Running a tank fallow

[sully08]

Has anyone ever attempted this? What is your recommended time frame?
If all the fish are removed from the display tank does your biological filter still have enough waste, (ammonia) to survive?

[gmann]

if you google it, i think its reef2reef that has a thread where they discuss the time periods you need to go fallow based on the issue you are battling.

[kyl]

76 days to wipe out the big three: ich / velvet / brooklynella

[Frogger]

72 or 76 days is the number depending on who you talk to to go fallow from ich. It is much shorter for other parasites. Check out https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fallow-periods-going-fishless.190324/

If your efforts are only to remove a serious pest like brooklynella then you might not have an option but only need a fallow tank for 6 weeks.

If what you are doing is trying to create a tank that is disease free after your fallow period is over every rock, coral, piece of equipment ect. that you add to your tank in the future has to be guaranteed for 76 days. The encysted stage of external parasites (ex. ich) is capable of sticking to rock, sand, corals, snail shells, even the glass, etc. During that 76 days you cannot add anything to that quarantine tank (fish free) or the clock starts from zero over again. Dipping does not kill the encysted stage. You have to have separate nets and tools to clean and look after a disease free tank. There are some that think that dipping your tools in bleach won't kill all cysts.

If you want corals in your tank you have to have a quarantine tank setup that can grow corals but have no fish. $$$$$

This whole process seems like overkill. I have ich in my tank, have had it for 20 plus years. I have fish that I have had for over 20 years old.

I quarantine everything in a separate 10 gallon tank with full biological filtration/ live rocks for a month or 2 for observation and only treat if I absolutely have to. Making sure a fish is healthy and eating well before adding it to my tank reduces the stress and reduces the problems.

If you think about what is needed for a completely disease free tank, 1 slip up and its gone. Not sure there are many of these tanks realistically around. Reefers might say they have an ich free tank but maybe it is just the fish are healthy, eating well and not sick.

[FlamesFan]

+1 Frogger

[sully08]

Great feed back, thanks
I thought I was doing everything right before my fish went into my 150 dt... treated all new comers with cupramine and quarantine in a 50g for about 5 weeks. I got 3 new little guys and just observed for 6-7 weeks without cupramine. Ate lots in that time with no outbreaks. Decided to try something different because one was a flame angel and I heard doesn't do well with copper.
Put them in the dt and with in a week things go haywire. I think its velvet. My
Majestic angel looked like he was dusted with flour and his fins started to deteriorate fast, he was gone in 2 days. He died while in quarantine and cupermine ramping up to proper levels at the time....he went fast. I waited to long before I cleared out my display tank and started to treat. Now its a waiting game. Nice thing is my quarantine is well established with lots of filtration and
Filter media for bio load. Hopefully there isn't much more fish loss. Try the fallow thing for 3 months and see what happens.

[Frogger]

Velvet is 6 weeks.

I do not like to treat anything with copper (poison) unless I absolutely have to.

I have found that if you quarantine a fish in a separate tank with a biological filter (low stress) you can watch closely for anything to happen. 9 times out of 10 nothing does. I always do this before I put a fish into my main display.

Some have had success with no quarantine but I have lost a lot of fish over the past 30 years and 2 times completely lost every fish in my tank.