Unsuccessful Fallow period

[Fowler freak]

Thanks for asking. My second attempt to get rid of ich was once again UNSUCCESSFUL. Lost 3 of 21 fish during this Fiasco/process and of course two of my favorite fish .....a gorgeous XL gold flake and a XL Hawaiian emperor (due to stress/copper) ;(
That was my last attempt to eradicate ich and now will just manage it unfortunately.
I am completely baffled and I did everything above and beyond.....I mean textbook you name it. The only thing I wish I would’ve done differently was held off on pouring three jars of copepods from algaebarn into my display to seed the tank before the fish were put back in. Within three days of putting the fish back in I saw a few spots (nothing serious) on my blond naso who was farting around here and there. I flipped off my tank and cursed it when I saw those spots. I and all my aquarium friends can’t believe it and don’t have an answer. I called algaebarn and they said it’s impossible they don’t have any fish in their system but I’m not in their warehouse to verify that so ya I’m just SOL with ich once again.

 

[01xp]

dang I'm sorry

 

[Zionas]

Dang. Sorry to hear this!

This whole virus situation and the absolute crappy way many LFS and most wholesalers handle our livestock in the first place is sapping my morale!

If there’s one thing wrong with the hobby it is that decisions aren’t hobbyist driven to a high enough degree.

 

[Brom]

I love flipping inanimate objects off too. I've read that up and down on here RE: algae barn being fishless. Still not quite set up myself so I have nothing to offer than I am really sorry to see this.

 

[Zionas]

The online sellers in my city usually always get shipments of Yellow Eye Koles to go with their Yellow Tangs. I don’t know how Hawai’i is even managing to export so many Yellow Tangs with the whole virus situation, but today for the first time..... no Yellow Eye Koles (also from Hawaii).

 

[Saltyanimals]

In research mode right now for my own fallow period. Could a single fish left unnoticed really be enough of a host to allow the ich cycle to continue? Not sure if OP had UV going, but maybe it would help from a sterilization perspective with any continuous ich cycle from the single fish.

 

[Fowler freak]

In research mode right now for my own fallow period. Could a single fish left unnoticed really be enough of a host to allow the ich cycle to continue? Not sure if OP had UV going, but maybe it would help from a sterilization perspective with any continuous ich cycle from the single fish.

Unfortunately, it absolutely can.

 

[Saltyanimals]

Unfortunately, it absolutely can.

Read someone had a dead fish hidden @4FordFamily hidden in the sump that might have kept the cycle going. That's very eye opening for this potential. I have a tiny Chromis left in a 180 mature reef that I just can't get out to start proper fallow. I am curious how the cycle might have been impacted with removing all 18 others fish when I'm running a larger UV to help...

 

[Sleeman]

Sorry youre having to go through this, but Im new to the hobby and I asked this question to my LFS guy whos had a personal reef tank going for the last 35 years and see this come up a lot so I'm a bit confused when it comes to how I should be prepared? He said its simply not possible to irradiate ich. Take a glass of tap water and check it under a microscope, and you'll find ich. He said eradication isn't possible, maintenance and fish health is what matters to prevent outbreaks.

 

[nereefpat]

Sorry youre having to go through this, but Im new to the hobby and I asked this question to my LFS guy whos had a personal reef tank going for the last 35 years and see this come up a lot so I'm a bit confused when it comes to how I should be prepared? He said its simply not possible to irradiate ich. Take a glass of tap water and check it under a microscope, and you'll find ich. He said eradication isn't possible, maintenance and fish health is what matters to prevent outbreaks.

He would be wrong. Spontaneous Generation was disproven in the 1800s.

 

[Saltyanimals]

I personally believe eradication is possible in a very controlled environment like a smaller tank where everything is QTed and checked for presence of ich and every single -fish, coral, invert, frag plug going into it is equally QTed. This is just realistic for most reefers.

Getting my tank fallow because it's a large system and I can't catch a single small remaining fish has been a huge challenge. I'm just thinking through how much the ich population has diminished since I've taken out 95% of the host fish. Wondering if I'll ever get that last one and how long before I give up and assume the population is low enough that UV will sterilize what's left.

 

[4FordFamily]

Read someone had a dead fish hidden @4FordFamily hidden in the sump that might have kept the cycle going. That's very eye opening for this potential. I have a tiny Chromis left in a 180 mature reef that I just can't get out to start proper fallow. I am curious how the cycle might have been impacted with removing all 18 others fish when I'm running a larger UV to help...

For me, it was a live fish that was in my sump. It was a small orchid dottyback if my memory serves. So when I thought the system was fallow, it was not. Frustrating!

 

[4FordFamily]

I personally believe eradication is possible in a very controlled environment like a smaller tank where everything is QTed and checked for presence of ich and every single -fish, coral, invert, frag plug going into it is equally QTed. This is just realistic for most reefers.

Getting my tank fallow because it's a large system and I can't catch a single small remaining fish has been a huge challenge. I'm just thinking through how much the ich population has diminished since I've taken out 95% of the host fish. Wondering if I'll ever get that last one and how long before I give up and assume the population is low enough that UV will sterilize what's left.

I’ve kept disease out of my 500 and 180 now for a while— but it’s a stringent QT regimen or buying from someone who properly QTs for me — such as TSM Aquatics.

not easy but really wonderful not worrying with lots of healthy fish !

 

[Saltyanimals]

For me, it was a live fish that was in my sump. It was a small orchid dottyback if my memory serves. So when I thought the system was fallow, it was not. Frustrating!

Needless to say I was very surprised to read your experience with a single fish causing the fallow to fail. I assumed a small dottyback can't be that big of a host carrier to keep ich brewing in such a large system. Do you run UV as part of ich management? The curiosity here is if a properly configured UV (size and flow) might have saved your fallow with that single straggler fish.

 

[4FordFamily]

If the parasite has any host at all, the fallow period is completely nullified. With thousands or even millions of parasites, the odds of one not being able to complete its' life cycle with a fish remaining are very high.

Needless to say I was very surprised to read your experience with a single fish causing the fallow to fail. I assumed a small dottyback can't be that big of a host carrier to keep ich brewing in such a large system. Do you run UV as part of ich management? The curiosity here is if a properly configured UV (size and flow) might have saved your fallow with that single straggler fish.

 

[Ross Petersen]

Any updates on fallow period success/failures? I’m cognizant of putting in all the work like others have here with the distinct chance of ich persisting...

 

[nereefpat]

1 update is that most likely 45 days fallow is enough, according to Jay Hemdal.

 

[Ross Petersen]

1 update is that most likely 45 days fallow is enough, according to Jay Hemdal.

Thanks. Is that with extensive daily mixing of sand and rocks to prevent dormancy in part of the ich life cycle?

 

[Tamberav]

I did 45 days at 80.6-81 and it seems to have been successful. I fallow/QT every single coral and anything wet now though. If you add anything wet to the tank without fallowing it... well you might get it back.

I stirred the sand and turkey basted the rocks weekly. When I removed the fish, I also removed all the tock and stirred ALL of the sand that was under the rock. Everything was separate from the QT tank, different buckets and hoses and pumps, and even separate refractometers and I kept the QT tanks on a different level of the house.

I did ich management for 10 years and it worked pretty well but I want to upgrade to a 200g tank and I decided to try something new.

Keeping coral in a frag tank for 45 days has worked just fine. I used mature rock and the acropora grow in there without issue. Heck, the coral plugs ended up growing bryopsis and ulva so having them QT let me catch potential algae invaders on what looked like clean plugs.

No regrets so far.

 

[Ross Petersen]

I did 45 days at 80.6-81 and it seems to have been successful. I fallow/QT every single coral and anything wet now though. If you add anything wet to the tank without fallowing it... well you might get it back.

I stirred the sand and turkey basted the rocks weekly. When I removed the fish, I also removed all the tock and stirred ALL of the sand that was under the rock. Everything was separate from the QT tank, different buckets and hoses and pumps, and even separate refractometers and I kept the QT tanks on a different level of the house.

I did ich management for 10 years and it worked pretty well but I want to upgrade to a 200g tank and I decided to try something new.

Keeping coral in a frag tank for 45 days has worked just fine. I used mature rock and the acropora grow in there without issue. Heck, the coral plugs ended up growing bryopsis and ulva so having them QT let me catch potential algae invaders on what looked like clean plugs.

No regrets so far.

Many thanks. Sounds like lifting the rocks up and blowing under them is prudent. Will definitely do that, and be OCD with respect to supplies... if I go the ich eradication route.

Relatively dismayed that 2 months of QT for fish, and at least 30 days of QT with coral frags, was not enough to prevent the parasite from getting in. I'm thinking 99% of systems out there have ich.

Maybe I should just QT my tangs (only fish showing ich) and sell them... arg