ich- how long to leave tank fishless

[bpro32]

How long do you leave a tank fishless for ich to die off?
Let's just get into the real reason im asking...
I'm picking up a sailfin tang from a friend tomorrow (not my idea, I just don't want to see it go to the awful lfs near us) and I only have a 20g qt tank. This is not a small fish, maybe 6-7". My display tank has been fishless for almost 4 weeks and I need to know when it is safe to put the sailfin into my 120.
ps-- I know the tang can't stay in the 120, but again, the lfs is terrible. they have an 8" black hawaiin trigger in a 10g tank. That is a $300 fish!!!
pss-- I may be picking up a running 60g next weekend, so I could move the fish there to qt it properly if I need to.

 

[bpro32]

ok i've read a lot about this but can only find out about the lifespan of ich with a fish host present, like at the top of this forum. I need some help

 

[shawna1972]

I would leave it 6-8 weeks minimum up the temp. As far as only having a 20 gallon Qt >can't your friend hold the fish until you can get the 60? Walmart has rubber maid bins pretty big,and much cheaper for "time being". Thats what I had to do until I found a 30 gallon complete <not big but I don't have fish at the moment
so it's perfect.

 

[bpro32]

Originally Posted by shawna1972
http:///forum/post/3007148
I would leave it 6-8 weeks minimum up the temp. As far as only having a 20 gallon Qt >can't your friend hold the fish until you can get the 60? Walmart has rubber maid bins pretty big,and much cheaper for "time being". Thats what I had to do until I found a 30 gallon complete <not big but I don't have fish at the moment
so it's perfect.
I just realized I have a 60g tank sitting in my garage that I can get 600w of heaters in if I need them. Im going to fill it up now. I have a 5ft strip light I can put on it also.
Now here is my problem... To cycle it I'm thinking I'll have to use water from my display tank... which has ich. So I can either use fresh nsw to start, and do every other day wc's, (taking the risk of ammonia even though I don't know whether or not the tang has ich to begin with) or introduce it to ich for sure and treat it with hypo.

 

[prime311]

If you're going to use anything from your tank to jump start the cycle use some live rock or a filter pad or something. You still might want to do a hypo, but if you observe the tang for a month in qt and there are no signs of ich you should be ok.

 

[bpro32]

Originally Posted by prime311
http:///forum/post/3007423
If you're going to use anything from your tank to jump start the cycle use some live rock or a filter pad or something. You still might want to do a hypo, but if you observe the tang for a month in qt and there are no signs of ich you should be ok.
I used 40 gallons of nsw that I had laying around, I'm going to add the lr when the water warms up a bit in a couple hours. I can't believe I'm doing this

I get a little exciting when treating, qting fish, I don't know why.

 

[slider101]

You could use your DT water even though it has Ick in it if you are going to HYPo the QT. THe ick will die when you slowly lower the level in there anyway. Unless you were not planning on hypoing the QT and only using it as a QT.

 

[florida joe]

Ok look at it this way. You know the life cycle of the ick parasite with a host fish present. So if you use the time the ick falls of the fish as a starting point and you add the max time it can spend during its following life cycles until it has to find a host or die that is the minimum time you should leave your tank fallow.
THe ick will die when you slowly lower the level in there anyway.
I am sure you understand this, but the ick parisite does not die while you are lowering the salinity in your tank untill you reach hypo levels

 

[bpro32]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3007475
Ok look at it this way. You know the life cycle of the ick parasite with a host fish present. So if you use the time the ick falls of the fish as a starting point and you add the max time it can spend during its following life cycles until it has to find a host or die that is the minimum time you should leave your tank fallow.I am sure you understand this, but the ick parisite does not die while you are lowering the salinity in your tank untill you reach hypo levels
Come on Joe. I'm not in class right now... It's hard to think. Ok, so from the time they detach from the fish they can stay alive with no host for 4 days?? Is that right?

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by bpro32
http:///forum/post/3008128
Come on Joe. I'm not in class right now... It's hard to think. Ok, so from the time they detach from the fish they can stay alive with no host for 4 days?? Is that right?
Ok class info. Parasitic stage 3 to 7 days
Free swimming stage( attach to substraight) 18 hrs
Reproductive stage 3 to 28 days
Free swimming stage (infective) 1 to 2 days
Add a week for the rouge parasite.
And you are looking at 6 weeks fallow
Class dismissed

 

[bpro32]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3008288
Ok class info. Parasitic stage 3 to 7 days
Free swimming stage( attach to substraight) 18 hrs
Reproductive stage 3 to 28 days
Free swimming stage (infective) 1 to 2 days
Add a week for the rouge parasite.
And you are looking at 6 weeks fallow
Class dismissed
Probably didn't help much that it was 1 am when I was trying to think this through... I knew 4 days wasn't right, but I either wasn't reading beth's post right or it isn't there, I'm assuming I read it wrong. Either way thanks joe. I've got 2 weeks to go as of tomorrow.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by bpro32
http:///forum/post/3008703
Probably didn't help much that it was 1 am when I was trying to think this through... I knew 4 days wasn't right, but I either wasn't reading beth's post right or it isn't there, I'm assuming I read it wrong. Either way thanks joe. I've got 2 weeks to go as of tomorrow.