Running fallow question and what are all these?

[mvallee]

1 week into running my tank fallow to rid it of ich and I have all these things crawling around on the glass. Good or bad?



In all the shifting around of my tank inhabitants to Qt and hospital tanks and running my DT at a lower salinity I have lost most of my CUC. Still have maybe 10-15 various snails and maybe 5 Hermit crabs. Planning on running my DT fallow for three months normal parameters should I add more CUC? how do I feed them, I have been adding maybe 5-10 brine shrimp per day thinking they need to stay fed and the live rock needs to be fed as well as all the critters.

What do you do during the fallow phase?
thx

 

[Marshall O]

Those are just pods. They are out now as there is nothing in the tank to eat them! Once fish are back in, you won't see them again. As far as feeding the CUC, just do a small pinch of flake food daily or every other day.

 

[mvallee]

Should I build up my CUC or with no detritus or nitrates being built up during the fallow period am I better off just leaving the minimal crew that has survived until I start adding fish? Just thinking adding them during the beginning as opposed to the end would minimize the risk of introducing anything in to the tank.

 

[Marshall O]

Should I build up my CUC or with no detritus or nitrates being built up during the fallow period am I better off just leaving the minimal crew that has survived until I start adding fish? Just thinking adding them during the beginning as opposed to the end would minimize the risk of introducing anything in to the tank.

I would not add any until after your fish are back in and you need more.

 

[mvallee]

ok thanks with my fears now of a repeat of the mess I just went through losing almost all my fish to either Ich or Marine Velvet nothing will be going in without QT I think I will even be QT'ing my CUC.

 

[Marshall O]

ok thanks with my fears now of a repeat of the mess I just went through losing almost all my fish to either Ich or Marine Velvet nothing will be going in without QT I think I will even be QT'ing my CUC.

Not unheard of to do that. Also keep in mind that some of your CUC like Nassarius snails will populate themselves according to the food available. You should never need to buy more of them (well unless you have fish that enjoy them for snacks).

 

[reefstarter]

whew I got tons of those too , glad I am not the only one . sorry to jump thread but was reading and got me thinking about what a cuc was ? I am assuming sea cucumber . same as sea apple ? and do they help with nitrates ?

 

[Marshall O]

whew I got tons of those too , glad I am not the only one . sorry to jump thread but was reading and got me thinking about what a cuc was ? I am assuming sea cucumber . same as sea apple ? and do they help with nitrates ?

CUC = clean up crew

And Sea Cucumbers and Sea Apples are very different animals, though both are known to release toxins when stressed or die (some cucumbers like Tiger Tails are much less likely to have any issues). Sea Cuc's pass sand through their bodies eating the fauna they find. Sea Apples are filter feeders, and are considered expert only (with good reason!).

 

[Firereptile]

CUC stands for clean up crew. This can include shrimp, crabs, snails, worms, and many other things. Their main role is to clean up detritus in the tank which does help with nitrates. A sea cucumber and a sea apple are related but have some key differences, sea cucumbers are mobile detritus eaters and will stay that way their whole life, while sea apples will find a spot they like and generally stay there and filter feed. Sea apples are also generally considered more difficult to keep then sea apples.

 

[Firereptile]

woops, didn't see there was already a responce