributed to my issue, it boiled down to an ammonia spike that stressed everyone out. Turns out a bacteria bottle was added to my tank in the improper qty and it spiked ammonia for two days. Funny thing is, the two fish i added roughly 40 days prior to the outbreak without QT are the best looking and never showed any signs throughout the ordeal.

My .02$, rescape. Refill. Move on with what makes you comfortable. To include finishing your fallow and QT process. if you are nervous about your time, restart the clock when you top off water again. But if you truly believe the salt water could have caused it, then it will be at risk the next WC you do. If you truly believe it came from your new fish, follow your QT process moving forward.