another question on reusing by 50 gallon.

so as i mentioned i have the long term project of converting my old 50 gallon into a percula only grow out tank.

before doing this however i was thinking of finally biting the bullet and treating the ich in my 120 living room DT.

aside the research i will do on medications and application i was wondering if the following livestock could survive without to much trauma in a 50 gallon tank for a little over two months, the time my dt runs fish less and kills the ich reproductive cycle (keep in mind i will be dosing medication at the same time, so I'm assuming this will be added stress)

1 mandarin
1 orange stripe goby with pistol shrimp (though i think i could perhaps leave him in the DT while it runs fish less?)
1 diamond goby
1 clown goby
2 percula
1 ocellaris
1 coral beauty
1 BSP
1 CBB
1 cleaner wrasse
1 YTBD
1 green chromis
1 regal blue T
1 yellow T

aside catching them all and the pain that will come with it, it does seem to be a little too many fish…

i guess i could always set up a couple large plastic boxes/creates as improvised hospital tanks….

anyway please folks, any input and suggestions are most welcome

 

You don't give the dimensions of the tanks or the fish. If 48" long then *maybe, but I would tend to say it will be stressful at the least. Does the mandarin eat prepared food. Then the diamond goby, w.ill it have established sand to sift? Do any of the others fight at all on the 120? Hhow big are they. Honestly it sounds like a bit much for a 120 even, so, I am skeptical.

 

yeah i am "little" over stocked and hence my growing concerns…. only real aggression stems from my cleaner wrasse and my BSP. the "hospital" tank is roughly 40 inches X 15 X 19. it would be bare bottom. my mandarin could not care less about the food i prepare (very good point it completely went over my head, two months without food would give it a hard time, i could supplement the hospital tank with live copepods but whats their survival rate with copper present in the water column?) and indeed my diamond (though he does beast on the food i make) and orange stripe goby have become accustomed to my sand bed :s.

so you reckon I'm better off setting up multiple boxes for at least the larger fish?

i would not be able to accurately tell you dimensions but i would say most of my fish are in their late "juvenile" start of "adult" stage except my regal, and cbb who i would still consider young juveniles…. not sure this helps, thx for the reply!

 

You'll have to do multiple set ups to run the large tank fallow. Way too many for the 50. If you do not have problems now why run it fallow?

 

Why do you think you have ich by the way? If your fish aren't dying off, I'd probably be skeptical. There are lots of things that have similar symptoms of ich, but arn't unfortunaltey this is a area not well explored in the hobby and most just call anything remotely like ich "ich". I have no way of knowing myself, but if the fish have been living with whatever it is, then tearing down the system to fight it seems excessive and may do more damage. If you do, then yeah, separate containers for some of the bigger fish would be good.

As to the mandarin, mandarins are actually not really susceptible to ich due to their slime coat. However, I don't know if they could carry ich without getting sick themselves. You could treat the other fish and leave it be, there is a chance it would still work, but I'm not certain.

For the sand sifters, I think that is more of an issue, they can get ich and their food probably wouldn't survive the copper. Seeing them onto prepared foods ahead of time is probably the best bet. However, again, based on what I know of your situation, I'm not sure I would bother with any of it, unless fish are dying and there is a clear potentially stal parthenogenesis in the system. Rubing on rocks and a few little spots here and there wouldn't necessarily convince me that there is any ich or other potentially fatal pathenogen, but that's just me. At a minimum, I would want to see a progressive life cycle, I.e. some white spots, followed by none, followed by more spots, lack of eating, and a general decline in health. Otherwise, it could be anything and you may do more harm than good IMHO.

 

those are comforting words, thanks. there are no clear signs of pathogens aside what you've already mentioned with the occasional scratch and spot. they all seem fine and regularly eat so perhaps youre right in leaving them be.