Live Rock

[awpong]

My fish are currently sick with "Clownfish Disease."

In the worst case scenario, I heard that I am supposed to leave the tank fallow for 6-8 weeks - to kill off the parasite.

Currently, aside from my two false percula clowns, the tank has a featherduster, 2 blue legged hermit crabs, 2 snails and a bunch of live rock. During this worst case scenario, what measurements would I need to take to keep the inverts and rock alive? I am assuming that the bacteria on the live rock will live off of the waste produced from the inverts, but should I occasionally drop in a few food pellets to create artificial fish waste? And if the inverts somehow die, and the tank was just live rock and live sand, what precautions should I take to ensure the biological filter's survival?

 

[Lorna]

As long as you have water movement and heat your live rock and inverts should be just fine. I would suggest a few pellets of food occasionally for the hermits and snails to eat do this every 3 days or so. Don't overfeed or you will have a cyano outbreak or other nuisance algae. They can live like this indefinitely. Conduct your normal water changes on schedule and you should be just fine. It will give your tank more time to mature also.