Upgrading my Tank, Question About Moving Fish

[Hugh Mann]

So, I will be upgrading to a new tank fairly soon. I have sourced everything I need, I just have to get the money to pay for it all.

I have a question in regards to the fish in my current tank. I'm currently managing ich fairly well. Just the odd spot on my Hippo, maybe 1 or 2 a month. Nothing on anyone else.

I'm really on the fence about whether I should continue to manage and just plop them into the new tank once it is finished, or if I should try and rid myself of it.

Why I don't immediately do Eradication is because I know Ich is horribly pervasive in this hobby, and is pretty easy to get into your display through various means. Plus all my current fish have already been through copper from a velvet infestation last year, and I don't want to copper them again, which really leaves me with TTM, and I don't really have the set up to do 4 fish, two of which are a good size at once. That, and it cuts the future quarantine time for inverts and corals by nearly half. I am also buying a bunch of live rock for the new tank I am told is pest free, but that of course is no guarantee beyond fallowing the new tank for 76 days after startup.

What do y'all think?

 

[Anchor]

TO my knowledge, no used live rock can have any pest free guarantee.. so doubting it is a good thing.. Only exception is if you are getting brand new dry rock like Marco or the like. I know dried, bleached and even acid bath used rock can have old spores survive.. my particular finding has been hydroids.. I have been told.. or read somewhere that hydroids can survive this.. Not an expert but have seen similar in my own tanks. Origin not confirmed.. One way to find out is set up the new stuff and feed it reef roids or the like for a few weeks. see what pops up.. Vermatids, hydroids, asterina stars, bristle worms (some folk consider them cuc) can all show up without ever seeing them from the beginning. Generally wont see stars or worms if rock is left to dry.

As to moving fish, is this a fowlr only or do you have corals too?

If no corals, treat the tank your fish are in for parasites like ich.. Or set up quarantine... If you dont quarantine or treat your current tank, you will be transferring anything along with the fish. So you are setting your new tank to have the same problems.

As to Cuc.. I am not of the opinion as some of the experts on here that all inverts carry fish parasites. with the exception of shelled snails. I know they can and do carry them. Not specifically ich though.. Ich wil happen via transfer but the snail is not a temporary host, the ich just hitches a ride.

Would be nice if anyone can confirm or refute anything I am telling you.. But good luck.

Edit add on.. It seems your choices are clear already.. You cant quarantine so your only options is pop and drop or treat your tank. Having treated already a year ago I dont think is a problem.. I dont think you would be adding stress here..

 

[JumboShrimp]

Interesting discussion— there are a lot of moving parts to your particular situation. May I ask how many fish do you currently have total, and what size? Depending, I wouldn’t rule out TTM so quickly.

 

[Hugh Mann]

I do have a couple corals and some CuC. Nothing fancy, just star polyps. My plan for those was if I treated the fish, I'd leave it all in the tank for the ich fallow and then move over. Or plop and drop with the fish if I didn't.

I'm not so much concerned about those sorts of pests, but if the rock is also contaminated with ich. He tells me he's culturing it in a tank separate to his display, which again, I am told he has no ich, has quarantined everything, but I don't know if shared equipment could be constantly contaminating the rock tank. Only reason I am buying the live is to kick start the cycle and he is giving me an unbelievable price at $5/lb. Can't even buy dry rock for that in my area.

I have four fish.
18" moray eel
6" marine betta
3.5" hippo tang
2.5" maroon clown.

Not a lot of fish, but the tang is a jumper, and the eel is a heavy bioload and an escape artist. Any quarantine I could reasonably set up, I don't know if I could rig it to keep them safe and low stress. I also know I could TTM them in individual containers, but with every layer of complexity adds risk of cross contamination.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to rid myself of ich, but I just don't know if it's feasible. Especially with the chance of getting it again as I stock the tank with corals and inverts and with how stubborn ich is. By which I mean the numerous threads I've seen of long 76+ day fallows failing.

 

[Anchor]

Have to agree with JumboShrimp but am guessing you know your fish size and situation.. Is JumbShrimp an Oxymoron???

 

[JumboShrimp]

Oh boy, the eel was something I wasn’t expecting. Lol.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Yeah. I know in theory I can just plop the eel into the new tank and he shouldn't transfer ich. Healthy eels being virtually immune to protozoans because of their thick slime coat. Personal experience tells me it's true as he survived Velvet without any treatment. But again, how much risk do I want to take?

Even if I did that, then I am left with 3 fish, two with bad tempers and a third that is a high stress fish.