I have two saltwater tanks that I inheirited, a 30 gal and a 420 gal. The tanks were both very mature before moving, (12 years+) along with the fish in them. About 8 years ago, the tanks were left fallow for 8 weeks during an ich outbreak, so the owner thought the tanks to be parasite free, as there had been no illness since. The tanks were moved over a period of 1 month, and were not quarantined beforehand, nor were the fish treated (where I think we went wrong). 13 Fish were moved, and 11 died in december following a devastating ich outbreak.
My question is about restocking and starting over. I would like to do it slowly, and correctly. I'm still very new to this hobby.
The remaining fish are as follows;
1 clownfish, (~5 y.o. in quarantine, treating in hypo 15 ppt, leaving the 30 gallon vacant, 12 weeks fallow will have passed on march 9th, I plan to raise salinity over time and then treat with cupramine before placing her back into the 30)
and 1 melanurus wrasse (~10 y.o. still in the 420 gallon tank, currently showing no symptoms of ich)
The 420 contains 3 pincushion urchins, a skunk cleaner shrimp, 5 mexican turbo snails, 5 hermit crabs, and LOTS of LPS and SPS coral. I want to rid that tank of ich, because I have a friend that wants to give me her purple tang eventually.
The melanurus was incredibly difficult to catch and move (we didn't know about fish traps, I now have one) and its previous owner is extremely nervous that if I try to quarantine the wrasse, she will die. which at this point leaves me with an understocked tank struggling to find new balance for an indefinite period of time.
I don't know how to properly quarantine a wrasse, and I don't want to kill it. What should I do? is my best option to leave the 420 tank as is? should I keep just the 1 clownfish in my 30?
My question is about restocking and starting over. I would like to do it slowly, and correctly. I'm still very new to this hobby.
The remaining fish are as follows;
1 clownfish, (~5 y.o. in quarantine, treating in hypo 15 ppt, leaving the 30 gallon vacant, 12 weeks fallow will have passed on march 9th, I plan to raise salinity over time and then treat with cupramine before placing her back into the 30)
and 1 melanurus wrasse (~10 y.o. still in the 420 gallon tank, currently showing no symptoms of ich)
The 420 contains 3 pincushion urchins, a skunk cleaner shrimp, 5 mexican turbo snails, 5 hermit crabs, and LOTS of LPS and SPS coral. I want to rid that tank of ich, because I have a friend that wants to give me her purple tang eventually.
The melanurus was incredibly difficult to catch and move (we didn't know about fish traps, I now have one) and its previous owner is extremely nervous that if I try to quarantine the wrasse, she will die. which at this point leaves me with an understocked tank struggling to find new balance for an indefinite period of time.
I don't know how to properly quarantine a wrasse, and I don't want to kill it. What should I do? is my best option to leave the 420 tank as is? should I keep just the 1 clownfish in my 30?
