Come this Christmas/Channukah, My partner and I are planning on doing a complete switcharound. We're buying as our gift to ourselves a 55 gallon bowfront tank and stand.

In it, we want to put what's now in our 35 gallon tank. 4 goldfish (two babies and two bigguns) and our dojo loach.

In the 35 gallon, we want to put what's in our 12 gallon now, 2 feeder goldfish, our little frog and a snail.

In the twelve we're going to put our 5 gallon resident, what is now a GF fry rescue.

Basiclly we're going to play musical aquariums. So the question becomes, how best to do this?

I've been told various things about moving to a bigger aquarium. One was to use the old water and gravel and stuff (which is what we did when we upgraded from the 20 to the 35) but then we had the HORRIBLE outbreak of ICH, and the LFS told us it was BECAUSE we used the old stuff. Which I dont get at all.......it makes no sense to me why they'd have an outbreak using the same stuff they'd been living in for years...........

I've also been to TO use the old stuff for faster and easier cycling.

I figured this would be a good time to ask about this rather than wait til the last minute and post in a panic as I normally do

TIA for any help and ideas you folk can give!

i think cause of the outbreak of ich is the stress the fish had which weakened their immune system. well i don't know how i could handle the tank switches. i hope someone can help.

LOL yup I hope so too!

Yes, I think the stress thing too, so i'd kinda like to avoid that too. I was just SICK at heart thinking I'd paid over $400 for new and nicer digs for them only to make them ALL really sick!

Ich, as well as some other nasties, are capable of sitting and waiting for your fish to become stressed or have lowered immunities for any number of reasons. At that time, the opportunistic little crud-monkeys pop out of the gravel and wreck havoc in a tank.

You can eliminate many of the lurking parisitical problems by eliminating gravel. They will have the minimal places to hide - and any place they are, you can reach with salt or meds. Many meds and salt do not reach down into the depths of gravel allowing nasties to hide there.

When you stir the gravel up, as in a tank change, you can bring the lurking nasties to the surface, also.

Since you have the time, you can do one of several things....

Buy a filter you would like to use on the new tank now. Set it going on a large tub or bucket and do a fishless cycle on it. It will be finished and set to go come Christmas. Just remember to feed it every day or two.

OR: You can buy a filter that you would like to use on the new tank, now, but set it running in your old tank. (you most likely will need and want multiple filters on a 55 - but you only need to buy one, now) Ich or not, parasites or not, you can get the new filter well cycled and containing a nice colony of beneficial bacteria by running it on your cycled tank right now. When you get the new 55 gal. tank, set it up (no gravel) and move the filter over to it and set it going. DO not move any fish at this time. Feed the filter with ammonia for 2 weeks. This will starve out most of any parasites that you may have inadvertantly brought over in the filter. When you move the fish, do a salt dip to strip the slime coat and any adult parasites they may have off, then transfer them directly to the new tank.

If you feel the old tank is still contaminated, you can then do a 2 week starving in that tank, feeding it ammonia for a bit and leaving it empty of fish. Then move the next set of fish over.

This should minimize the problems that you may have. It will not do it all, but should take care of the majority of anything you may be dealing with!

Sounds like it will be a great new tank and a whole bunch of fun to set it all up! I hope you will share pictures when you do it all!

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THIS is what we'd LIKE to do, but the problem becomes space. We're in a condo, and where we'll have to put the 55 gallon, is exactly where the 35 is now. Meaning, if we set the new one up, we'd have to empty and move the 35 to do it.

By buying a filter for the 55 now and using it with our 35 gal tank (thereby getting it cycled), would we be able to move them right into thier new digs without having to worry about the cycle thing as much?

Thank you Daryl!

Hey daryl, can u tell the the ways I can salt the tank when i'm doing a water change? I haven't got an outbreak of Ich or any parasites yet but I'd like to to do sumtin to make sure they're all dead. should i stir up the gravel when syphoning, then add some salt? and what kinda salt can i use?
cheers