Quarantine An Empty Tank?

[KrystaK]

So I was using my 20 gal as a Quarantine tank for some platys that developed Ick. I used medication and a raised temperature. I would have used salt but I had oto's in the tank. (I didn't realize they were still alive as I hadn't seen them in almost a month.)
The treatment didn't work and my Platy's died. And to my horror the Oto's came down with Ick. I decided to try adding salt to my treatment to see if that would help.
Sadly it didn't and my tank is now empty

So now I'm wondering if I shouldn't finish the rest of the treatment I have and dose the tank with 2x or so the amount of salt to attempt to kill off any parasites left in the tank. (I was planning to do this for two weeks or so if I went through with it, dose it with 2X salt and medication this week) do a water change and then add another 3X salt but no medication - as I will have run out by then, then wait a week, do a water change and then add fish.

I'm thinking the tank won't stay cycled with no fish in. Though I will have mature media in my 30 gal I could transfer over to help restart the cycle so that is an option.

Am I just wasting my time quarantining an empty tank? I don't want to spend my money on fish and have them come home and get sick on me

 

[thereverendturtle]

Sorry for your loss.
Finish the medicine part of the treatment, so you don't develop a strain of ich that immune to the medication.
Then leave the tank empty for 30 days at 84 deg F. This will kill any free living parasites and the cyst will hatch and die without a host.
To keep the tank cycled, just add a bit of flake food once or twice a week.

 

[KrystaK]

Thanks for the advice

 

[snazy]

Sorry for your loss.
Finish the medicine part of the treatment, so you don't develop a strain of ich that immune to the medication.
Then leave the tank empty for 30 days at 84 deg F. This will kill any free living parasites and the cyst will hatch and die without a host.
To keep the tank cycled, just add a bit of flake food once or twice a week.

There's no fish in the tank I understand. Ich can't survive without hosts so running the tank for two-three weeks max without fish is enough. No need for medication, because they'll die anyway. Also, make sure you run carbon in the tank to remove the medication from the water.
When medicating, do not raise the temperature because the medication drains oxygen from the water, so does a raised temperature as well and can kill the fish instead of curing them. You can either go with salt/raised temperature route, or just medication, not both treatments together. Ottos are very intolerant to medication.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Sorry for your loss.
Finish the medicine part of the treatment, so you don't develop a strain of ich that immune to the medication.
Then leave the tank empty for 30 days at 84 deg F. This will kill any free living parasites and the cyst will hatch and die without a host.
To keep the tank cycled, just add a bit of flake food once or twice a week.

There's no fish in the tank I understand. Ich can't survive without hosts so running the tank for two-three weeks max without fish is enough. No need for medication, because they'll die anyway. Also, make sure you run carbon in the tank to remove the medication from the water.
When medicating, do not raise the temperature because the medication drains oxygen from the water, so does a raised temperature as well and can kill the fish instead of curing them. You can either go with salt/raised temperature route, or just medication, not both treatments together. Ottos are very intolerant to medication.

I have to disagree. There's a lot of research stating that cyst can lay dormant up to 30 days without hatching. There's no fish so raising the temp to speed up the life cycle will not hurt, and adding the meds won't hurt either. There are virulent strains of ich now, due to people not treating long enough.