Going Fallow Need Help

[onetootreefor]

Hello All,

I'm going fallow in my Display tank to get rid of an outbreak of Velvet. The fish have actually recovered and doing well using Chloriquine Phosphate. I am removing the last of the fish from my display tank (ones that were not showing signs of velvet), and going fallow for 11 weeks just to be safe.

My question is that I have A LOT of coral, acros, Monti, some zoos, and a RBTA in the display tank. Those of you that have gone fallow with corals, how do you keep up with nutrients without any fish? Do you feed coral food heavier than normal? Dose nitrates? Dose phosphates? Does it matter if there is fish poop as long as my nitrate and phosphate is stable where it should be?

Also, will my lynchia starfish be ok while I'm going fallow, or should I remove it to one of the QT tanks also to rid the DT of velvet?

 

[DLHDesign]

Note that any fish in the DT are going to at least be carriers of the velvet parasite (even if it's not visible) and will also need to be QT'ed in order to keep your tank from being reinfected. The starfish is not going to be a carrier of the velvet parasite; it can remain in the DT along with the other inverts.

Most people I've run across will "ghost feed" their coral-heavy tanks during a fallow period. A ghost-feeding will be a smaller-than-normal volume of food less frequently, but otherwise the same material. It's best to monitor the nitrate levels closely and if you see them drop, increase your feeding (and/or supplement with targeted feeding of coral food).You don't usually need to monitor both nitrates and phosphates since they will both generally be moving in the same direction - and nitrate testing is a bit more accurate, generally speaking.
Dosing in chemicals directly is risky, IMO, as it can trigger a cascade of problems if done improperly. And you won't really know what "properly" would be since you are changing the ecosystem so radically (for all the right reasons, but it's still a big change).

 

[onetootreefor]

Thanks for the reply...yeah I’m removing all fish even though they aren’t showing signs because they can be carriers.
Ill try ghost feeding and keep an eye on nitrates. Thanks for the response!