Sterilize a DT

[Friday24]

So I upgraded to a larger tank 4 months ago, I had at the time too many fish to try and quarantine and treat for ich so my idea was to setup the new tank and leave it in hypo for 30-45 days. All seemed well until coming back out of hypo my Achilles looked like he had some ich spots coming back so I went back in to hypo for what has now been 4 months. Spots on Achilles never went away the second time and he and my Chevron look to be starting HLLE now so I’m thinking water quality and stress is the causing that issue, but at the same time I might have a hypo resistant strain of ich. For tangs I’ve got an Achilles, Chevron and a Dussumieri and only the Achilles has the ich spots. So what I’m thinking of doing is removing all of my fish and running them through TTM and and sterilize my DT that has LR and sand with vinegar so I can get the fish back in the DT as soon as they’re through TTM. Has anyone tried this successfully before or know a different way to sterilize the display to kill the ich?

 

[DLHDesign]

I don't believe that it's been proven that vinegar actually kills ich. There is a strong belief that it does is the best that can be said (AFAIK).

The safest bet is to leave the DT fallow (no fish, no cross-contamination) for 76 days. Doing this would preserve your LR and beneficial bacteria, so you wouldn't have to go through a full tank cycle before you could re-home the fishes in QT. It does mean an extra 46 days in QT, which is not enticing, I'm sure...

 

[melypr1985]

Agreed ^^ The safest course of action is to just leave the display fallow. Some people talk about "nuking" the tank with bleach and letting it all dry out so they can start over, but that poses it's own problems. You then have to cure all the rock again, then cycle the tank. Then you have a brand new tank and all that goes with it

 

[Friday24]

The extra time does pose an issue since I would have to buy and setup another tank to wait the fallow time, which I can do but would prefer not to. I don’t mind killing everything and starting over, it’s been hypo since it was set up 4 months ago, so all that’s in the tank is beneficial bacteria and the tangs continue to knock down algae as fast as it can grow. No live rock or sand was used during setup either. My biggest concern with bleach is removing it.

 

[DLHDesign]

The extra time does pose an issue since I would have to buy and setup another tank to wait the fallow time

Any reason the fish wouldn't just stay in the QT? As you plan to run TTM, that means you'll need two of everything that can - in this case - hold all your livestock. Once you're out of the TTM phase and into observation/waiting, you could even bring both those tanks online and split your population between the two to give them even more space...?