Ich Fallow Period 6/8/11 weeks? Is it really worth it?

[daniel_mourra]

Hello.

new to the hobby (3 months) with a 175 gal main DT. Had a big ich outbreak and went fallow on march 6, 2023. Today is april 6 and i have officially reached day 31 of my fallow period which is basically halfway through week 5. During this fallow, i only left corals, snails and a shrimp inside my main DT.

During the first 25 days of fallow period tank ran with a temperature of 28C/82.4F - cant go higher as i have corals.

During the past 4 days i have lowered the temp to 27C/80.6F as i noticed corals like that temp better…

UV sterilizer (Coralife 6x) has been runing for the full 30 daya of the fallow period at 110gph in accordance with the instructions to calibrate for “parasites” from the manufacturer.

I Two specific questions:

1) What is the current “trend” in fallow period times for ich? I have read many things…. Varying from 6 to 8 to even 11 weeks and dont know which is correct….. at my current temperature (between 80.6 - 82.4 F…) Running UV on… what should my fallow period be?

2) Is a fallow period worth it? I mean… yes i can wait 6, 8 or even 11 weeks… but is it really worth stressing my fish (and myself) having a holding tank while the main DT is fallow… KNOWING that eventually yes, eventhough i QT all new fish in the future…. Ich erradication is very dificult as corals, snails, and other invertebrates and other “wet” stuff is always going into the tank and the posibility or getting ich again is very high? Should i just wait 1 more week, complete the 6 weeks fallow period and pray that ich management does the job? Or is the fallow period really worth doing? And if so… see question 1….. 6 weeks? 8 weeks? 11 weeks? Which is correct at a 80.6-82.4F temperature?

@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello.

new to the hobby (3 months) with a 175 gal main DT. Had a big ich outbreak and went fallow on march 6, 2023. Today is april 6 and i have officially reached day 31 of my fallow period which is basically halfway through week 5. During this fallow, i only left corals, snails and a shrimp inside my main DT.

During the first 25 days of fallow period tank ran with a temperature of 28C/82.4F - cant go higher as i have corals.

During the past 4 days i have lowered the temp to 27C/80.6F as i noticed corals like that temp better…

UV sterilizer (Coralife 6x) has been runing for the full 30 daya of the fallow period at 110gph in accordance with the instructions to calibrate for “parasites” from the manufacturer.

I Two specific questions:

1) What is the current “trend” in fallow period times for ich? I have read many things…. Varying from 6 to 8 to even 11 weeks and dont know which is correct….. at my current temperature (between 80.6 - 82.4 F…) Running UV on… what should my fallow period be?

2) Is a fallow period worth it? I mean… yes i can wait 6, 8 or even 11 weeks… but is it really worth stressing my fish (and myself) having a holding tank while the main DT is fallow… KNOWING that eventually yes, eventhough i QT all new fish in the future…. Ich erradication is very dificult as corals, snails, and other invertebrates and other “wet” stuff is always going into the tank and the posibility or getting ich again is very high? Should i just wait 1 more week, complete the 6 weeks fallow period and pray that ich management does the job? Or is the fallow period really worth doing? And if so… see question 1….. 6 weeks? 8 weeks? 11 weeks? Which is correct at a 80.6-82.4F temperature?

@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

Fallow periods are a gray area - it is NOT an exact science like the number would lead you to believe. One crieteris is how many tomonts need to be "aged out"? That can roughly be determined by how severe the infection was.

Fallow periods also vary depending on what organism you are trying to deal with. For ich, Cryptocaryon irritans, there are general recommendations - an absolute minimum of 45 days at 81+ degrees. 60 days in most instances is better. The single paper this was all based on gives 76 days in sterile culture under low temperatures. There is no evidence of fallow periods ever being needed any longer than that.

The UV has NO effect on the length of the fallow period. Only the free swimming theronts pass through the UV, and the fallow period is designed to "age out" the resting tomonts in the substrate.

The biggest reason that fallow periods fail is the subsequent reintroduction of a sick fish to the tank through a problem with quarantine.

Jay

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

Or is the fallow period really worth doing?

Absolutely. This forum is full of people who had ich return after trying some type of "treatment". While I'm sure there are a few cases...I personally don't recall anyone having problems if they get ALL the fish out and leave the tank fallow for 45+ days. It worked for me. I did not raise temp.

The real lesson here (which I learned the hard way) is QT your fish or buy from a place that does it for you...

 

[naterealbig]

2) Is a fallow period worth it?

1. It depends on whether or not you quarantine your inverts and corals as well. If you do not quaranting corals, rock, inverts, etc for the full fallow period (I use 76 days for ALL incoming invertebrates, based on the paper Jay referenced in his post) than it is almost 100% certain that you will introduce ich back into the display tank. If you can't/won't do this, then no, there is almost no point in waiting any period past when your fish appear relatively healthy again (I assume you removed them from the display for treatment).
2. While the 76 day QT period I use for anything besides fish seems daunting, I set up to 20 gallon 'tall' aquariums so that I can add new corals/inverts/rock etc to the system, every 38 days.

The single paper this was all based on gives 76 days in sterile culture under low temperatures

1. This is the period I use to quarantine EVERYTHING going to the display besides fish. I have been in the hobby for ~ 25 years, and while many have had success "managing" the parasite, I think those with long-term success with this method are outliers.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello.

new to the hobby (3 months) with a 175 gal main DT. Had a big ich outbreak and went fallow on march 6, 2023. Today is april 6 and i have officially reached day 31 of my fallow period which is basically halfway through week 5. During this fallow, i only left corals, snails and a shrimp inside my main DT.

During the first 25 days of fallow period tank ran with a temperature of 28C/82.4F - cant go higher as i have corals.

During the past 4 days i have lowered the temp to 27C/80.6F as i noticed corals like that temp better…

UV sterilizer (Coralife 6x) has been runing for the full 30 daya of the fallow period at 110gph in accordance with the instructions to calibrate for “parasites” from the manufacturer.

I Two specific questions:

1) What is the current “trend” in fallow period times for ich? I have read many things…. Varying from 6 to 8 to even 11 weeks and dont know which is correct….. at my current temperature (between 80.6 - 82.4 F…) Running UV on… what should my fallow period be?

2) Is a fallow period worth it? I mean… yes i can wait 6, 8 or even 11 weeks… but is it really worth stressing my fish (and myself) having a holding tank while the main DT is fallow… KNOWING that eventually yes, eventhough i QT all new fish in the future…. Ich erradication is very dificult as corals, snails, and other invertebrates and other “wet” stuff is always going into the tank and the posibility or getting ich again is very high? Should i just wait 1 more week, complete the 6 weeks fallow period and pray that ich management does the job? Or is the fallow period really worth doing? And if so… see question 1….. 6 weeks? 8 weeks? 11 weeks? Which is correct at a 80.6-82.4F temperature?

@Jay Hemdal
@vetteguy53081

Do Not rush it even at higher temp. You've gotten this far, go at least one-two more weeks to assure all stages of parasite have truly died off, You will get conflicting numbers as to ich period. 45-60 days is the best duration

 

[MnFish1]

1) What is the current “trend” in fallow period times for ich? I have read many things…. Varying from 6 to 8 to even 11 weeks and dont know which is correct….. at my current temperature (between 80.6 - 82.4 F…) Running UV on… what should my fallow period be?

2) Is a fallow period worth it? I mean… yes i can wait 6, 8 or even 11 weeks… but is it really worth stressing my fish (and myself) having a holding tank while the main DT is fallow… KNOWING that eventually yes, eventhough i QT all new fish in the future…. Ich erradication is very dificult as corals, snails, and other invertebrates and other “wet” stuff is always going into the tank and the posibility or getting ich again is very high? Should i just wait 1 more week, complete the 6 weeks fallow period and pray that ich management does the job? Or is the fallow period really worth doing? And if so… see question 1….. 6 weeks? 8 weeks? 11 weeks? Which is correct at a 80.6-82.4F temperature?

1. The current trend (as Jay said) between 45 and 76 days. 45 days is usually done at 81 or so - however some people don't want their coral that high (If they have coral) - thus they use 76 days.
2. There is a difference between the QT time and 'fallow time' the definition. Qt time - with copper - is 30 days followed by Praziquantel and then +- observation. A fallow period is what you do when you take all of your fish out to treat disease in a hospital tank. The times of both can work out similarly. Though it is possible to bring in Ich/etc with non-fish. One way to get around this is to only buy inverts in tanks which contain no fish (i.e. they are already in a fallow period). However, not all stores do that, etc - but the risk is quite low. Even though some people can use 'ich management' - there are other diseases - like velvet, flukes, etc - which are more difficult to 'manage'. Thus IMHO - the benefits outweigh the time.

as @ Vetteguy said - even though its possible to go for 45 days - why not just do the full period.

 

[daniel_mourra]

Finally some clear light!!!!! Thank you all! Great explanation and summary of all the variants and information around the internet. I will go for 76 days in main DT fallow….. and QT everything for 30 days in copper + others (if compatible of course) and the observation for a total of 76 days fallow in a holding tank before it enters the tank! Thank you all!

@Jay Hemdal thank you!
@PigDaddyF15E thank you!
@naterealbig thank you!
@vetteguy53081 thank you!
@MnFish1 thank you!

 

[pratikpachore]

Absolutely. This forum is full of people who had ich return after trying some type of "treatment". While I'm sure there are a few cases...I personally don't recall anyone having problems if they get ALL the fish out and leave the tank fallow for 45+ days. It worked for me. I did not raise temp.

The real lesson here (which I learned the hard way) is QT your fish or buy from a place that does it for you...

Hey , good to know that you have successfully eradicated ich from you tank.
Can you please explain what procedure did you follow or what precautions did you take?
currently im on fallow period Day 45 , im going fallow for 90 days.

 

[PigDaddyF15E]

Hey , good to know that you have successfully eradicated ich from you tank.
Can you please explain what procedure did you follow or what precautions did you take?
currently im on fallow period Day 45 , im going fallow for 90 days.

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

I removed all my fish. I left the snails and 2 x cleaner shrimp (technically a "risk"). Fish were treated with copper per the QT protocol (30 days at thearaputic levels). Then I kept them in that QT tank while waiting out the rest of the fallow period. I then put the fish back in...no ich. I've ordered several times from Drreefquarantinedfish...no ich.

 

[Enderg60]

FYI corals do just fine at 82-84. They just dont grow as fast and if it gets any hotter youre at risk of loosing stuff. I run my reef at 80-82 in summer.