Going fishless for QT period...

[sn4265]

I'm about to pull the trigger on yanking all of the fish out of my DT and putting them in a hypo QT for 6 weeks. The reason is that about a year ago I had an outbreak of ich when I added a Kole Tang. A couple of the fish survived that outbreak and things have been great for about a year now. However, I think we are ready to try another tang and I'm really paranoid about ich this time around.

My understanding is that since the tank has had fish in it continuously since the ich outbreak I should assume that the parasite is still lingering. This is the reason that I am considering going to the hypo QT for 6 weeks before purchasing a new tang. My question really revolves around what happens when I reduce the bioload on the tank significantly by yanking all the fish? My corals are all softies such as leathers and LPS such as hammers and frogspawn. What impact on chemistry should I expect? What impact will this have on my corals? Any chance this will help eliminate the dino issue that I currently have?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[Spar]

Good choice on getting things fixed!

Just continue to feed your tank fish food at the rate (or slightly less) you did with fish in it and you will be fine. Shouldn't reduce any bacteria that way. And run everything else the same as you did with fish as well.

Leave your DT fishless for at least 8 weeks though. So your QT period will need to be 8 weeks as well, including the time period you bring salinity back up.

Shouldnt see any other changes in chemistry except for maybe a rise in pH with less fish blowing out gases :) And technically that will mean your KH will be more stable, so you may need to reduce, or at least just keep an eye out on, your KH dosing.

[Spar]

Also, if you havent already, get a filter sponge soaking in your DT to get some good bacteria on it and transfer that to your QT so that you don't experience an Ammonia spike in it.

[FlyingRev]

Also, if you havent already, get a filter sponge soaking in your DT to get some good bacteria on it and transfer that to your QT so that you don't experience an Ammonia spike in it.

Would not a filter sponge that has been soaking in the DT that has ICH in it also have the ICH parasite in it and thereby transfer it to the QT?

[sponger0]

Would not a filter sponge that has been soaking in the DT that has ICH in it also have the ICH parasite in it and thereby transfer it to the QT?

Well if your fish have it, it isnt going to matter.

[Spar]

Well if your fish have it, it isnt going to matter.

Right. The whole point of the hypo QT procedure is to kill the Ich. So over the 6-8 week period the Ich carried over with the sponge will kill it.

Probably best to afterwards throw the sponge away rather than putting it back in the DT/sump after the QT period, but shouldn't matter really if the procedure worked.

[Palting]

Excellent choice!! I made the same choice 2 years ago, and have not regretted it one bit. I did exactly as Spar enumerated for you. Feed the DT and maintain the tank as if you still had fish in it. You will notice an explosion of pods. If you want to see something really cool, wait a few weeks after your DT has been fallow then get a red lens flashlight and look at your DT several hours after lights out. You'll see a bunch of little things scurrying, flying, jumping about. Cool!!

One thing I want to point out that often gets missed when treating Ich. Make sure to keep your equipment separate between your DT and your QT/HT. It's alright to use a sponge and water from the DT to start the QT, but never again after that. After that, use new water, a different net, different algae scraper, different salinity tester, etc, etc. Or at least, make sure to rinse well between uses. Rinse hands and arms well if you are going from one tank to the other. You don't want to keep reintroducing different stages of Ich between the two tanks during the treatment period.

GL!! :thumbsup: