Ick Problem

[Mando77]

I recently lost some fish due to an amateur mistake and therefore had an outbreak of Ick and lost a few fish. My tank has been empty for a few weeks now. My water conditions are perfect and they were also perfect when I had the ick issue. Should I be concerned with adding new fish, should I do anything before I add new fish? This is the first time in over 2 years I had dealt with Ick. I just didn't think I would ever have to deal with it. I fear that if I rush adding new fish these parasites will still be alive and attack my new fish. Any help would be appreciated.

[bluce]

If you don't have any fish in QT that need to be moved to your display tank (which I gather by your post is empty now) I would err on the conservative side, and wait a full month - a full month of your DT being fallow should get rid of any ick that could be lingering.

 

Also make sure you quarantine any new fish you get going forward, otherwise the problem could start all over again.

[FearTheTerps]

i would bump that month up to 6 weeks, while the DT is fallow you can have your new fish in a QT, once the DT is ready your new fish should also be ready to leave QT

[CaptainRon]

I had my own outbreak of ick and while doing research on it read that if a tank is devoid of fishy life for 6 - 8 weeks the parasites will be gone.

 

Seems like an awfully long time, but it could be what's needed. I'll try to look up where I read that recomendation and post a link for you later.

[Incredible Corals]

I recently lost some fish due to an amateur mistake and therefore had an outbreak of Ick and lost a few fish. My tank has been empty for a few weeks now. My water conditions are perfect and they were also perfect when I had the ick issue. Should I be concerned with adding new fish, should I do anything before I add new fish? This is the first time in over 2 years I had dealt with Ick. I just didn't think I would ever have to deal with it. I fear that if I rush adding new fish these parasites will still be alive and attack my new fish. Any help would be appreciated.

 

To summarize you need to leave the tank fallow for a full 12 weeks to be 100% sure the ich at the earliest part of the life cycle is killed. I would read the article below before you do anything and then decide if waiting it out is worth it or keep your parameters in check to keep the fish healthy and able to fight off the ich. It's very hard to keep ich out of your tank unless you quarantine everything that goes in (rocks, corals, inverts, etc). To do it properly you need 1 tank to quarantine fish, 1 tank to quarantine corals/inverts and then your display tank. All these tanks need to be running on their own.

 

When I first started reefing I lost a hand full of fish due to ich. I couldn

[Mando77]

Thanks appreciate it. Glad I atleast have corals to look at.

[CaptainRon]

Lots of info on Ich

 

Here's the link I referenced earlier. Lot of information there and other links on preventing it, setting up quarantine tanks and many other things. I haven't cross referenced it with anything else so I really have no idea if it's all valid - but it sounded good to me when I read it!

 

 

Oh yeah, this article also recommends NO LESS than EIGHT WEEKS of fish-free living in your tank!

[treesprite]

Wait at least a couple months then after that wait as long as you can tolerate not having fish.