too much to add all at once?

If you add that much (even plan B), your tank is going to cycle. Plain and simple. There is no way around it. The maximum I would add per addition is two fish, and that is only if they are a mated pair and there is no choice. And this is regardless of tank size. Bacteria grows at a fixed rate, so whether it be 20 gallons or 200, it doesn't matter. The rules remain the same.

 

Dude, I don't blame you on the attempt at the powder blue but they are generally more aggressive than other tangs. They are beautiful and I love tangs period. I'm just trying to say is things like this happen. Ich and such. The harder you fight it, the worse things are going to be. Don't add them all at one time. You won't like the probable results. There is a chance of it working tho but the chance is slight.

 

Will

I fully understand your problem , if you add 1 fish at a time, your worried that by the time you get around to adding the last fish, other fish will have territories and thus subsequent additions get a hard time

but just to emphasise whats being said

your tank may be mature, but it has been fishless for 6 weeks, thus the bacteria you had established to cope with the bioload you had before you took the fish out, will have reduced , the bacteria supported is equal to the waste produced

what you could consider is , using other fish on a pro rata scale with the fish you ultimately want to keep

example - adding enough damsels over a period of time to bring your bacteria up to optimum levels to support the stock you want , then remove said damsels and get the fish you want in
if you do this within 24 hours , the bacteria level achieved using the Damsels wont start dying off.

may be a PITA to get these Damsels out, but maybe something to consider?

Steve

 

Just curious, but do the majority of people that get ich and decide to treat it via a fallow DT add their fish back in one per week, or all at once?

My tank had a lion, yellow tang and a powder blue tang before it had to go fallow, and has been fed 5 cubes of frozen krill/ week + other coral foods. And now I want to add the 3" yellow back with a 3" powder brown tang (dam LFS sold the powder blue I had my eye on . . . maybe for the best) and five 1/2" chromis . . . I just dont see how my bacteria population could have declined enough to cause a problem with adding this group all at once.

If I am mistaken, please correct me.

~Will.

 

I can......those are not small fishes. You added a Lion and two Tangs. Those are some of the worse pooping fish around. Very messy and will drown your bacteria and not give them enough time to recover.


Luna

 

What I have done in the past was put in a little food every day (A pellet or 2) with out any fish in it to get a mini cycle going like 1-2 weeks before I was going to add my fish from the QT. I really don't know how well this works but I do notice all 3 levels rise a little and fall accordingly. I see that you are still feeding your coral. Maybe add a little extra? IDK might be something to think of.

Good luck!

 

/sigh

The lion and 2 tangs were in the tank when it had to go fallow. The PBT died, and I traded the lion back to the LFS. All I have now is a 3" yellow tang in my own QT, and a 3" powder brown and five 1/2" chromis in a QT at my LFS that I want too add on the 21st.

Going from a lion + 2 tangs to 6 weeks fallow while still feeding the tank to adding 2 tangs and 5 small chromis doesn't seem like a risk to me.

~Will.

 

Please educate Luna and tell me what "fallow" means? Luna

 

fallow = fishless

~Will.

 

update:

The five small chromis, 3" powder brown and the now 4" yellow tang (he grew alot in the 6 week quarantine with 2x heavy feedings with garlic and selcon a day) were added 24 hours ago. I plan on doing daily ammonia tests to monitor whats going on, and if a problem occurs I have a 25 gallon water change ready to go. So far so good, 1st test came back at 0ppm.

~Will.