Medicating A 42 Gallon Tank Efficiently

[ZorkDork]

Hi all. First time post and I have many fish in trouble and am unsure if I should just medicate my primary tank or trandfer them to a second, much smaller tank for medication.

I have a 42 gallon primary freshwater tank with 5 blue tetras, 5 zebra danios, 3 aenis catfish, and 2 small algae eating, tank clinging catfish. (forget name of them) I also have a 10 gallon hospital tank but don't feel confident it could support 15 fish plus the 2 that are in there. Could it for just a week? I have a external EHEIM cannister filter.

Half of my fish are exhibiting symptoms (aggressiveness, mouth fungus, bacterial gill disease, tail rot) and I want to treat the entire tank with E.M. Erythromycin.

Q1) Would it be smarter to reduce my 42 gallon tank level by 75% to 10 gallons while I treat them? It would enable me to use less packets of medicine.

Q2) Will medicating my main tank be a problem after the fact? I assume I can buy a charcoal filter to place in my external that will take the medicine back out right? Will it get all of it?

Q3) Is it that harmful to medicate fish not exhibiting symptoms but probably on the path to infection anyway?

Q4) Can someone suggest a GREAT heater? I have a 250watt ProHeat that broke and I hated it anyway.

Q5) Should I move all fish to my 10 gallon tank to treat them for a week then transfer them back instead? Will the reduced size of only 10 gallons be a problem for only a week while I medicate? I am afraid the conditions in my hospital tank aren't any better. I need to check ammonia levels and nitrate levels in there.

I am now back to 25 to 40% water changes every two days. I am paying careful attention to the tank once again. I assume all this happened because I changed the filter and mech in my external filter at the same time. This might have reduced the bacteria colonies too quickly and caused an ammonia spike. I won't do that again.

I appreciate any advice you all can give.

 

[WILDER]

I would treat the whole tank, i would bother reducing the water level, is it possible to take some of the sponges out of the canister and run in the 10gal in your filter.
Though that antibiotic isnt meant to wipe all the bacteria out in the filter.
You need to get going with that med as they have alot of bacterial infections..

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hi all. First time post and I have many fish in trouble and am unsure if I should just medicate my primary tank or trandfer them to a second, much smaller tank for medication.

I have a 42 gallon primary freshwater tank with 5 blue tetras, 5 zebra danios, 3 aenis catfish, and 2 small algae eating, tank clinging catfish. (forget name of them) I also have a 10 gallon hospital tank but don't feel confident it could support 15 fish plus the 2 that are in there. Could it for just a week? I have a external EHEIM cannister filter.

Half of my fish are exhibiting symptoms (aggressiveness, mouth fungus, bacterial gill disease, tail rot) and I want to treat the entire tank with E.M. Erythromycin.

Q1) Would it be smarter to reduce my 42 gallon tank level by 75% to 10 gallons while I treat them? It would enable me to use less packets of medicine.

Q2) Will medicating my main tank be a problem after the fact? I assume I can buy a charcoal filter to place in my external that will take the medicine back out right? Will it get all of it?

Q3) Is it that harmful to medicate fish not exhibiting symptoms but probably on the path to infection anyway?

Q4) Can someone suggest a GREAT heater? I have a 250watt ProHeat that broke and I hated it anyway.

Q5) Should I move all fish to my 10 gallon tank to treat them for a week then transfer them back instead? Will the reduced size of only 10 gallons be a problem for only a week while I medicate? I am afraid the conditions in my hospital tank aren't any better. I need to check ammonia levels and nitrate levels in there.

I am now back to 25 to 40% water changes every two days. I am paying careful attention to the tank once again. I assume all this happened because I changed the filter and mech in my external filter at the same time. This might have reduced the bacteria colonies too quickly and caused an ammonia spike. I won't do that again.

I appreciate any advice you all can give.

Hi and welcome to the forum .

1. Reducing the water levels/gallons will only stress the fish out; stress is particually bad for fish and many desease are often brought about by stressful conditions in the tank.
What medication/s are you using for the fish?

2. Putting the carbon filter sponge in for a couple of days after you have finished treating the fish and want to remove the meds will remove the meds from the water, although it is also generally advised to do a small water change as well with dechlorinator to help freshen up the water a bit and aid the removal of meds from the tank .

3. Most meds are stressful to fish to a certain extent, although wether you should treat all the fish depends on;
a. What type of desease/parasite/infection/injury etc you are treating.
b. How far spread the illness is.
c. What types of fish you are treating exactly and what state of health they are in plus their age- fry or particually young fish are far more sensitive to the effects meds for example than many adult fish.

In the case of a highly infectious parasitic infection which does not nesarsarily display imediate symptoms in fish like whitespot, it is best to treat the tank as a whole. A not very infectious desease like dropsy on the other hand can be treated separately.
Some deseases can display symptoms similar to others, so it is best to make sure you know exactyly what you are treating and are treating it with the correct medication.

5. If you remove all your fish from one tank, the bacteria will starve and die very quickly with no ammonia source- so the 10gal tank, if it has no fish in it, will cycle if you add fish to it, and the 42gals tank will cycle too if you take the fish from it.
To understand the water quality and bacterial ecosystem in your tank, is very important as it could mean you having a very stressed and unhealthy tank, or a thriving fish community with great water quality.
This article on avoiding and treating new tank syndrome explains the basics of water quality well and how to keep a tank healthy in the long term too;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099

You are correct that by replacing the filter media completely you decimated the bennificial bacteria that lived in it and delt with ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. It is true the bacteria also lives in the gravel and sometimes other places in the tank, but the vast bulk of it resides in the filter media.

What are your most recent ammonia, nitrite and nitrates stats ?

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquariumpros.com/Merchant2/merc...PG&Screen=APH55