55 g tank, but one problem....fish!! Possible new bulid?

[Firebelly love]

I have a 55 g tank and want to make it a new home to my toads. But I have about 40 current fish residence! Does anyone have any ideas on how to get ride of fish quick? I think they might have the ick! Also, if I was going to make the big change from a 10 to a 55 g, how would I go about this? I want to make it look as nautral as possible. With a back that looks rocky, but I don't want to make anything permanent, as in no glass divider, or siliconed on wood. Any ideas wood be great! I was thinking of re-using my powerful filter, for this setup by putting a tube running all the way up covering that tube with something, and making it look nice. I also don't know what to use, I have no idea on any aquarium safe products. Sorry, a lot of questions!


-Thanks.

[Poly]

Sell the fish, or give them away.

[BG]

What kind of fish? The ich is easy to get rid of turn the heater to 89 ,add some salt. And the big sicret is throw 10 pennies in the tank. They contain copper. And copper kills ich. Trust me. Then go to your local pet store and see if he can give you store credit for your fish and then get the toads.

[Heatheranne]

Excellent George!
You can make fun waterfalls and rock set-ups and/or land using styrofoam, silicone, and non-sanded grout. Ideas which can be manipulated to you liking....

http://www.lizard-landscapes.com

[Firebelly love]

Love, those landscape ideas, and I never thought of using pennies! A little store credit would be nice to. I might try becoming a fish healer this weekend! After the fish are gone though I have a lot of cleaning to do. I'm guessing vinegar is the best job for this, or bleach?

[Heatheranne]

Me too! I found the site looking for waterfall ideas. Sure gets the imagination going. You could pretty much make anything with those basic guidelines.

[BG]

Heather you did a great job researching.

Excellent George!
You can make fun waterfalls and rock set-ups and/or land using styrofoam, silicone, and non-sanded grout. Ideas which can be manipulated to you liking....

Lizard care, and fake rock wall landscapes

[Heatheranne]

Thanks!

[ScubaTalonAWD]

Love, those landscape ideas, and I never thought of using pennies! A little store credit would be nice to. I might try becoming a fish healer this weekend! After the fish are gone though I have a lot of cleaning to do. I'm guessing vinegar is the best job for this, or bleach?

Just checking, we are talking about freshwater fish correct? Copper is deadly to most marine invertebrates so never add it to a saltwater aquarium. Vinegar or bleach both work well. Just make sure it is pure bleach. Personally I use vinegar, but bleach soaked in water will turn into salt water in under 24 hours.

Lastly, I am fairly sure you need more than 10 pennies in a 55g tank. I thought it was a penny a gallon... I could be wrong though, so look this up. They also sell copper treatment if you do not want to literally use pennies.

[Firebelly love]

Just checking, we are talking about freshwater fish correct? Copper is deadly to most marine invertebrates so never add it to a saltwater aquarium. Vinegar or bleach both work well. Just make sure it is pure bleach. Personally I use vinegar, but bleach soaked in water will turn into salt water in under 24 hours.

Lastly, I am fairly sure you need more than 10 pennies in a 55g tank. I thought it was a penny a gallon... I could be wrong though, so look this up. They also sell copper treatment if you do not want to literally use pennies.

Cool, I thought pennies might be kind of dirty so, thanks for the alternative. And yes they are freshwater. If I was to use vinger do you know what kind is the best? I thought just regular white vingegar, then let sit for at least 36 hrs before doing anything. Am I right?

[ScubaTalonAWD]

Yes regular white vinegar. Don't worry about letting it sit. Just rinse it out really good and it will be fine. Vinegar is the preferred cleaner because it is completely non toxic, and it is very easy to rinse off. I use it all the time to clean the glass on my running aquariums, and various pumps and other parts that get submerged. After I'm done cleaning, they immediately go into the tank. Just make sure you use a brand new sponge with no cleaning agents in it, and preferably no mildew deterrents. These can be most easily found at a dollar store.

[BG]

I speak from experience . Choose the newest cleanest shinny pennies and put them in. The medicine for ich has copper in it. If you feel more safe. Go to the store and pay 12 bucks. Either way you will get rid of ich. High temp and salt. The Marine medicine has no copper in the medicine . Marine fish are more delicate then freshwater. You can kill marine fish just by putting your hand in the tank.

[ScubaTalonAWD]

Sorry man, I am not one to start arguing semantics, but you are giving some false information. Marine aquariums are sensitive, but not that sensitive. First of all, we use copper to treat our fish, the same as freshwater does. It kills marine invertebrates. Because of this we have to remove the fish from the display and use a quarantine tank to do any treatments. The fish is perfectly fine with copper though. If a tank has ever had copper used though it should never be used again for marine aquariums. The silicone will absorb some copper and the tank is forever tainted.

Secondly, we stick our hands into our tanks all the time. I am speaking from not just a personal experience, but from a general consensus on many large marine forums. Yes if we just washed our hands with soap, or just got done working on the car, obviously we do not stick our hands in the tank. But otherwise, it is very common. The most common thing that happens to me is I get viciously attacked by my male clownfish protecting his home. On a worse, and extremely rare scenario someone will contract a really nasty marine infection and go to the er. I not only have a marine aquarium btw, I have a coral reef, which is way more sensitive. Yet I often directly handle corals with my bare hands with no repercussions (coral and anemone stings are not powerful enough to be felt by humans, not even the really nasty ones).

[Firebelly love]

Wow, I didn't know marine fish were that sensitive! Thanks for the tips guys.