fishy problems

[brianacooper11]

I have a 28g nano, while I draw up a 200g system. I started with two clowns, then added a regal demoiselle (damselfish) and a watchman goby, I didn't remember which order. I had concerns about the regal bothering new additions, but I added a tailspot blenny, and the damselfish didn't seem to care one bit. They were all often in each other's fishy-space. A day or two ago I introduced a blue tang. The regal started harassing the blue tang. It settled down for a day or two, all the tank mates seemed to be coexisting, but today I saw some decent scratches (I think from the damsel) and an ich dot, so into the QT he has gone.

I'm going to nurse him back to health, but eventually I'd like him in the nano with everyone else. Here's my plan. I'll put the blue tang in the nano, and the damsel fish in the QT. For the tang, it's a chance to adjust to the tank and his mates. It's a time out for the royal a--holefish. I might move around the upper rock work, too. Then when I re-introduce the damselfish, I hope he acts like the new guy, and is more timid. Anyone try something like that?

 

[Ztous]

A blue tang in a 30G is gonna rock every fish in that tank. Your putting alot of aggressive fish in one tiny space they are gonna rip each other apart. The damsel and clowns are going to fight.

Every fish in your tank has ich. Return the blue tang and treat the ich.

 

[brianacooper11]

He didn't rock anybody. He's an inch and a half, and so are the rest; they're all juveniles. I've tried to stock all the fish with roughly equal temperaments (semi-agressive) and it has worked out well until now. It's an active, interesting and until now non-violent tank.

Everybody gets quarantined. The 'dot' I saw fell off, so I misspoke. The scratches are real, though he has perked up back on his own in the QT.

 

[brianacooper11]

Ha. Idiot moment. I put the Damsel in the QT now, and the Blue Tang in the nano, and moved some rock around. Everybody in the nano is getting along fine now. And the clock is ticking on the damsel's time-out.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Ich and marine velvet spots will fall off so you probably did see ich or velvet on the fish. But I agree with the second poster, the fish may be small but you are putting a lot of fish in a very limited tank. Each fish has less than five gallons each. Clowns, damsels, and tangs are highly territorial and will stake a claim to a large section of tank. The blue tang you've put in is very high energy, and while small, it will experience the need to defend a territory and without much room to stake territory, you are going to have aggression. Since you had a fish in your tank with a probable parasite you'll need to let the tank sit fallow for at least 75+ days (the more the better) to significantly lower your chances of reinfection and of course treat everybody wether they have symptoms or not.
In my opinion, unless they were small schooling fish, I would not put more than 3 small fish in a 29 gallon tank. I may even be reluctant to put that many.

 

[Ztous]

It's your tank and you can do what ever you want but your not going to keep that combination of fish successfully in a 30g. The tang will grow an inch or so a month until it hit's 4 or 5 inches and you will have major problems in between as he takes more and more territory.

I wouldn't keep those fish in my 100g.

 

[brianacooper11]

I admit to my folly. I'll correct it one way or another. It puts a fire under me to get the big tank done...

 

[brianacooper11]

The Pacific Blue Tang is going back to the store. He's already in tupperware. That leaves a watchman goby, 2 ocellaris clowns, a tailspot blenny, and a regal demoiselle. That is all too much for the nano, and they're all at risk for ich, too. I plan on a ~200 gallon display tank, but I can't get that ready in a day. I can start putting the rest of that system together, and use a 55 gallon eventual-refugium as a bare bottomed QT for now. It's kind of backwards from what I wanted: the nano was supposed to turn into the QT, but I'll use it to keep my CUC going with the sand and live rock that's in there. I was going to do the hyposaline thing. None of the remaining fish have any ich signs, so I'm guessing that will take about 8 weeks. I should have the display tank built and cycling in that time frame, so when the cycling AND ich treatment are done, critters start going into the display tank, the 55 gallon becomes a refugium (there will be a third 'tank' to house filtration, skimming, water changes, etc), and nano gets cleaned out to be the QT on standby.

Does this sound like a good plan, and if not, please improve?