Hospital Tank Question

[gforce17]

When you set up a small tank as a hospital with heater, air block and sponge filter, how often would you need to change the water because I presume the sponge filter wouldn't be cycled for ammonia and nitrite.

 

[sadguppy]

If this is something you need right now, can you take some sponge out of your main tank (i.e. cut a bit off and shove it in) - voila instant cycle. Otherwise you will get a fish-in cycle which is not going to help any diseased or poorly fish.

If this is just for future use, stick the filter in your main tank or the sponge from it inside your main filter to keep it cycled.

 

[gforce17]

Thanks. That's really helpful. Will keeping it in the main tank run the risk of putting disease into that tank. Are you near Maidstone? Born and brought up there before moving north. Haven't been down for ages.

 

[fluttermoth]

Well, what you do, as sadguppy says, is keep the sponge in your main filter until it's needed.

Once you've finished quarantining or hospitalising, you wash the sponge in very hot water and let it dry out. That will kill off anything that might have been present in your hospital tank, and then you put it back in your main filter to be recolonised by bacteria, ready for next time.

 

[gforce17]

I see. Thanks. That's my next set up. Can I ask if fish are often helped to recover by having hospital tank or do they succumb? I suppose people wouldn't bother to have one if they couldn't cure many? Possibly a daft question?

 

[DJH584]

Yes they most certainly are helped. Two of ours - a harlequin rasbora and a zebra danio - lost their tail fins. Both spent a week in such a tank witha course of melafix for treament and then left a further three days just to make sure that they were fine. Both are now back in the main tank and thriving well.
The tank we use for this is our old Arcadia 35 litre which for short term use as a hospital or quarantine tank is just fine.

 

[sadguppy]

Thanks. That's really helpful. Will keeping it in the main tank run the risk of putting disease into that tank. Are you near Maidstone? Born and brought up there before moving north. Haven't been down for ages.

About a half hour away in Tonbridge, although I do visit occasionally as there are more shops!

I think a hospital tank is more about the other fish in the tank... if a fish starts behaving oddly or you're not sure what is wrong with it you can whip it out and it won't spread to the others. On it's own it may recover, it might not - but it won't pose a risk to the others.

The only other way to make sure that a disease doesn't spread is to euthanise the fish, but if you were to euthanise every fish that was acting oddly you would probably end up unecessarily killing a lot of fish

 

[gforce17]

Yes they most certainly are helped. Two of ours - a harlequin rasbora and a zebra danio - lost their tail fins. Both spent a week in such a tank witha course of melafix for treament and then left a further three days just to make sure that they were fine. Both are now back in the main tank and thriving well.
The tank we use for this is our old Arcadia 35 litre which for short term use as a hospital or quarantine tank is just fine.

That's really good news! Thanks.

Thanks. That's really helpful. Will keeping it in the main tank run the risk of putting disease into that tank. Are you near Maidstone? Born and brought up there before moving north. Haven't been down for ages.

About a half hour away in Tonbridge, although I do visit occasionally as there are more shops!

I think a hospital tank is more about the other fish in the tank... if a fish starts behaving oddly or you're not sure what is wrong with it you can whip it out and it won't spread to the others. On it's own it may recover, it might not - but it won't pose a risk to the others.

The only other way to make sure that a disease doesn't spread is to euthanise the fish, but if you were to euthanise every fish that was acting oddly you would probably end up unecessarily killing a lot of fish

Absolutely! Thanks.

 

[gforce17]

Yes they most certainly are helped. Two of ours - a harlequin rasbora and a zebra danio - lost their tail fins. Both spent a week in such a tank witha course of melafix for treament and then left a further three days just to make sure that they were fine. Both are now back in the main tank and thriving well.
The tank we use for this is our old Arcadia 35 litre which for short term use as a hospital or quarantine tank is just fine.

I'm interested that you use it for both because, quite frankly, I haven't got the space to have two separate. Do you do the same with the sponge filter when you're using it for quarantine purposes?