How long to leave quarantine tank alone?
 

I had a sick fish in my quarantine that ended up dieing. I am not sure what the disease was as there was no marks on the fish, just that it was breathing very rapidly one day, the next day stopped eating, the next day was very lethargic and then was dead on the last day. It had been healthy and eating prior to this.
This seems to be the symptom of a number of diseases, ich, clownfish disease, velvet, and I was wondering how long I should leave my quarantine tank bare until adding something new? I have read from 2 weeks to 3 months.

I would say a minimum of 8 weeks.

You could just drain it and bleach everything....

When I refill it, won't that create a cycle again since it is essentially starting a new tank all over again? This tank has been running steady for a couple of years now.

Marie,

Could you please explain this in greater detail. :biggrin:

Any specific reason you pick 8 weeks?

That's the number of weeks it would take to make sure there is no ich in the tank




Yes it would start a cycle over again but if you have to wait 8 weeks to get rid of ich anyway, cycling would take less time


Leah I meant just that, if you use a bleach/water solution to clean the tank and filters then it would kill any possible pathogens and chlorine dissipates in a few days making the tank habitable again.

Any idea on the other diseases, or are there some that don't need fish to live?

yes it's the safest minimum for most parasites with cycle.

I read that the ick cyst can life up to 71 days but that is extremely rare. 99.9% will be dead by 60 days. So 2 months is relatively safe for most parasites. If you want to be 100% sure, then 3 months but I think that over doing it. In case of something severe like marine velvet, I would go 3 months.

I would definitly NOT wipe a tank that is established for 2 years..what a waste. YES cycling would take maybe less than 8 weeks but it would be a young tank still, not a mature and well established tank that it is now. It's best to wait. Those disease that don't need a fish to live are not a problem for fishes. It takes 2 years to get a mature 2 year old tank. That's a lot of time. Think about all the micro fauna that is established and thriving, and sometime this is very important for the fish we put in our tank and that need to eat these pods etc..

My experience with Ich is that it is always present.
It can show up on some of my fish if the fish are stressed or if the water quality drops for one reason or another. A return to good quality water conditions makes the symptoms disappear.

I've never had a tank without fish for any length of time, but the Ich parasite DOES require fish to be present in order to complete it's life cycle.
30 days is the typical Ich life cycle, but I'm sure it can be lengthened by lower temperatures or other factors

Ich isn't the end of the world, just make sure that your fish are living as stress free as possible, you feed them well and you keep your water quality excellent.