Would This Work For A Hospital Tank?

[branjie]

Hi all,
I have a sick guppie and would like to quarantine him ASAP. I have a spare tank and heater, but don't have a filter for it. I was wondering if I could use the community tank water, and an air pump, and do daily water changes using new community tank water. Don't be too harsh on me if it's a completely stupid idea. I'm just asking. Othewise I'll have to get a new filter, but don't have time to cycle it.

This guppie is acting fine, but has two splits in his tail, and large but not raised white patches on his tail and on the top of his head. His tail has a cloudy black discolouration at the ends, and he has some of this on his head as well. Any ideas what could be wrong with him?

 

[WILDER]

Yes you can just use an airstone in a tank, put some filter floss over the airstone.
Black patches are ammonia burns that are healing.
The white on the fish does it look fluffy.
Is the fish flicking and rubbing.
Most of the time white on the head of fish is usally columnaris.

 

[branjie]

I've just upgraded to a bigger tank, so I'll get my water tested to today to make sure there hasn't been an ammonia spike. I'm using an established filter, so hopefully things aren't too bad. The white patches are not fluffy or raised. It's like parts of him have been bleached I suppose. That sounds nasty doesn't it? The other fish are o.k. This one had a split in his tail before being transferred to the new tank. I wonder if that had something to do with it. In the past my Black Ghost Knife Fish has acted weird if there's been a problem with the water, but he seems fine.

 

[shang hi]

the split in the tail could be a first sighn of fin rot or just that its been caught. i would recomend that u get a test kit to test water quality, i only have a small tank but its helped save countless lives and its only £15/$25.

 

[WILDER]

Bleached out patches can be parasite to bacterial, if no flicking and rubbing I would use a bacterial med.
Finrot can be a secondary infection.
Good luck.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I never use a cycled H tank. There are a number of reasons for this I will touch on shortly. To have an uncycled H tank use a heater, airstone and if available a couple of fake plants and/or rocks to help the patient feel less stressed. Vac the tank daily and do 25% wc every other day. If you are dosing meds on a wc day, be sure to dose the meds after doing the wc.

1. Many meds can kill the good bacteria, so having them in an H tank may be uselss.
2. Not all fish recover and some can have something contagious. When you are done with an H tank, it and the contents should be soaked in a strong bleach solution to kill anything that may linger. this would mean killing the bacterial in a cycled filter/tank.
3. The filter flow can often be too strong for a fish weakened by illness.