Doctor/quarantine Tank

[bennett418]

Hello all,

When i bought my tank (in signiture) i also bought a one gallon doctor/quarantine tank for any sick/pregnant fish etc etc etc

I has been running fine and all readings have been sweet.


My question is, should i leave the tank empty? or maybe get something in there to keep it ticking over if that makes sense?

It is as close to the large tank conditions as i can get it.

 

[ox5477]

You will need to keep filter media going so try keeping a small filter running in the norm tank to make sure you have bacteria on hand to transfer over to the sick tank.... and honestly, you need more than a 1G bowl to take care of sick fish. At min you need atleast a 10USG tank IMO to keep the fish healthy. Anything smaller and your just fighting a loosing battle because it's so hard to keep water stable at such small amounts, especially when your adding chemicals to treat disease.

But, just keep the media running in your big tank and keep the hospital empty until you need it. When you do need it, fill half with water from your big tank and the rest from the tap (conditioned of course) and move over the filter. This is a instant tank up and running and should make it so the only thing you have to worry about is the sickness/disease

 

[bennett418]

You will need to keep filter media going so try keeping a small filter running in the norm tank to make sure you have bacteria on hand to transfer over to the sick tank.... and honestly, you need more than a 1G bowl to take care of sick fish. At min you need atleast a 10USG tank IMO to keep the fish healthy. Anything smaller and your just fighting a loosing battle because it's so hard to keep water stable at such small amounts, especially when your adding chemicals to treat disease.

But, just keep the media running in your big tank and keep the hospital empty until you need it. When you do need it, fill half with water from your big tank and the rest from the tap (conditioned of course) and move over the filter. This is a instant tank up and running and should make it so the only thing you have to worry about is the sickness/disease

Thanks for the reply, makes sense, only reason i went for the small tank size was that i noticed most medicines/treatments list it as one of the amounts EG 1ml per gallon just thought it would be easier.

Forgot to put, the 1 gallon tank has an UG filter it is small but it works fine so i keep it running all the time.

 

[smmetz]

question: after using a hospital tank, is it recommended to throw away to fitler media, rather than trying to clean / disinfect it? I suppose it could be boiled if I really wanted to re-use a filter sponge? Or I could just spend the $2 and get a new one, lol.

Also, should I throw out any gravel I had in the hospital tank?

 

[bennett418]

question: after using a hospital tank, is it recommended to throw away to fitler media, rather than trying to clean / disinfect it? I suppose it could be boiled if I really wanted to re-use a filter sponge? Or I could just spend the $2 and get a new one, lol.

Also, should I throw out any gravel I had in the hospital tank?

I had a sick fish in my tank for girlfriends dad, when it was better i boiled the gravel and totally cleaned the lot, i no this is starting again but like you say want to get rid of any infection etc.

Hopefully i wont have to use it for mine!!

 

[confusion]

I used to use a 10G tank as a hopsital and it was a pain. Many medicines will wipe out your bio filter, so IMO, it's not worth having. Here's what I did/do:

I bought a 2.5G tank, a 25W submersible heater and an airpump/airstone. When I need to treat a fish, I fill it up with water from the tap. I add some ammo-lock conditioner that will prevent the ammonia from being a problem (my ph is so low it wouldn't be a problem any how), equalize the temps between the tanks, turn on the airpump, move the fish over and add medicine. I've found that most of the treatments come in 10G doses, so I break them up/divide them in to 4 parts, which means I use less medication.

Every day, I pull the fish out into a plastic bag, dump the tank, rinse it out, add water back, add ammo lock back, re-adjust the temp, etc, and add the fish and more medicine if needed.

While using the 10G tank, I had pretty bad luck with treating sick fish, but I've had a 100% success rate since starting this method.

HTH

 

[ox5477]

I used to use a 10G tank as a hopsital and it was a pain. Many medicines will wipe out your bio filter, so IMO, it's not worth having. Here's what I did/do:

I bought a 2.5G tank, a 25W submersible heater and an airpump/airstone. When I need to treat a fish, I fill it up with water from the tap. I add some ammo-lock conditioner that will prevent the ammonia from being a problem (my ph is so low it wouldn't be a problem any how), equalize the temps between the tanks, turn on the airpump, move the fish over and add medicine. I've found that most of the treatments come in 10G doses, so I break them up/divide them in to 4 parts, which means I use less medication.

Every day, I pull the fish out into a plastic bag, dump the tank, rinse it out, add water back, add ammo lock back, re-adjust the temp, etc, and add the fish and more medicine if needed.

While using the 10G tank, I had pretty bad luck with treating sick fish, but I've had a 100% success rate since starting this method.

HTH

Depending on what your treating, this is a very good method, but for fish over 2" in length, I wouldn't put them in a 2.5G bowl. I feel it causes more stress to the fish, especially if your treating it for a illness that is already stressing its body. Not to mention taking a fish out, and putting them back in water with most likely a slightly different pH everytime causes even more stress. I guess it just all depends on what your treating and how big the fish is, cause obv your not gonna put a 6 inch cichlid in a 2.5G and say that sits gonna get better.....


O and responding to the cleaning of 'hospital' equipment.... you can use very, very, very diluted bleach with water to clean the tank and anything else and it will kill any residual muck or badies.... boiling works good for the substrate, but with things like your filter and heater.... just easier to let them soak in the diluted bath and then thoroughly rinse them and then they are ready to go again. And yes... it is much easier to go spend the big few dollars to buy a new sponge then try to clean and dissinfect the old one. Just leave the new one in the established tank near water movement and within a couple weeks, it will have bacteria growing and can be used whenever you need to use your hospital again.

 

[confusion]

The biggest fish I have are angels. They would probably be too big to treat in that tank. Otherwise, I have various tetras, gouramis, swordtails & mollies, and they all do fine in it.

If I did have to treat my angels, I probably would need to set up the 10G, but I still don't think I would worry about a filter for the amount of time they would be in the tank.