Hospital Tank

[fishboytoo]

I was using a hospital tank to treat some neons with ich, sadly they did not make it.

How long will the ich remain in the tank without fish as hosts? I can turn the heat up to maximum as there is nothing in there right now. I was thinking a few days at 35'C .

Anybody know how long before the tank is safe again?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Is there a reason why you want to keep the tank going? Why not empty it, clean it and the filter and then set the filter going in your normal tank until it is needed again?

Ich has 3 life stages, one of which is free swimming so it is quite capable of surviving without the fish as hosts. For exactly how long I am not sure.

 

[pokagon55]

With "ick" The live cycle last for 12 to 16 days and the tomite stage last only three days and it is at this stage that meds. are good for.

 

[fishboytoo]

Is there a reason why you want to keep the tank going? Why not empty it, clean it and the filter and then set the filter going in your normal tank until it is needed again?

Ich has 3 life stages, one of which is free swimming so it is quite capable of surviving without the fish as hosts. For exactly how long I am not sure.

I was going to use the tank to quarantine the neons I will get to replace the dead ones. It can survive without fish, but not indefinitely. The length of time is what I'm unsure of.

I was thinking of maybe heavily dosing with salt, would this kill the biological filter? Would it be effective at finishing off the ich?

I am paranoid about this strain surviving. I treated for two weeks with malachite green, copper salts, and clout. Not at the same time of course. The ich still survived. I thought that clout was like a nuke, or so the LFS seemed to think it was. I was pretty surprised it lived.

With "ick" The live cycle last for 12 to 16 days and the tomite stage last only three days and it is at this stage that meds. are good for.

Doesn't the life cycle depend on the temperature of the water? This is why treatments are often done with elevated temps, isn't it?

I recall reading something about two weeks without fish and it's gone. This would fit in with your info of 12-16 days. I not sure about it though, I was hoping someone would confirm.