Unsuccessful Fallow period, but why?

[Fowler freak]

Several months ago I decided to once and for all eradicate ich and run my tank fishless for 78+ days while I copperpowered my fish for 30+ days. (I have a 250 gallon with a ton of sand and a ton of live rock) After that daunting task I put my fish back in around Xmas time and well now I have ich inside my tank again. I tested the QT tanks religiously with my Hanna and ran it at 2.0 give or take a few tenths but NEVER did it sink below 1.5. The only thing that I did that’s questionable was after the 78 days I added a freshwater puffer to test if there was ich present still. The puffer died because he got caught behind my gyre pump and never really “knew” if it was present and proceeded forward. The fish was bought from a local store and after I added the fish inside my main tank I called the lfs to see if it was total fresh or was it brackish. They replied brackish and my heart skipped a beat. They said it was at 1.0
So is there any way that there was a marine ich transfer from a spotted FW puffer in water at 1.0? Please help me make sense of this. Thanks guys

 

[flsalty]

You added nothing during this fallow period? No corals, no snails or other CUC?

There are strains of marine ich that can survive in brackish, so that is a possibility. It's also possible your QT procedure failed. The bottom line is adding a fish that wasn't quarantined was an unnecessary variable that makes it difficult to determine what happened.

 

[Fowler freak]

You added nothing during this fallow period? No corals, no snails or other CUC?

There are strains of marine ich that can survive in brackish, so that is a possibility. It's also possible your QT procedure failed. The bottom line is adding a fish that wasn't quarantined was an unnecessary variable that makes it difficult to determine what happened.

Thanks for replying. I added nothing at all other than that puffer that was in brackish and was so so thorough with the qt/copper process of all my fish during that 78+day period.......I’m just at a loss here

 

[MabuyaQ]

'Treatment' takes at least two lifecycles to make sure any cyst that might have formed just before or at the start of the treatment can't reīnfect any fish. Also 78(not knowing how many days + is) is at the lower end of the lifecycle, 72+11 is the minimum amount of days as far as I know for quarantain to detect infection. So 'treatment' should be at least double this number of days.

 

[Big G]

There has been a study that states Ich can go dormant in an anerobic environment (your deep sand) and remain viable for a considerable length of time. So it's not enough to go fallow but, based on the study, you need to deal with those anerobic areas in your tank as well by stirring the sand or other methods to oxygenate all areas of the tank.

 

[theMeat]

Have been there many times and seen it with others even more. Even had qt on separate floor, because it’s said they can jump through the air. Separate food, cups, everything. Yet it still returned. After my last time, in a bare bottom tank, after 90 days treatment, followed by 30 days observation. Put them back in bare bottom fallow display to watch ich return. That was the last time I did it. Now I feed better, low stress, uv, and have much better results. Not to mention enjoy doing less and enjoying more