is this safe?

[cichlidchic]

ok, my main 140 gallon african tank had an infestation of anchor worms, so, all of my fish are in 15gallon totes with airrators, filters running, and i'm API General curing them for the anchorworms. I'm also melafixing them while i use the API. They can be moved back to the tank on Tuesday night.

I have removed EVERRYTHING, plants and water included from the tank. left it outside to fully dry, starting over with new plants, and put a fan in th tank to fully dry everything to make sure i don't have any more eggs larve etc. I just finished setting it back up, filling it up, putting prime (2x dose) in the tank, and i was thinking about putting the empress, front, and lab fry in the tank. The smallest fish in this roup is 1.5 inches (front juvies) but i was thinking about putting them in tonight, and letting them get acclamated, and find hiding spots before adding the other fish back on tuesday, so that even though there is a size difference, the little guys have first dibs on the best spots to hide themselves. since the aquascaping is completely different from the original, everyone will have to find new places anyway, so i thought this might be the best time. any thoughts on this?

side note, thanks to Zulaab for all the help (phone calls included!!!) you've been a real trooper through this man!! I owe ya one!

[cichlidchic]

bump, anyone?

[cichlid1409]

put all the fish in at the same time the bigger or more aggresive fish will just take over once introduced anyways .

[Zulaab]

You are going to want to keep all the fish at peace for the first 24 hours back in the tank. Put all the fish in at the same time, then cut the lights.. dont let them see much for the first 24 hours.. then add your lights back. One day before etc.. is not real time for everyone to have a chance to establish anyways.. Making sure the medication takes effect is more important than anything else. How is the Blue fish doing ?

[cichlidchic]

very still, i check periodically, but it's dark, so i am going to check him tonight to see if there is improvement. Their second dose was last night, so I'm going to check tonight when i egt home. what should i be looking for?

when I do check, the fish respond almost instantly to the light. I haven't lost any fish, and they seem to perk up when i get by them to add meds.

As a precaution, i was thinking about treating everyone in the main tank when i add them back with the pimafix and the melafix for the remaining 3 days (recommended for 7 days on the bottle, and i'll have only done 4 at that point). then doing a 25% water change.

Before I saw the responses I went ahead and added the small fish to the tank, mainly because i was concerned about their health. I'm trying to take everything out of the 55 until i can figure out why i lost 3 front juvies rapidly without any cause visable. i took all the healthy larger fry and put them in the 140, and everyone loves it. surprisingly enough, they all school together, (the remaining 2 fronts, and 6 empress fry).

Will keep everyone posted for sure. and when i get home in about 2 hours i'll update to let you know the status of the blue hap that started this whole thing. :)

[Zulaab]

The pimples will not disapear overnight, consider them like scars on the body.. they dont heal overnight, but you see the fish stop scratching itself and colors should return and the fish will act normally again. Tomorrow when you return your fish to the 140 yes I would treat with Melafix and Pimafix and do so for the week it tells you do you can assist the fish with healing and not get secondary infections again.

[cichlidchic]

ok good, i'm on the right track. his color looked great yesterday. even though he was inactive, he was bright blue and easy to pick out.