I have a 75g reef, 20g sump. I have had a few outbreaks of Ich. Damsels will survive, no other fish will. From time to time I see the current Damsels scratching, but never see any Ich on them. However, any new additions contract Ich and die within a few days or weeks. Stupid me, I know.
I have a 15g tank that I would like to setup as a q-tank.
My question is this: To run my display tank 'fallow', do I need to remove all inverts too? I have a ridiculous amount of crabs & snails, I have a few cleaner shrimp, coral banded & a couple peppermint shrimp. I know I will never be able to catch the peppermints. I can't seem to get a definitive answer about this.
I have read some articles concerning Ich, and almost every article is conflicting. I really do not want to lose these fish, even if they are 'stupid' Damsels as so many people feel about them. I have always had trouble with keeping fish in any of my SW or FW systems, but these little turds have held on and survived, are fat and look excellent to the naked eye. Some articles state that the Ich will run it's course (with no new additions to the tank) in about a year and will eventually die off, others say once in the system, always in the system until you remove it's food source.
In other words: I have some beautiful LPS & softie coral that have started as frags, and within a year are fist size or larger. I'd hate to disrupt the tank trying to catch these fast little fish, only to have the Ich stick around and still have no real beautiful display fish. (All I want is one yellow tang and these few damsels. Is that so much to ask for? haha!) Is going fallow a tried and true method?
I have a 15g tank that I would like to setup as a q-tank.
My question is this: To run my display tank 'fallow', do I need to remove all inverts too? I have a ridiculous amount of crabs & snails, I have a few cleaner shrimp, coral banded & a couple peppermint shrimp. I know I will never be able to catch the peppermints. I can't seem to get a definitive answer about this.
I have read some articles concerning Ich, and almost every article is conflicting. I really do not want to lose these fish, even if they are 'stupid' Damsels as so many people feel about them. I have always had trouble with keeping fish in any of my SW or FW systems, but these little turds have held on and survived, are fat and look excellent to the naked eye. Some articles state that the Ich will run it's course (with no new additions to the tank) in about a year and will eventually die off, others say once in the system, always in the system until you remove it's food source.
In other words: I have some beautiful LPS & softie coral that have started as frags, and within a year are fist size or larger. I'd hate to disrupt the tank trying to catch these fast little fish, only to have the Ich stick around and still have no real beautiful display fish. (All I want is one yellow tang and these few damsels. Is that so much to ask for? haha!) Is going fallow a tried and true method?
