Moving livestock to new tank

[Sharkey18]

My new tank has been cycling for 10 weeks.

I have been very careful not to introduce pest into the new symptom. No sand, no live rock, all new equipment etc. so I don't want to screw it up now.

 

Ammonia is less than .25 and Nitrates are zero

 

I am getting ready to start transferring the inhabitants of my current tank. Current tank is my old 120 at my friends house in Falls Church. I have to move stuff 3 miles away to my house in Arlington.

 

Current inhabitants of 120:

8 fish

2 ocellaris clownfish (2 in. each) 1 Algae blenny (FAT) (5 in.) 1 Bangaii cardinal (1.5 in.) 1 Lyretail anthias (2 in.) 1 Hippo Tang (6 in.) 1 Yellow tang (5in.) 1 Tomini tang (3in.)

1 fire shrimp

Assorted corals.

 

I am on the fence on whether or not to put the current 8 fish through QT. No one has shown any illness in months, except occasionally the tangs look like they have some ich spots. I am not really worried about ich though. Why put them in QT to watch for illness for 8 weeks when I have been watching for illness for 6 months? It seems unlikely they would be carrying anything else, right?

 

So I was planning on giving the fish a freshwater dip and then just transporting to the new house. Once at the new house, acclimate and in they go. Any other suggestions?

 

For the corals: I have a mix of lps, sps, zoas, ricordia, gorgonians and an anemone. Yeah a little of everything. I was planning on doing a dip in revive (for those that I can) , visual inspection and then transport. Once at the new house, acclimate and throw them in.

 

So.... what is wrong with this plan? Come on.... let me have it.

[jimlin]

just curious, why freshwater dip? I believe fish are more likely to get diseases when stressed. stress from the1 catching the fish 2 transporting of the fish. if those were my fish, i would just acclimate and have it go in the tank. also, is this going to be done in 1 day?

[smallreef]

Im all for removing from old tank hauling a** to your househouse then acclimating ....no need for FW dip or coral dip in my eyes..and as far as QT id only QT newbies...

[Coral Hind]

I would do the revive dip at the new tank location before acclimation. The dip there would allow for disinfecting of any damaged tissue and help clean off some slime produced from the transport. I prefer the CoralRx over revive myself.

 

 

[Jon Lazar]

After 10 weeks of cycling your ammonia should be zero, unless you're adding food/ammonia to the tank. A non-zero ammonia level means you don't have enough nitrifying bacteria present to handle the current bioload, and adding more fish will only increase the ammonia.

 

I would not add any livestock until ammonia is zero.

[Sharkey18]

Hey Jon, you are exactly right.

 

The ammonia spike is because I am only at the house every couple of days, so whenever I go over, I thrown in pellet food just to keep the bacteria alive. It is always down to zero within a day or two. I have been adding a lot more recently in an attempt to increase the bacterial load in preparation for adding a bunch of fish.

(BUT, i am expecting to start house repairs soon so I will be back at the house very soon. I won't be adding livestock until I'm there!)

 

I agree that the freshwater dip is not really needed and will probably cause more stress than anything else. I might however decide to put the tangs through 8 weeks of QT. Still thinking about it.

[marinap]

I once took a powder brown tang from a member tank in Falls Church and drove straight to my house. Next morning he had ich. So I would say yes to QT

[icecool2]

It already had ich then marinap. The stress just allowed it to progress faster.

 

Sharkey, after a ghost feeding like you are doing, you shouldn't see a spike that big in ammonia. That tells me that your bio-filter is ready to handle a bioload even that small.

[Sharkey18]

ok, thanks. I'll keep a better eye on the ammonia levels. I still have a few more weeks before i move everything.

 

 

Just trying to plan ahead.