letting tank go fallow

[bosslady]

My LFS says to let tank go fallow 7 days for ich. This is not very long. It has been fallow for three weeks now. My plan was for three weeks more.

 

[cj10488]

4-6 weeks is about normal time to let your tank go fallow to remove Ich from it..

Sounds like you ahve it under control..

HTH<
James

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Your plan is much better than the LFS plan. I forget how long it takes for all of the ich that is free swimming and in the substrate to die due to a lack of host but it is at least a month I think.

 

[quarryshark]

I went 8 after velvet with good result.

 

[mrmarine]

what is going fallow?

good luck bosslady


Mr. Marine

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Fallows means leaving it empty with no fish.

 

[alarmguy66]

20 days did the trick for me. I kept the temp up to 84 degrees as well. This was 2 months ago and so far (knock, knock) no reoccurance.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I am not positive on this, but while the tank is fallow do you need to provide a source of ammonia to keep the tank cycled?

 

[quarryshark]

You can "feed" the bacteria every few days. I just threw in a piece of raw shrimp every 3-4 days. That will do it.

 

[Guest]

I've done some research and although this may not pertain to you this may be helpful to others. I've found that Marine Velvet's (Oodinum) life cycle is alot shorter than Ich's by at least half of more. This is not to say you can assume shorter fallow periods, as sometimes Ich can be mistaken for Velvet and vice versa..Unless you are 100% sure as to what you got, the longer fallow periods are the safer way to go.

 

[SquishyFish]

Ich's life cycle is in the 4-6week range and (as already briefly mentioned) higher temp will speed it up...but only by a week or so.

 

[quarryshark]

I've done some research and although this may not pertain to you this may be helpful to others. I've found that Marine Velvet's (Oodinum) life cycle is alot shorter than Ich's by at least half of more. This is not to say you can assume shorter fallow periods, as sometimes Ich can be mistaken for Velvet and vice versa..Unless you are 100% sure as to what you got, the longer fallow periods are the safer way to go.

Yes Don, this is true and I agree. But I would like to add that a longer fallow period is required to make absolutely sure the parasites are gone, because it is so deadly so quickly.

 

[WarOrks15]

i did 4 weeks at 80 f for ich. it worked for me.