Should I go fallow still?

[mgkg327]

I had another thread about two weeks ago: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/did-my-fish-die-from-low-salinity.1059650/

I lost 4 fish in about 3 days after having been fine for about 2 months. The fish were breathing heavily, itching on rocks, & loss of appetite. People suggested gill diseases / flukes as possibilities as well as low oxygen. At the time, I had no powerheads, just my return pump. Since then, I have added a powerhead and my remaining fish (2 clowns and a melanarus wrasse) have no breathing issues and seem to be 100% fine.

I'm wondering what I should do now though. Would the breathing issues have gone away if it was a gill disease? Maybe it was just low oxygen and now the issue is fixed. If it were your tank, would you still go fallow for 2 months to do a reset?


Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium water volume: 125 gallons w/sump
How long has the aquarium been established?: 3+ months
Temperature: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20

 

[exnisstech]

I wouldn't go fallow without knowing what disease or parasite I am trying to eliminate. JMO

 

[Sump Crab]

Don't go follow unless you are 100% dedicated to qt everything wet that goes into your tank going forward. That means that every frag, every invert, every bunch of chaeto, etc must be kept in a fallow tank and every fish must be fully qt. That's a huge commitment.

 

[Dburr1014]

I had another thread about two weeks ago: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/did-my-fish-die-from-low-salinity.1059650/

I lost 4 fish in about 3 days after having been fine for about 2 months. The fish were breathing heavily, itching on rocks, & loss of appetite. People suggested gill diseases / flukes as possibilities as well as low oxygen. At the time, I had no powerheads, just my return pump. Since then, I have added a powerhead and my remaining fish (2 clowns and a melanarus wrasse) have no breathing issues and seem to be 100% fine.

I'm wondering what I should do now though. Would the breathing issues have gone away if it was a gill disease? Maybe it was just low oxygen and now the issue is fixed. If it were your tank, would you still go fallow for 2 months to do a reset?


Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium water volume: 125 gallons w/sump
How long has the aquarium been established?: 3+ months
Temperature: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20

If you have 3 fish doing fine in the display just wait it out another 6 weeks. Make sure they are good before new additions. QT, any newbies.

Edit: I'm just saying, he's had three fish in the main display for 2 weeks with no issues since the others have died. He seems to think that they may not have been a disease but only oxygen. The longer it is, the more likely it was oxygen and not a disease.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Having dealt with all the parasites and a strong believer in QT, I would move those fish to a 10 gal and start treatment to be on the safe side. If they were scratching, it probably was flukes. Also, take the tank fallow. Take a look at your calendar to see if you will be available if you go the non-treatment route.

 

[threebuoys]

If you intend to treat the fish with copper for ich or velvet in a QT, then go fallow for 6 to 8 weeks. If you do not treat the fish, then you are wasting your time going fallow since you've done nothing to eradicate the parasites from the fish.

 

[Uncle99]

I had another thread about two weeks ago: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/did-my-fish-die-from-low-salinity.1059650/

I lost 4 fish in about 3 days after having been fine for about 2 months. The fish were breathing heavily, itching on rocks, & loss of appetite. People suggested gill diseases / flukes as possibilities as well as low oxygen. At the time, I had no powerheads, just my return pump. Since then, I have added a powerhead and my remaining fish (2 clowns and a melanarus wrasse) have no breathing issues and seem to be 100% fine.

I'm wondering what I should do now though. Would the breathing issues have gone away if it was a gill disease? Maybe it was just low oxygen and now the issue is fixed. If it were your tank, would you still go fallow for 2 months to do a reset?


Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium water volume: 125 gallons w/sump
How long has the aquarium been established?: 3+ months
Temperature: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20

I would just watch carefully.

 

[Jekyl]

As others have mentioned unless you plan on using QT now and in the future, then a fallow period is pointless.

That said the only way to be sure is by using a quarantine and a fallow period. Option one is a roll of the dice.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had another thread about two weeks ago: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/did-my-fish-die-from-low-salinity.1059650/

I lost 4 fish in about 3 days after having been fine for about 2 months. The fish were breathing heavily, itching on rocks, & loss of appetite. People suggested gill diseases / flukes as possibilities as well as low oxygen. At the time, I had no powerheads, just my return pump. Since then, I have added a powerhead and my remaining fish (2 clowns and a melanarus wrasse) have no breathing issues and seem to be 100% fine.

I'm wondering what I should do now though. Would the breathing issues have gone away if it was a gill disease? Maybe it was just low oxygen and now the issue is fixed. If it were your tank, would you still go fallow for 2 months to do a reset?


Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium water volume: 125 gallons w/sump
How long has the aquarium been established?: 3+ months
Temperature: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20

Fallow was suggested at that time and for a FULL 6-8 weeks. Its worth the wait and do wait it out. Assure the issue has stabilized rather than having a potential to return

 

[MnFish1]

I had another thread about two weeks ago: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/did-my-fish-die-from-low-salinity.1059650/

I lost 4 fish in about 3 days after having been fine for about 2 months. The fish were breathing heavily, itching on rocks, & loss of appetite. People suggested gill diseases / flukes as possibilities as well as low oxygen. At the time, I had no powerheads, just my return pump. Since then, I have added a powerhead and my remaining fish (2 clowns and a melanarus wrasse) have no breathing issues and seem to be 100% fine.

I'm wondering what I should do now though. Would the breathing issues have gone away if it was a gill disease? Maybe it was just low oxygen and now the issue is fixed. If it were your tank, would you still go fallow for 2 months to do a reset?


Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium water volume: 125 gallons w/sump
How long has the aquarium been established?: 3+ months
Temperature: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20

If you had fish dying from breathing issues - and you don't know the cause - IMHO you should do a fallow period - since there is no way to know one way or the other - and we're talking about adding new living things.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I had another thread about two weeks ago: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/did-my-fish-die-from-low-salinity.1059650/

I lost 4 fish in about 3 days after having been fine for about 2 months. The fish were breathing heavily, itching on rocks, & loss of appetite. People suggested gill diseases / flukes as possibilities as well as low oxygen. At the time, I had no powerheads, just my return pump. Since then, I have added a powerhead and my remaining fish (2 clowns and a melanarus wrasse) have no breathing issues and seem to be 100% fine.

I'm wondering what I should do now though. Would the breathing issues have gone away if it was a gill disease? Maybe it was just low oxygen and now the issue is fixed. If it were your tank, would you still go fallow for 2 months to do a reset?


Aquarium Parameters:
Aquarium water volume: 125 gallons w/sump
How long has the aquarium been established?: 3+ months
Temperature: 78 F
Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <20

I always wait a minimum of 14 days, 30 is safer after any unexplained loss of multiple fish - just to be safe.

You can’t truly go fallow since your tank still has fish in it.

 

[mgkg327]

Thank you for all the replies. Going fallow and QT the current fish is obviously the best way. I was just wondering about the disease / flukes or whatever specifically. My question was more about how the remaining fish have survived. I’m assuming some are just more resistant and could have survived. But I don’t know, does it pretty much kill everything? If it does, then surviving for this time would rule that out as being the original issue. If some fish can survive flukes and other diseases like that, then the only answer is to qt the current fish and reset.

 

[Spare time]

Don't go follow unless you are 100% dedicated to qt everything wet that goes into your tank going forward. That means that every frag, every invert, every bunch of chaeto, etc must be kept in a fallow tank and every fish must be fully qt. That's a huge commitment.

Even just quarantining fish makes a huge difference. Its not a binary.

 

[Spare time]

Thank you for all the replies. Going fallow and QT the current fish is obviously the best way. I was just wondering about the disease / flukes or whatever specifically. My question was more about how the remaining fish have survived. I’m assuming some are just more resistant and could have survived. But I don’t know, does it pretty much kill everything? If it does, then surviving for this time would rule that out as being the original issue. If some fish can survive flukes and other diseases like that, then the only answer is to qt the current fish and reset.

If it is flukes, you can treat them in the display with prazi. However, I am worried about velvet.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Thank you for all the replies. Going fallow and QT the current fish is obviously the best way. I was just wondering about the disease / flukes or whatever specifically. My question was more about how the remaining fish have survived. I’m assuming some are just more resistant and could have survived. But I don’t know, does it pretty much kill everything? If it does, then surviving for this time would rule that out as being the original issue. If some fish can survive flukes and other diseases like that, then the only answer is to qt the current fish and reset.

Parasites have a life cycle. That is why you have the tank go fallow with no fish in it so they have no host. Uronema is the worst because it can live without a fish host. Flukes are very persistent buggers and I have found them difficult to treat on infected fish. I know one thing, you will sleep better knowing you have headed off a potential problem instead of maybe having a time bomb that might go off.

 

[Sump Crab]

Even just quarantining fish makes a huge difference. Its not a binary.

Mu cooment probably wasnt 100% relevant to OP, I guess I was more so referring to those who go fallow for ich. What's the point of going fallow for three months if next time you go to the fish store you just dump a bunch of frags and snails in your tank.

I'm not a qt guy so pardon my cynicism.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for all the replies. Going fallow and QT the current fish is obviously the best way. I was just wondering about the disease / flukes or whatever specifically. My question was more about how the remaining fish have survived. I’m assuming some are just more resistant and could have survived. But I don’t know, does it pretty much kill everything? If it does, then surviving for this time would rule that out as being the original issue. If some fish can survive flukes and other diseases like that, then the only answer is to qt the current fish and reset.

It is rare for ich or velvet to leave survivors, but some flukes have specific fish hosts, so certain species may survive an outbreak. However, for example, if you had one clown that died and another that never got sick, it is unlikely to have been flukes.

Viral diseases are similar - affecting certain related species but not others.

 

[MnFish1]

Mu cooment probably wasnt 100% relevant to OP, I guess I was more so referring to those who go fallow for ich. What's the point of going fallow for three months if next time you go to the fish store you just dump a bunch of frags and snails in your tank.

I'm not a qt guy so pardon my cynicism.

There is no point to QT if you're not going to follow a protocol of some kind. Many people buy frags that are only in fishless systems. Many people buy CUC that are raised in fishless systems. These systems are also fallow since they have no fish. If you just 'dump a bunch of frags and snails in your tank' the risk is not as high probably as 'dumping a bunch of fish' but it's still there. You are correct, though, there are many people that do not quarantine frags and snails, there are also many people that don't QT or treat their fish. Most of them get away with it - until they don't.

 

[Sebastiancrab]

There is no point to QT if you're not going to follow a protocol of some kind. Many people buy frags that are only in fishless systems. Many people buy CUC that are raised in fishless systems. These systems are also fallow since they have no fish. If you just 'dump a bunch of frags and snails in your tank' the risk is not as high probably as 'dumping a bunch of fish' but it's still there. You are correct, though, there are many people that do not quarantine frags and snails, there are also many people that don't QT or treat their fish. Most of them get away with it - until they don't.

I have a friend who had probably $3k + in a beautiful tank of fish and corals. Didn't believe in quarantining. Well, this spring the tank was totally wiped out due to an outbreak of velvet after introducing a new fish. It happens.

 

[MnFish1]

I have a friend who had probably $3k + in a beautiful tank of fish and corals. Didn't believe in quarantining. Well, this spring the tank was totally wiped out due to an outbreak of velvet after introducing a new fish. It happens.

Just FYI - I was trying to make the case for QT - as compared to the opposite