Honestly, I'd probably do peroxide dosing on top of it. Even if you started now before adding fish. Almost always, fallow fail is due to cross contamination of new coral or inverts, but sometimes it just didn't seem to work. A TON of variables though.
New Ich Fallow Period
- Thread starter Humblefish
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phatduckk
Well-known member
- Location
- SF Bay Area
I did all the additions before starting the fallow clock. Nothing major just a shipment of snails and a couple torches.
honestly, at this point I’m probably just gonna extend my fallow period another 2 weeks past the 76 day mark and call it.
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
Agree with Jposch. If ever I did fallow again, which is unlikely, I would double up with peroxide. Fallow is huge hassle. To go 90 days and only have it come back 3 wks later after re introducing fish who had been QT in Hanna tested 2.5ppm copper power for 40 days, is just exhausting and quite frankly deflating. Was so disappointed that almost quit the hobby. I hope this peroxide regimen works. So far so good as all spots have dropped and not returned in days and haven't even started night time dosing yet. Good luck everyone.
And, the wife (if you have one) will like the tank more with fish in it. Lol
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
Yes got one and yes she is getting tired of all these hospital/QT tanks hanging out all over the place…Quite frankly cant blame her. We/ve got to find an easier way to do things in this hobby because I’m a die hard passionate hobbyist and was almost pushed to pont of no return. I’m still a bit on the edge as still looking for the day when you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor…and importantly no more heartaches! Take care….
biggjoe8
Member
- Location
- West Hurley, New York.
I ran my tank at 86 degrees for 6 weeks while my fish were in qt. Stirred up the sandbed and blew off rocks every 10 days while doing water changes. All my fish have been back in dt since August 27th with no issues.
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
Glad for you. I probably could have blown out the rocks a bit more frequently. I did no water changes as ther was no fish so just let it ride and the corals all looked good through out the process.
biggjoe8
Member
- Location
- West Hurley, New York.
I just had inverts. Not sure if corals would survive 6 weeks at that temp. All of my inverts were fine tho.
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
I had my corals at 81 for 90 days and they did fine. However 86 is a whole other story….
Where do we stand on 30C for 2 weeks? I’ve got some cheato that I want to QT as quickly as possible. I understand that ich can’t encrust on the macro algae itself but definitely can on any pods or snails etc that may be living in it.
I see in the other thread the recommendation is to dip the cheato to deal with the pods etc, but wouldn’t they still be nestled in the algae and carrying encrusted ich even if they’re dead?
Any input would be hugely appreciated.
-Lucas
I see in the other thread the recommendation is to dip the cheato to deal with the pods etc, but wouldn’t they still be nestled in the algae and carrying encrusted ich even if they’re dead?
Any input would be hugely appreciated.
-Lucas
Humblefish
HF
- Location
- Wandering Nomad
Still theoretical, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work only ich only. Meaning, there is no evidence that 2 weeks fallow @ 30C also eliminates velvet, brook, flukes, etc.
Tomonts cannot encyst to macroalgae; however if pods are still present on the macro (dead or alive) tomonts could be encysted to their exoskeletons.
Thanks, I don’t know if it’s possible to remove all the pods from a ball of cheato so I will make the assumption that they will always be there.
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
Is it safe then to say that once your tank gets ich, there’s a chance that there will always be remnants of it either in rock, sand, chaeto etc? Complete Eradication appears very remote….
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Flame2hawk
Well-known member
So no response I suppose means agreement. We fight so hard to eradicate ich but it appears that is not possible once its in your tank. So the only option appears to be ich management. Makes sense since I went 90 day FALLOW twice and treated fish with copper in large QT’s and still got ich back without adding anything new. Yes I blew out rocks and sifted sand to no avail. One thing I didn’t do was get rid of the chaeto so I guess thats where it laid dormant. Ive also been trying H202 at higher ml levels than suggested for months, and still have spots. This is a very disheartening given all the remedies that many speak about which seems to really support management vs eradication.
@Humblefish
@Dierks
@Fish Disease Experts
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Humblefish
HF
- Location
- Wandering Nomad
If ich gets introduced, it can be starved out of a tank by going fallow. The free swimming stage needs to find a fish host or it perishes, thus ending the lifecycle. Now, if you later introduce an unquarantined fish (with trophonts) or a coral/invert (with tomonts) that reintroduces ich back into your DT and the cycle repeats itself again. This is why I stress quarantining anything wet for those wishing to keep pathogens out of their DT.
Here are two important reminders when going fallow:
- Raise water temp to at least 81F for 6 weeks: New Ich Fallow Period
- You must eliminate any hypoxic/anaerobic regions in your tank whilst going fallow. If a protomont crawls into a hypoxic environment before encysting, it may go dormant and all bets are off! This is probably the "real reason" behind most fallow failures. More info on that here: Why a fallow period will sometimes fail
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
I’ve done everything suggested above including raising temp to 81 and blowing everything out. Until recently I was not advised to remove all chaeto. So i rinsed it out but didn’t replace it. Any way 2/ 90 day fallow with fish in QT and treated. Still got ich. Now I’m doing H202 and still have ich after several weeks. This is in my semi reeef and not FOWLR tank.
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
I also have been feeding with fresh seafood (shrimp, claims and mysis) mixed with metro, focus, Selcon, beta-glucan, angelixir, and garlic then frozen. As mentioned, I’ve done everything advised to do….
Humblefish
HF
- Location
- Wandering Nomad
How exactly did you treat the fish while going fallow? Also, did you add any livestock (or anything wet) afterwards which could have reintroduced ich?
Flame2hawk
Well-known member
Happy to refresh info as we we’ve been together step by step on this journey which is appreciated. Treated at 2.5ppm (Hanna tested) Copper power for at least 40 days each time even though 30 days recommended. After the 40 days, they were then observed for another 50 days until DT was ready again. Ich developed both times after about 2 weeks of reintroduction. Nothing wet was introduced. No fish. No corals. No anything except reintroduced treated fish.
Humblefish
HF
- Location
- Wandering Nomad
I got nothing, except maybe it wasn’t ich that returned.
Copper only treats ich & velvet. That leaves open the possibility of some other pathogen that causes “white spots” on a fish that just look like ich. Could be Brooklynella, Flukes, Bacterial Tufts, Viral Nodules.You would need to take a skin scrape of one of the affected fish to conclusively confirm or rule out ich.