Day 72 is finally here

[tassod]

Title says it all, my fallow period officially ends today....or does it? Reason i say this is because during my fallow period at various stages, I've also added some corals and inverts to the DT. My fish have been in QT since first week of September and are really wanting out of there. So the big question is, am I good to go in adding my fish back?

 

[avandss]

ehhhhh... fallow period kind of starts as of the last day you added anything wet to the tank.

at this stage i would wait. dont take a chance, just imagine the what you have to do if you get ich because of a little innocent shrimp!

 

[tassod]

ehhhhh... fallow period kind of starts as of the last day you added anything wet to the tank.

at this stage i would wait. dont take a chance, just imagine the what you have to do if you get ich because of a little innocent shrimp!

I was afraid you would say that...man that would put me like almost at the end of January! Not sure i can go that much longer.

 

[TangySushi]

been there done that, I didn't wait. But I added a lot of corals a few weeks towards the beginning of the fallow period for that reason. I'm fairly sure majority of us don't QT our corals for 72 days. I guess the question is did you get your inverts from tank that was hooked up to all the other fish tanks and added the store water to your DT. If the store water got in I would be hesitant about adding fish.

 

[tassod]

I never put store water in my DT

 

[tassod]

Inverts that i added from from LFS was only CUC snails which actually was on a different system from their fish. I also added a S.Gigantea anemone which came from a fellow reefer and not an LFS and again did not transfer any water. As for corals, I always dip them before adding to the DT.

 

[TangySushi]

How many weeks has it been since your last addition? Here's what snorvhich posted a few years ago, might help you weight out the risk vs reward.


These percentages are known as the "empirical rule". What this means for Cryptocaryon irritans is that leaving a tank fallow for 3 weeks will give you a 68% chance that you have eradicated the parasite, leaving a tank fallow for 6 weeks will give you a 95% chance of eradication, but if you want 99.7% chance, you will leave the tank fallow for 9 weeks. That is the reason you see different numbers being used on Reef Central and in the literature.

 

[tassod]

How many weeks has it been since your last addition? Here's what snorvhich posted a few years ago, might help you weight out the risk vs reward.


These percentages are known as the "empirical rule". What this means for Cryptocaryon irritans is that leaving a tank fallow for 3 weeks will give you a 68% chance that you have eradicated the parasite, leaving a tank fallow for 6 weeks will give you a 95% chance of eradication, but if you want 99.7% chance, you will leave the tank fallow for 9 weeks. That is the reason you see different numbers being used on Reef Central and in the literature.

My last addition was a small frag from a frag swap 1 week ago.

 

[tylersarah]

One time I added snails to my tank. Swished each one in 3 separate bowls of saltwater to dislodge any parasites because I didn't QT them first. Two weeks later all my fish were dying from flukes, that may not happen to you, but it's possible.

 

[avandss]

you know the answer to this one. it sucks but if you decide to add fish you are taking a chance, even if it is 1%.... question is, are you willing to chance it?

 

[tassod]

I don't think there will ever be a 100% chance that by waiting longer no parasite will be introduced but I do realize that the chances are much less of it happening. I'll wait another 2 weeks or so and see how it goes.

 

[wooden_reefer]

If one is going to add invert during fallowing, one should do so at the early start of the fallow period.

Water which invert come with may have ich; this is not difficult to visualize.

Eradication of ich is likely if one would proper fallowing.

It is not wise to create problem by impatience.

I would count the start of fallowing as the date of last addition of any foreign water.

Yes, another 70 or so days.

 

[zeebies]

For peace of mind, you've got 9 more weeks tassod. It hurts, but a tank full of fish covered with ich is much worse than the wait. Good luck.

 

[tassod]

At this point, the fish might be better off if I sell them versus keeping them in this small to them QT tank for another 9 weeks..ahh this is indeed painful. I've got 9 fish in a 75g which i have now had to section off with egg crate due to aggression issues.

 

[avandss]

again, i would agree that 90% chance that your tank no longer has ich.

its up to you.

i dont know maybe put back a few fish and see how they react?