Starting a new tank after a disaster

[Tonyintx]

Okay everyone here's the problem I recently had a 100gal. tank that I had with a total of 10 discus 1 adult heckle and 9 2 inch red/turk that I got from a great guy and breeder (Tim Ellis) (I hope you don't mind me mentioning your name Tim) and they were doing great then I went to the LFS and found they had just received a shipment of 2 inch BD and saw one that I had to have, and as usually with me I got so excited that I didn't QT and sorry to say I have paid for my excitment now I have an empty 100gal tank :'( but now I want to start all over again just not sure what to do about it all ie. should I throw away the filters and buy new ones or just clean these out and what is the first thing I shoud do about everthing? everyone please help... ??? ???

[Tim_Ellis]

Hey Tony,

Sorry about the loss, but that what happens when you don't QT. :-\ Don't worry, I will fix you up again when you are ready. My suggestion would be emptying the tank of all water, substrate and accessories, and use bleach and water to sterilize tank and anything that that bleach won't hurt. You can use rubbing alchohol on everything else. If you have sponges, wring them out and nuke them in the microwave for 60 seconds. Spray the tank with alchohol and let evaporate. Now you should be ready to refill and start cycling you filters again. Carol has a great procedure for doing a fishless cycle. I am hoping we can get some other opinoins in case I skipped over anything. Good Luck!

Tim

[Tonyintx]

Hey thanks Tim for the info, I really appreciate all your help

[dm]

Sorry to hear about your fish. :(
It is very tempting to skip the QT period and a lot of us now know why we can't first hand. Hopefully your post will help someone else from making the same mistake.
Good luck with the next ones. :)

[chirohorn]

Tony, sorry to hear about the fish. Tim told me your story yesterday as I was picking up some of his stock. IMO, you don't quarantine ONLY if you're willing to accept the loss of all the fish in the tank. It's a gamble - win some, lose some.

Good luck w/the next batch...Tim's a good guy taking care of you like that - Pete

[Tonyintx]

yeah he is! He has a GREAT setup and Beautiful fish I was so impressed and didn't want to leave. but I finally had too can't wait to see them again. ;D

[Wolf]

Which store sold you the diseased fish in Austin? Just curious. I have ran into the same problem when I first bought discus locally. From what I have seen buying food locally, the only store I would consider buying from is Aquatec. Tim when are your yellow marlboros going to be ready? I would like to check them out and possibly pick up a few.

[chirohorn]

I believe Tony picked up the bad fish in San Antonio. You'd only buy at Aquatek? I bet we both the source of all their discus ;D

Wolf, is that your fish in the photo under your name? Is it a BD? If so, where'd you purchase it & do you have more?

[Wolf]

Hi, I think it's a blue cobalt. I wish I had more. I got it at Aquadome last year. It was one of the first two discus I bought and is the male of my breeding pair I am crossing with a female pidgeon blood. Here is a pick of the pair. His is dark in the photo since they were guarding some eggs in the tank.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=4645

I have 10 fry left out of 30 that will be 1 month old on Friday. I think the male is still immature as he is just a year old and I am getting a lot of unfertilized eggs. I am curious what will come out of the cross. I am heavily culling now in hopes I can get some more clean pidgeons to breed with. I will post when I have some that I am willing to sell but I suspect it won't be until the end of the summer at the earliest. I have one very clean red pigeon that I hope to cross with the offspring when it gets old enough.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=11;action=display;threadid=4944

It is going to take me a while to do since I am limited by space right now. I refuse to sell any fish with peppering or bad shape. Hopefully, I can get some nice fish out of the pair but it's too early to tell now what I will end up with. I love the blue fish. I just wish I had the space or I would buy some Angel blue diamonds from Cary but that will have to wait for now until we move into a bigger place.

With all these discus fanatics in Austin, we should get a discus club going. It looks like there are a lot of people in this area and I think it would be fun to get together, drink a few beers, talk discus, and trade fish.

[chirohorn]

Good looking fish Wolf, thanks for the link! Wish you luck w/the fry...should be interesting. Post some follow-ups if you get the chance.

An Austin-area club sounds good. Count me in if anyone organizes a gathering - Pete.

[Tim_Ellis]

Wolf,

The yellow's are really growing. When I picked them up they were about dime size, now they are about the size of a 50cent piece. They are moving into new quarters this weekend. Another month maybe?

The club thing sounds cool. Roger, at Aquatek has previously offered his store as a meeting place(maybe one of several?) and also offered to donate items for auction to help get it started :o (Nice Guy!). I think a S.A. cichlid group would draw even more people. Quite a few apisto and west african fans here also. The TCA seems to me to be focused mainly on rift lake african fish, but that is just my opinoin. So in other words.......count me in! ;D

I would love to see your fry that you mentioned. Let me know whens a good time to swing by.

Tim