Starting over with my tank!

well i have used fresh water dipping for my fish when they broke out with ich. you put your fish in fresh water that is the same temperature as your tank for 5 minutes and then return them to your tank. if the fish starts looking like it is struggling then immediately put it back in the tank. i had two blue tangs and the only one i could catch was the only one that survived. i also used ruby reef kick ich in my tank and the corals did not even seem to notice. i used the ruby reef medicine before i tried the fresh water dip and it did not seemed to work. After i did the dip though, it seemed to keep the fish from catching it again.

You should be able to pick up a 10 gal starter kit for under $50 at Walmart or any other box store. That's all you need for a hospital/quarantine tank. If that's too much, then a rubbermaid tub can be had for under $10. Just add a small power head for circulation. A hospital tank doesn't need lighting, or skimmer or any other fancy equipment, just circulation and a heater. You can do a 2 gal water change every couple days to keep the water quality up.

Thank y'all for all the good advice. I definitely appreciate all the help!

Ditto to Phil! A HT is a very cheap investment that will pay off HUGE rewards... if used.

Thanks for the info BigAl! Yeah I'm
going to set up a QT before adding more livestock. The ich really wiped me out, lesson learned. I ahold have known better. I believe in this hobby we want now, then we pay for it later!

Yes our whole society is a "I want it NOW" but there are still somethings in life we can't rush regardless of what the marketing GuRus tell us.

I've found out that slow and steady wins the race with anything "Salty". We either play by Mother Nature's rules or we suffer the consequences.

Yep, I definitly payed the piper, lost all my fish..;-|. Now I'm going to wait 6 weeks like Marc said before adding anything.

With all due respect I'd go ahead and push it out 2 additional weeks (8 week total). There are some instances where 6 weeks fell short but I believe that the majority of 8 week runs have proven HIGHLY successful. Since you're waiting anyways why not hang out 2 more weeks just for good measure


Also while you're waiting don't cross-use any equipment in that tank. If you happen to have multiple tanks don't use nets etc from one to the other or you risk re-introducing the parasite and starting the process all over again.

Thanks Allen for the info! Eight weeks it is. When I do introduce fish I will take it slow. Then I want a pIr of clowns; not sure which kind yet. A watchmant goby and a lawnmower blenny. No more tangs for me till a upgrade.

So in the next eight weeks, you have time to buy a few essentials to set up a quarantine system. Get it up and running. In six weeks, float a sponge of some sort (the kind used in our filter equipment, not a sink sponge) for 7 days, then put it in the quarantine tank to get it seeded. That way when you come home with the clownfish a week later, the QT has had time to get up to par. A simple HOB bio-wheel filter is fine for a QT.

Yeah I was checking out tanks and prices at wal-mart the other day.