Fish Stocking List for new tank

[nycfishy]

Potters is definitely a much better choice than the Flame or Scrib. The Scrib is a definite coral nipper/eater.

There's a couple Genicanthus sp. that you could probably squeeze in, like G. watanabei, G. bellus or G. melanospilos. Out of those I personally would recommend the Watanabei as they're the smallest and best (IMO) looking. But they do all like to swim a lot.

Very cool fish. That’s for the suggestion. Will check it out.

 

[nycfishy]

Kill them with kindness. I saying I now understand in a very literal sense.
Months of planning the new tank, using this forum to come up with the perfect stocking list, going nice and slow and then....
my wifes' cousin and his family decide they are going to surprise us with the best Christmas present ever, dropped off on Christmas Eve when we are getting ready to host 30 people for Christmas the next day.
I get a bucket with 3 bags, one with a coral beauty, a blue damsel and a yellow tang. I tried to explain the tank might not be ready for fish yet, these fish might not be great because they are aggressive but they were having none of it, guy at the store (I think petco but not sure as they would not say) told them these are great community fish and the tang was even in a tank with lots of other little fish, will look great for the party tomorrow they say.

Anyway, I couldn't be too rude as they meant well so long story short the fish stayed, but I was really really upset, yelling and screaming after they left but the wife insisted the fish go in as they were coming over the next day. She knew how mad about it I was but wanted the fish in as she did not want to stir up some old family drama. I told her if they had walked into a good LFS and asked for the three biggest a$$h0le fish that the 3 they would have given them. So I suck it up and acclimate the fish secretly hoping they would not make it. Fish go on and hide in the rocks, the foxface I had in was actually hanging out with tang for a bit so I'm thinking let's see what happens, worst case I can get rid of them after the holidays if they turn aggressive.
After everyone one is gone late the next day I try to get a good look at the fish, coral beauty has some kind bite mark or infection near his tail on one side and the tank has little white dots on him. Problem is no QT tank (is in the plan but not set up as I did not need it yet) and we are leaving for Vegas the next day so I leave it all as is and will worry about it when I return.

So we get back last night, the tank is covered in brown/red algae, rocks, glass sand, socks, sump. everything is brownish and slimy. Coral Beauty is gone, thinking she died and they cleanup crew did their thing so no body to be found but caused a massive nutrient spike. Tank still hiding int he rocks but looking like he has ich for sure and the damsel is out and about not being an butt yet but he's still young.

So now I need to figure out next steps, do I leave the tang and damsel in and hope they turn out to be OK health wise and aggression wise? If I do keep them can I wait out the ich on tang and hope it does not spread? Do I try and catch them both and tell wifes' cousins they all died?
I know they meant well but I am so mad when I think about the major headache they have caused me.

Tank is about 7 weeks old, had finished cycling, and had 2 chromis and a foxface added a few days before the "big surprise"

What would you guys recommend?

 

[nycfishy]

tl:dr- got a coral beauty , yellow tang and blue damsel as a Christmas present, had to accept them and put into tank. Coral beauty is dead and pretty sure the tank has ick.

any thoughts on if I should keep the tank or try and net him and sell?
the damsel would be tough to catch but figure he's a little guy in a big tank will leave him alone for now.

 

[Jesterrace]

Unfortunately you will not make any progress on your tank once ich is in it as your current fish now have it and any new fish you get will have it. They have to be pulled out and QT'ed with copper or other methods at the very least (even the established fish) and your display tank will need to be fishless for a MINIMUM of 12 weeks. The only other solution (not ideal by any means) is to get your tank cleaned up and keep what you have and not add any more fish and see if they are strong enough to deal with it. The fewer the fish, the fewer sources for the parasite to infect (they need fish to survive). I would definitely look around for the CB remains (they are likely still there somewhere unless it was really small). Are the other fish still alive?

As a compromise in the future, what I suggest for well intentioned relatives is a gift card or gift balance at your local fish store. This way they can contribute while still leaving you in control of what goes in your tank. My Nephew did this for me in the last year and it was well appreciated by me and the family.

 

[nycfishy]

Unfortunately you will not make any progress on your tank once ich is in it as your current fish now have it and any new fish you get will have it. They have to be pulled out and QT'ed with copper or other methods at the very least (even the established fish) and your display tank will need to be fishless for a MINIMUM of 12 weeks. The only other solution (not ideal by any means) is to get your tank cleaned up and keep what you have and not add any more fish and see if they are strong enough to deal with it. The fewer the fish, the fewer sources for the parasite to infect (they need fish to survive). I would definitely look around for the CB remains (they are likely still there somewhere unless it was really small). Are the other fish still alive?

As a compromise in the future, what I suggest for well intentioned relatives is a gift card or gift balance at your local fish store. This way they can contribute while still leaving you in control of what goes in your tank. My Nephew did this for me in the last year and it was well appreciated by me and the family.

Darn, this is turning out worse than I thought.
Is there anyway to compress the fishless period? 12 weeks seems like an eternity after all the months of planning, setup, cycle, etc.
I hear you about the gift cards, to be honest would have preferred they not have gotten me anything, I was not expecting it and did not need it, in the end this will wind up costing me more money and time.
This certainly took much of the fun out of this project.

 

[Jesterrace]

There really isn't as it's a life cycle thing. Some claim that turning up the heat will speed up the life cycle but if you have corals or inverts in there that can be a real problem.

 

[nycfishy]

So yellow tang died this morning. Foxface and single chromis that were not part of "gift" aren't looking great either. Hoping to be able to get a quarantine tank going this week but still need to research meds and order so not sure it will made it. Assuming Foxface and chromis go all that left with be CUC, fire shrimp, blue damsel.

Is it then just the blue damsel that needs to come out for 12 weeks for ich cycle to break? can shrimp, corals and inverts stay?
Can I confirm the tank died from ich? he doesn't seemed covered in dust now that the body is out of the tank.