Tank Reset

[BillB83]

I have a tank that Im pretty sure has ich in it and the only thing keeping other fish from getting it atm is my UV and their immune systems. I plan on taking the fish out and sending them through a QT and resetting the tank. Whats the best way to do this? Empty drain water and just run tap water through the whole system for a few days ? i would rather not get rid of the sand. I will be removing all the rock and redoing the whole scape as well.

My plan is below let me know if there are areas of improvement.

Phase 1: Tank Breakdown & Cleaning

• Drain all old saltwater from the tank
• Remove all rockwork and place it in a separate container
• Fill the tank with tap water
• Run equipment (powerheads/pumps) for 3-4 days to keep debris suspended.
• Stir the sand bed thoroughly each day to release trapped waste.
• After 3-4 days, drain and discard the dirty water.

Phase 2: Rock Sterilization & Preparation

• Fully submerge rocks in a water/bleach solution and soak for 7 days
• Rinse rocks thoroughly.
• Soak rocks in fresh water with a double dose of de-chlorinator for 24 hours
• Remove rocks and allow them to dry completely in the sun (preferred) or a well-ventilated area.

Phase 3: System Restart

• Create new scape with the clean, dry rock.
• Fill the tank with freshly mixed saltwater.
• Begin the new cycle with some dr tims

The reason i am resetting the tank isnt for the current fish its because i had to remove my puffer from the tank who HAD ich. He did his time in a QT for a month and is now by himself in a temp tank until i can get him back into the 120.

I know this isnt the typical post in this channel but due to the questions I figured maybe this was the best place if not let me know and i can remove it

 

[BryanM]

#fishmedics

I wont pretend to know the answer, but I'm pretty sure this is not the best course of action. Vetteguy and Jay, and others I suspect can add much more detail though.

Everything I've read boils down to QT fish separate tank, display needs to stay fishless for 6-8 weeks, and if it were my tank I'd go 8 weeks.

 

[BillB83]

#fishmedics

I wont pretend to know the answer, but I'm pretty sure this is not the best course of action. Vetteguy and Jay, and others I suspect can add much more detail though.

Everything I've read boils down to QT fish separate tank, display needs to stay fishless for 6-8 weeks, and if it were my tank I'd go 8 weeks.

I will be QTing all of the fish, and im pretty sure if i just rip tap water through the system for 72+ hours it will kill all the ich and everything else in the sump/sand at this point the rock will be out of the system anyways for a re-scape. I know you can go fishless for 6-8 weeks but thats if you wanna keep the current tank / inverts/ coral/ cycle i believe

 

[fishface NJ]

Remove all fish from the display tank. Treat them in QT for 30 days.

The parasites will die off from the DT if you leave the DT fishless for 8 weeks.

 

[Sean Clark]

Are you going to do a tank transfer method with your fish? You covered the tank pretty well but nothing about the fish.

 

[BillB83]

Are you going to do a tank transfer method with your fish? You covered the tank pretty well but nothing about the fish.

fish will go into copper QT, i have been using the marine collectors method, where you just mix copper water and do 100% clean and water change every 3 days for 14-30 days 14 if no symptoms 30 with symptoms

 

[BillB83]

The parasites will die off from the DT if you leave the DT fishless for 8 weeks.

I know, but i want to do it in less than 8 weeks and because im going to re-scape it i am just wanting to hard reset it. I just wanna make sure i can wipe out marine ich with tap water in the tank for 72+ hours

 

[Fish Fan]

@Randy Holmes-Farley would you please consider moving this thread to the fish disease sub-forum so that the R2R #fishmedic guys can take a look for the OP?

@BillB83 I would really wait until you hear from some of the R2R fish disease experts. I would strongly encourage you to get a solid diagnosis from them, and then a game plan for moving forward.

In my humble opinion, I would pull all the fish and treat them following the R2R approved fish QT protocol found here. I would not shorten the copper to 14 days:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/
I would leave the display tank fallow (fishless) so that the fish parasites can die out without a fish host to complete their lifecycle. The length of time here is hotly debated, but I believe that @Jay Hemdal now suggests 45 days minimum, and 60 days as a safer target, especially if you do have Ich vs. Velvet that has a shorter lifecycle.

I don't believe running tap water for 72 hours is guaranteed to rid your system of everything. If you really want to do a full restart, I'd bleach the tank to be safe.

I'm not a fish disease expert, and I again would encourage you to wait until one of the fish medic guys has a chance to weigh in here

Best of luck going forward!

 

[Fish Fan]

The OP reposted this topic in the fish disease sub-forum, maybe it would be best to follow this discussion there:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/restarting-tank-help.1131328/
I hope this helps!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

fish will go into copper QT, i have been using the marine collectors method, where you just mix copper water and do 100% clean and water change every 3 days for 14-30 days 14 if no symptoms 30 with symptoms

I’d opt for just running coppersafe for 30 days. More effective and a lot less stressful to the fish since you don’t need to move them as often.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I know, but i want to do it in less than 8 weeks and because im going to re-scape it i am just wanting to hard reset it. I just wanna make sure i can wipe out marine ich with tap water in the tank for 72+ hours

As long as you give the tank a first rinse with tap water (to flush out any residual salt in the rocks) then tefilkk on, 3 days of tap water would be sufficient to kill the ich tomonts.

 

[BillB83]

I’d opt for just running coppersafe for 30 days. More effective and a lot less stressful to the fish since you don’t need to move them as often.

Well i have to remove all the rocks to re-scape it anyways and there is no way ill catch this snowflake eel without removing rocks i also keep soft corals in the tank. I pulled all of them out a week ago and have them in a holding tank without any fish for the 8 week period.

I worry the copper would take forever to fully get out of the system making it harder to add corals and inverts back into the tank.

 

[Kooma]

Why not just qt the fish for 30’days in copper and let the tank sit fallow for 76? Much easier.

 

[BillB83]

Why not just qt the fish for 30’days in copper and let the tank sit fallow for 76? Much easier.

I could do that but i want to take out all of the scape and redo the whole thing with morter and glue and what not so all of the bacteria on the rock would be dead anyways at that point.

I could do this tho and then just add a bottle of turbo start or something when i put the rocks back in. How much beneficial bacteria will stay in the substrate would it be worth it ?

Thanks

 

[Kooma]

I could do that but i want to take out all of the scape and redo the whole thing with morter and glue and what not so all of the bacteria on the rock would be dead anyways at that point.

I could do this tho and then just add a bottle of turbo start or something when i put the rocks back in. How much beneficial bacteria will stay in the substrate would it be worth it ?

Thanks

You could have a mass die off, but live roc can survive for a long time if kept damp. Doesn’t even need to be overly warm, room temp.