Dos and Don'ts during fallow?

[allendehl]

I am in that lovely process of watching fish in a bare bottom rockless, coralless, lighless and boring tank on one side and a fishless tank on the other...no fun.

I want to make sure I get dos and don'ts straight cause the last thing I want is to find myself in the same boat soon after fallow is complete (or ever again for that matter)

I assume no additions at all to the DT is in order, correct? Can ich be reintroduced by corals or inverts, even though they don't get infected?..Even the water they come in could be tainted and that tiny drop that always find its way into the DT could be the Trojan horse, correct?

Now, in the HT being treated with cupramine I'd like to remove the floating pieces of food after a few mins of feeding but I am not sure if reusing a net I used the day before is a good idea. Should I let them dry for 48hrs before putting it back into the tank?

[hkgar]

Originally Posted by allendehl

I assume no additions at all to the DT is in order, correct? Correct
Can ich be reintroduced by corals or inverts, even though they don't get infected? Yes, but not likely. SPS corals should be dipped (iodine)..
Even the water they come in could be tainted and that tiny dThe dip should be tank water treated with a coral dip.

Now, in the HT being treated with cupramine I'd like to remove the floating pieces of food after a few mins of feeding but I am not sure if reusing a net I used the day before is a good idea. Should I let them dry for 48hrs before putting it back into the tank? Don't know, never thought about it as I only do TTM for new fish.

[Uncle99]

I added everything else but fish to my DT during fallow as only fish are hosts.
The risk is always the same IMO, pull plugs, dip, brush, rinse, repeat, and drop, but that's just my way. I don't QT anything but fish, again, many would disagree.

What I shoot for is to reduce the risk as much as possible in areas that makes sense.

I made a HT vacuum out if a syringe with 15 inches of ridged airline tube, then just pulled back on the handle and sucked them up, discard, repeat.

You could leave the net in a bucket of Cupramine, but rinse well before using, me, I would just rinse it.

[Rover88]

Agree with everything hkgar said.

As for the net, it doesn't matter. You can reintroduce ich as much as you want to the HT tank. You are treating with cupramine, you'll just kill it.

Nothing that touches the DT touches the HT going forwards. You want there to be about zero transfer between the two tanks, its a good practice to get into at the best of times.

At this moment if you DID happen to bring any free floating ich from the DT to the HT, it would just die from cupramine. But when you remove the cupramine from the HT and monitor the fish, for the rest of the fallow period, you could reintroduce ich if there is water transfer between the tanks at all, even just from your hands or tools going into one then the other. Its a small chance, but its a chance.

[allendehl]

My concern about reusing stuff ( net, house, etc) is that the treatment needs to be acting for certain amount of time. Every time you infect something and pull it out, the ich stuff that goes with it will not be attacked by the medicine and the cycle may be broken. Once you reintroduce it to the tank next day it will always have less treatment time than the rest.
I guess that the longer I extend the treatment over the recommended 14 days the less likely this is to happen. I have no rush anyways.
Also to be in the safe side, I plan in keeping everything I use stored in a bucket with water and clorox and rinse before use.

[hkgar]

Maybe two sets net, hose etc?

[Rover88]

Originally Posted by allendehl

My concern about reusing stuff ( net, house, etc) is that the treatment needs to be acting for certain amount of time. Every time you infect something and pull it out, the ich stuff that goes with it will not be attacked by the medicine and the cycle may be broken. Once you reintroduce it to the tank next day it will always have less treatment time than the rest.
I guess that the longer I extend the treatment over the recommended 14 days the less likely this is to happen. I have no rush anyways.
Also to be in the safe side, I plan in keeping everything I use stored in a bucket with water and clorox and rinse before use.

You don't need to worry about reusing stuff in the HT.

The cupramine is in the water. All of the water. Any ich that 'gets out' on the net is still going to be in cupramine soaked water.

Just avoid swapping stuff from tank to tank.

[tjm9331]

You mention that the HT is next to your DT, how close are we talking?

Reason I ask is because if it's close enough there the possibility of aerosol transfer from your DT to your HT. In other words ich can move from your DT to your HT via water droplets from your DT. Probably too late to move the HT being full of water and fish so not something I'd be overly concerned about but something to keep in mind IF by chance after your cupramine treatment you happen to see ich reappear in the HT.

I don't mean to scare you, honestly the likelihood of that happening is very low but the possibility is there.

In regards to your concerns though, I agree with everyone else, no new fish in the DT until the fallow period is over. New corals and/or inverts is fine and as far as the floating food, instead of using a net I just waited for the food to sink to the bottom and then siphoned it out then made sure the replacement water matched the copper level of the existing water. But if you want to net the food out then I would use two nets, soak one in a vinegar/water mix for an hour or two and let it dry for at least 24 hours and use the other one while the other dries.

[allendehl]

Originally Posted by Rover88

You don't need to worry about reusing stuff in the HT.

The cupramine is in the water. All of the water. Any ich that 'gets out' on the net is still going to be in cupramine soaked water.

Just avoid swapping stuff from tank to tank.

well that makes sense .

Me being paranoid.... ich

[allendehl]

@tjm9331, no they are in totally separate rooms.

Thanks!

[zheka757]

Originally Posted by allendehl

well that makes sense .

Me being paranoid.... ich

LOL IN MY CASE LATELY IT BEING ICK ME

[artieg]

Read up on posts here about quarantine for non-fish with respect to Ich. You can put any non-fish thing into your DT during the fallow period if you are 100% certain that non-fish thing does not contain any form of Ich (Crypto is nasty, but even it cannot spontaneously generate). ANYTHING. Your hands. A powerhead. A basketball. And yes, living non-fish things, too, if you are certain that creature cannot transport any form of ich (like cysts). That is the trick; how you get certain is different for the various types of inverts.

If you read up on invert QT for ich, it will tell you how/when you know if a non-fish invert is definitely free from ich transmittal risk. Once it is free, it can go in the DT, even during the fallow period. For example, a piece of coral that spent 76 days in a fishless QT, that can go in the DT. But sea hares are considered safe to put in DT immediately, because ich is generally understood to be unable to encyst onto living tissue (you want to rinse in several changes of water to dislodge any swimmers).

But I don't blame anyone for being overcautious.

[billdogg]

I use several sets of nets and other equipment for TTM. They are clearly marked so I don't get confused. I also dip the nets and other wet things in bleach solution between uses.

[hkgar]

No need for bleach. Everything needs to be dry for 24 hours and any Ick will die. 24 hours dry after drying. I set everything from tank 1 - tank, net, PVC tubes, heater, tank cover and the pump used to empty it - in front of a fan blowing on them until the next transfer than do that with everything from tank 2.