Water while Fallow?

kkgaskin90 · Jan 8, 2014

I'm researching the do's and don'ts while my tank is empty for the next 9 weeks (treating Ich in hospital tank) - one of which is to not add water from the LFS to the system (makes sense). This is how we've always gotten our water, so my question is: where do I get water I can add and guarantee there's no Ich in it?
Same LFS offers RO/DI freshwater... Should I get that and mix salt?

Tahoe61 · Jan 8, 2014

The LFS is not selling water that has been in their displays. The water they sell should not have gone through any of their systems therefore never been in contact with infected tanks or live stock.
Yes you can buy their RO/DI and mix your own.

kkgaskin90 · Jan 8, 2014

Thanks! I guess I'm just super paranoid about bringing it in. This may be a stupid question, but I'm ok using containers I used to pull water out of my display to get new water, right?

Tahoe61 · Jan 8, 2014

If your water containers have dried out than yes you can use them to transport water. Marine ich (cyrptocaryons irritans) needs to be wet. Any frags, rock, macro algae that is wet or moist has the potential to introduce the parasite.
You've gone to a lot of trouble to treat and then run a fallow tank. Ask all the questions you want.

kkgaskin90 · Jan 8, 2014

I appreciate it!
So for future reference, what would be a good QT procedure for frags/rocks/algae? Would I need to get a nice light for my QT just for corals in case we do go reef with this tank?

Tahoe61 · Jan 8, 2014

Yes if you bought photosynthetic corals and frags than you would need a light source. I doubt very much if coral dips effectively kill the parasite. Leaving the QT fallow that the corals are in should be fine.
You might eventually get to the mind set that Marine Ich is a symptomatic disease, present in the majority of tanks. Avoid stress or stressful events such as declines in water quality, over crowding, poor nutrition, aggression from tank mates and hopefully the fish do not become symptomatic. A common approach is to QT all fish and perhaps treat prophylactically and then prevent stress.
Tangs of course are a whole different story when it comes to this particular parasite, you look at them wrong and they become symptomatic. Many hobbyist after years of practice know the interventions that work for them to manage an outbreak.
Quarantine is an excellent practice, there are other parasites that are even harder to treat not to mention bacterial infections.

kkgaskin90 · Jan 8, 2014

So 8 weeks for all corals (& rocks & algae) too? Oy. I'm really going to be learning patience.

I was under the impression that if my system and tank were healthy enough and not stressed, it would be fine. Then I started losing fish (an angel, then a Tang) and my survivors were showing the encysted form, so I decided to eradicate Ich from my system and do it right.

On the other hand, I have a 29 that at one point had Ich. I lost some early on (may have been Ich, may have been newbie mistakes) but have had the current residents for about 6 months now. In my research I found that adding no new inhabitants for 11 months makes the Ich starve itself out. So this tank will be left alone for another 5+ months (I'm happy with the stock) and hopefully that information will ring true.

So from now on we QT everything and keep our stock as happy and healthy as possible