Hi all,
I have a 65l tank that has been cycled & set up just over a month, all fish (guppies, platys, danios and a few shrimp) seem fine, we have had no losses or visible disease and I am already looking to get a bigger tank so I can add tetras and a plec! Am doing at least daily small (15% ish) water changes and watching water closely and all levels are ok.
Shortly afterwards (nearly four weeks ago), we thought it would be a good idea to set up a hospital tank and so using the media from the first tank, set up a small (20l) tank with a few small fish in it to keep it cycled. One guppy never looked very good, and was shimmying from the moment we got her back from the shop. She died two days ago and there was an ammonia spike so I have been changing around 50% of the water each day. The other two seemed fine - This morning I have looked closely and to my horror it looks as if they now have whitespot which I am treating with the only medication my small local pet shop had. They did not have any aquarium salt.
I have just managed to secure a third small tank via freecycle in case this has already somehow spread to the big tank (what is the likelihood of that happening given that I use the same siphon and net in both tanks?). My question is this - how do I keep a quarantine/hospital tank successfully cycled? Seems to be a catch 22 - without the fish it won't remain cycled, with them there is always the chance that they will get sick, probably a bigger chance than if they were in a large tank. Also it's small tank so can only house very few fish - is this enough to keep it cycled and are they ok with just the two of them?
I thought I had researched everything thoroughly but there is so much conflicting advice out there and it is a massive learning curve!
I have a 65l tank that has been cycled & set up just over a month, all fish (guppies, platys, danios and a few shrimp) seem fine, we have had no losses or visible disease and I am already looking to get a bigger tank so I can add tetras and a plec! Am doing at least daily small (15% ish) water changes and watching water closely and all levels are ok.
Shortly afterwards (nearly four weeks ago), we thought it would be a good idea to set up a hospital tank and so using the media from the first tank, set up a small (20l) tank with a few small fish in it to keep it cycled. One guppy never looked very good, and was shimmying from the moment we got her back from the shop. She died two days ago and there was an ammonia spike so I have been changing around 50% of the water each day. The other two seemed fine - This morning I have looked closely and to my horror it looks as if they now have whitespot which I am treating with the only medication my small local pet shop had. They did not have any aquarium salt.
I have just managed to secure a third small tank via freecycle in case this has already somehow spread to the big tank (what is the likelihood of that happening given that I use the same siphon and net in both tanks?). My question is this - how do I keep a quarantine/hospital tank successfully cycled? Seems to be a catch 22 - without the fish it won't remain cycled, with them there is always the chance that they will get sick, probably a bigger chance than if they were in a large tank. Also it's small tank so can only house very few fish - is this enough to keep it cycled and are they ok with just the two of them?
I thought I had researched everything thoroughly but there is so much conflicting advice out there and it is a massive learning curve!
