Restarting tank 8 (

[30gal4fish]

On August 3rd I restarted my tank. all my fish die of ich and the amonia levels were out of the chart.
So i empty the tank, put new water put 5 dammsels, one die after the 2nd day. now the tank is running smoothly and the water quality is great. ive being adding cycle.
i have a magnun 350, 50lb live rock, 4 dammsels, 1 fire shrimp and 1in sand in the bottom.
My questions is, how long would it be appropriate to wait to put a clown, goby and flame angle fish. One by one with a separation of 2 weeks.
and if i want to put coral, how long should i wait. (before or after the fish that i mention)
Sincerely,
Alex
thank you

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by 30gal4fish
On August 3rd I restarted my tank. all my fish die of ich and the amonia levels were out of the chart.
So i empty the tank, put new water put 5 dammsels, one die after the 2nd day. now the tank is running smoothly and the water quality is great. ive being adding cycle.
i have a magnun 350, 50lb live rock, 4 dammsels, 1 fire shrimp and 1in sand in the bottom.
My questions is, how long would it be appropriate to wait to put a clown, goby and flame angle fish. One by one with a separation of 2 weeks.
and if i want to put coral, how long should i wait. (before or after the fish that i mention)
Sincerely,
Alex
thank you
IMO your 30 is just about maxed out with 4 damsels. 1 more fish maybe! Defintely not a flame angel. Your tank will need to cycle first. Maybe 4-5 weeks til completion.

 

[hot883]

Alex, also if your other fish died of ich, the tank should run fallow (empty with water) for about 6 weeks before starting with fish again. IMO those damsels will likely get the ich now. How long was it running before the misfortune?

 

[30gal4fish]

well the tank was running for 1 month when i put the blue and yellow tang with the clown fish and the flame, after the 2 month they got ich and it kill 2, the other two i killed for not reading i guess.
after i restarted and put the 5 damsels, one of them die the next day (august 4th), then the damsels got ich but after putting kick-ich the ich dissapeared. and since then they ve looked happy for a week and a half now.
i will remove the damsels after i will put the other fish that i mentioned. i forgot to say that.
so 4-6 weeks for the water to cycle. so can i add coral after the 6 weeks? (how much water do i change after the month when i restarted?
and then how long for the fish after adding the coral??
thanks ppl, i love this website

 

[ophiura]

What are your SPECIFIC WATER PARAMETERS???
This is most likely what is killing your fish as they are getting stressed out and coming down with diseases.
Initially your tank was overstocked, very rapidly, and with inappropriate fish. In short, it was doomed. You are making essentially the same mistake again. Slow down, let the tank mature and cycle properly. Then you will either need to remove the damsels and return them to the store, or have a tank of damsels. They can be aggressive in smaller tanks.
But you must go SLOW and steady for this to work. It was probably better to leave the tank running, just without fish, for 6 weeks or so rather than restarting. Ick exists - it becomes a problem in fish that are stressed.

 

[pbienkiewi]

I should not say this but, After 8 months I have never had Ich. My question is why would you run your tank with no water in it for 6 weeks. Ich needs a host. Ich will not bother invertabrates I believe... With no hosts for the Ich, the Ich will die off..
correct or incorrect ?

 

[ophiura]

That is correct. The tank is left to run without any fish in it for 6 weeks, which breaks the lifecycle of the parasite....
BUT
(and there is always a big BUT) LOL
You must then isolate in QT with a full course of hyposalinity OR copper all new fish. Otherwise, you are introducing the parasite again in all likelihood. This is a parasite that most likely infects fish at a "background" low level. Not anything that we see. Once the fish is stressed, then the parasite can take advantage of the sitatuation, and bammo. You have an outbreak. In this situation, well, there is just as much likelihood to have another ick outbreak if there is a stress - however damsels are relatively "tougher" and able to withstand poor conditions better than fish like tangs and angels. Anyway, the QT is needed to kill off all the parasites on these fish using the two known treatments.
In the extreme (IMO at least) there are those who advocate that all rock, sand and inverts go into another separate QT tank before intro into the main tank. No treatment is needed, just 6 weeks or so without fish around. This ensures that it is not possible to introduce the parasite, even in one of its other life stages (eg those found on the substrate).