acclimation to a transfer..

[JVH]

I experienced a terrible Ick out break from two fish fighting during a water change hiding in the same cave. That's when I learned that stressing out a fish can bring it out and it was an awful mess and I lost several fish. .After my 6 week QT I was told the best way to get them back into the tank was to perfectly match the salinity, PH and temperature. I was scared to drip acclimate because I knew my Midas blenny would have had a heart attach.. The salinity, ph, temp match was a success! Nobody even seemed stressed once placed back in the tank..
So, I am thinking of doing the same thing when I transfer to the new upgrade.. Anyone see why that would NOT be a good idea?
I can not go through another ick outbreak! if everything is the same level I think it would prove to be a far less stressful transition for my remaining guys..
AGREE or DIS AGREE?

 

[saltyphish]

Once ich is present in a system any stressful event (Tank Transfer) could trigger an outbreak. My understanding is the immune system gets weakened from the stress and the fish is more easily infected by the parasite. You could treat and get rid of the ich first then do the transfer. That would be the only way to guarantee no ich infection. Otherwise just the transfer could stress them. As far as matching the water I completely agree. As long as temp, SG and Ph match there should be little problem. A lot less stress than a drip acclimation.

 

[maroun.c]

Furthermore if ich is in a system yuo might end up with occasional mild to sever outbreaks which repeat every few weeks. In some systems fish outlive it and the frequency decreases till it stops and in others this weakens fish and they succumb to it.
Its more risky if fish are not eating well and have not fattened up...

 

[JVH]

Thanks so much for the replies and the input. And saltyphish I am glad you agree I always feel even if I am making a logical decision based on my own experience I am still so new in this hobby that it's always better to have somebody else agree with you!
I truly feel that's FAR LESS stressful than a bucket acclamation then into the new tank it's like a double transfer and I can't imagine the fish not stressing over that.

Also I wasn't aware of the fat fish being a healthy fish until I was well into my problem !
Now they get healthy food, vitamin C, and garlic! They are definitely fattening up and appear quite healthy right now. Especially with the little Pods going in the tank to support the Mandarin my clown fish is liking that and growing leaps and bounds!

As far as my ick situation When I had my break out to I quarantined my fish and lost 3 of them because every two weeks or so the ick cycle kept coming back until I got the proper copper treatment. Now I have been ick free or should I say at least Ick dormant for quite a while now.

off the subject, anybody have one of those beautiful salmon or salmon/purple color anthis?
I have a clown fish, Midas blenny, yellow goby who rarely shows his head, and a Mandarin. Everybody gets along and everybody is very peaceful ...I heard someone make a reference to that an Anthis is a difficult fish and I didn't know what they meant by that..anybody know?

 

[ksfulk]

Depends on the anthia species in my opinion. If you are talking about the purple queen anthias (first image), then yes, I would suggest avoiding them. They have a tendency to not do well in home aquaria, as they are difficult to get eating non-live foods, and they (and most anthias in general) have small stomachs so they need a small amount of food in great frequency. Other species of anthias (lyretails for example(second image)) are much easier to keep (imo) and they tend to take frozen and pellet food easily and are still a beautiful fish. Anthias are also known to have a heavy slime coat, which has been shown to help in keeping parasites off of the fish.