if all fish are removed from a completly cycled tank but the filter is running how long would it take for the beneficial bacteria to die off? a friend of mines tank got ick, he has scaleless fish so he cant add salt to his tank, the outbreak is pretty bad. he was going to put all of the fish in a qt tank (using maracide) and just salt his main tank without any fish in it then just do a huge water chane at the end of the treatment to get rid of the salt. if he removes all the fish theres obviously no nitrates to convert so he would have to re-cycle his tank after a period of time right? whats the longest period he would be able to keep the fish out without messing with the bacteria growth?
beneficial bacteria ?
- Thread starter RISK2123
- Start date
if i remember right the lifespan on the nitrifying bacteria is only 36 hours or something. so once they go through the waste in the tank they will not be able to reproduce so the colony will die off.
if there are no fish in the tank at all, you can just use pure ammonia instead of fish food. it will be more efficient, reliable, and exact. but you would need to monitor the parameters to ensure it stays mature.
And with no host, the ick would die off quickly. Why salt the tank? For that matter, why not just treat the fish in the tank? I must have missed something...