About to remove all fish from DT to let it sit for six weeks. Whats the best way to go about doing this?

[OdinPrime]

So I have a 40g QT filled with water and ready to go. I sadly just lost my Kole tang to ICH, and want to take precautions. My 90 gallon currently has two clowns, midas blenny, diamond watchman goby, and a fairy wrasse. Here are my concerns:

- Moving all of the fish over at once on a non cycled tank. I dont have a seeded sponge filter handy to assist with the bio load, so will water changes every other day or so be enough to keep up with the ammonia?

- My goby and wrasse love their sand. Will putting a small dish inside the QT be enough, or would I be safe to put a 20lb bag of live sand in there?

- With no fish in the DT, it being five months established with very infant Zoa, GSP frags, and a bubble tip, will I need to ghost feed the DT at all? Maybe very rarely?

Will this setup be okay to run and keep them in for the six weeks needed to treat them with copper, and allow the parasites to die off in the tank?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Either spare tank or Rubbermaid tub. Just fish only and 45 days is more than sufficient
Maintain heat, filtration and water quality in the temporary home and display tank

 

[OdinPrime]

Either spare tank or Rubbermaid tub. Just fish only and 45 days is more than sufficient
Maintain heat, filtration and water quality in the temporary home and display tank

What about my filtration concern? I wont have time to seed a sponge filter, and all I have done to the QT tank aside from fill it with water, is dump a bottle of Dr Tims One and Only in there. What will my water change demands look like on a 40gal tank with 5 fish, zero established filtration? Will it be okay for the 4-5 weeks on water changes alone?

 

[vetteguy53081]

What about my filtration concern? I wont have time to seed a sponge filter, and all I have done to the QT tank aside from fill it with water, is dump a bottle of Dr Tims One and Only in there. What will my water change demands look like on a 40gal tank with 5 fish, zero established filtration? Will it be okay for the 4-5 weeks on water changes alone?

You will have to monitor and change water accordingly

 

[OdinPrime]

You will have to monitor and change water accordingly

So what about my other concerns? Sand in the QT for my wrasse and goby? Would one 20lb bag of sand negate the medication, or should I just get a small dish like I have seen other people do.

 

[vetteguy53081]

So what about my other concerns? Sand in the QT for my wrasse and goby? Would one 20lb bag of sand negate the medication, or should I just get a small dish like I have seen other people do.

Dish or bowl of sand should suffice for now

 

[Roosterjack]

Have fun catching them. Don’t envy you that.

 

[OdinPrime]

Have fun catching them. Don’t envy you that.

Trying to trap the tough ones. Luckily my rockscape isnt too developed, and isnt an issue moving around to catch them. Hopefully...

 

[HuduVudu]

I really don't think that tearing your whole tank down is going to solve anything other than give you a lot of work to do without much to show for it.

You are going to stress your other fish and destroy what you have built.

It would probably be better if you determine why your Kole tang died. Hint: Ich is the symptom not the cause. Your other fish aren't showing signs so why put your tank through all of this?

There is a better way.

 

[tim132]

I've been running a QT 60l with 13 small to medium sized fish for 6 weeks. Set up from scratch though I did use some rock which was seeded in my sump. Obviously copper needed topping up and testing daily due to having rock in there. I ended up adding a bottle of Doctor Tim's just to be sure.

Never had an issue with ammonia, maybe a very slight creep into the green segment on Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge but it soon came back down.

I have three tangs in amongst the stock and a sand dwelling wrasse. A small tub of sand is enough for him. My goby isn't best pleased not having sand to sift but he's coping and hasn't lost much weight.

I change 50% water every 4 days.

Essential items in my option are..

- Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge
- Hanna Checker Copper HR
- Ample oxygenation. HOB filters, air stone, wave maker

 

[OdinPrime]

I really don't think that tearing your whole tank down is going to solve anything other than give you a lot of work to do without much to show for it.

You are going to stress your other fish and destroy what you have built.

It would probably be better if you determine why your Kole tang died. Hint: Ich is the symptom not the cause. Your other fish aren't showing signs so why put your tank through all of this?

There is a better way.

I have had several fish die to ICH in my tank sadly. I'm to the point where I want to kill off all the ich from my DT, ensure that no more of my fish are carriers, and "restart" by doing it right and quarantining any new fish before adding them. Going forward I will be QT'ing ALL new fish, so I wont make this mistake again

But to your point, all this work will be to hopefully make my DT ich free, to which I can control everything more appropriately.

 

[OdinPrime]

Would anyone be able to advise on what I should do about feeding my DT? All that will be left in there are some inverts, a BTA, and a few frags. Should I just feed every other day or so?

 

[tim132]

Would anyone be able to advise on what I should do about feeding my DT? All that will be left in there are some inverts, a BTA, and a few frags. Should I just feed every other day or so?

That's something that I've really been struggling with. I'm still feeding at least every other day, had to turn off my skimmer and fuge just to try and keep nitrates elevated above 2.5!!!

I have warning signs of dinos trying to appear!! I think you'll be surprised how quickly nutrients are deprived when there's no fish in there.