hospital tanks?

[melanie]

I was wondering if anyone would like to debate the use of hospital tanks?I am undecided personally,but it seems to me that it is risky to establish a "cycled" nad new enviroment for allready sick and stressed fish.Doesn't the original tank need the medication to clear up the illness too?After all is said and done then you can do water changes.You oppinions?

[DavesGirl]

Well, you have a point.  But the one point your missing is that often, the bacterias that we treat our infected fish for - are inherent in our tanks.  They are there all the time, they only get a good hold on sick or stressed fish.  Or, sometimes, if something goes wrong - like a temperature increase, the bacteria can and will have a population explosion.  Inundating our fish with bacteria levels so high, they simply cannot fight them off any longer.

A QT tank should absolutely be available.  Its use would depend on what your treating for.  For instance, for ich - a QT would not be much help, unless the fish was seriously infected, while others remained uneffected.

QT tanks are also good for overly sick fish, to prevent them from being picked on by the healthier ones.  Its nature for this to happen.  Only YOU can prevent it! LOL

Also, QT tanks can be cheaper to treat it, than say somethign like my 125 gallon.  Can you imagine how many maracyn tabs I'd need to treat the tank?  Its much, much easier to remove the seriously sick fish and move them to a smaller 10 or 20 gallon tank and treat them there.

QT tanks have other uses, too.  Such as QT for new arrivals, or just for observations.

Moving a sick fish to a cleaner environment will not likely have a negative impact, assuming water parameters are equal in both tanks.  This mean PH, GH and temps.

And, in the case of QT tanks, if you had a sick fish - you'd treat...then dump/clean/sterilize the tank and filter, and hang the cleaned filter on your main tank for re-seeding - and its ready for another use.

[melanie]

All very good points.

[dreadawn]

i'm thinking of setting up my new 10 gal as a hospital...
i was surprised i didn't see an article on the site, wondering if you could answer a few ?s
whats the easiest way to keep the tank cycled?
you mention re-seeding in an established tank, but once back in the QT doesn't it need a source of ammonia? would you then continue to add ammonia daily?
if you were to keep it in an established tank till it was needed....would you still need a filter on the QT tank if not in use?

[DavesGirl]

Well, if you choose to keep a tank running all the time, you'll need to either feed that tank pure ammonia, or have a fish or two.  

I personally run a small filter on the main tank and when I need a QT tank, I move the whole filter over to the QT tank then, and add the fish...thus feeding it.

Alternatively, you can run your hospital tank all teh time with fish in it.  The only real downside happens if you use a fish to keep it cycled.  Then you either have to move the fish in there, if you get a sick or new fish - or you have to medicate a perfectly healthy fish.  If you choose to run the hospital tank all the time, and want a fish in it, you should choose a fish that will be compatible in your main tank, too.

[Ppulcher]

If you use any kind of antibiotic in the hospital tank, it tends to at least partially wipe out a cycled filter anyway.  

If I have sick fish that need to be moved for treatment, I'll use a sponge filter or something similar and do large daily water changes of  50-75% to manage wastes.  Because I don't mess with water chemistry from the tap, the fish don't seem stressed as long as the temeperature doesn't change rapidly.  I rarely add medications myself, relying mostly on fresh water and perhaps some salt.  This works remarkably well for me.  For tougher things, the use of medications is indicated, and because of the large water changes I end up using more of it.

Whenever I suspect anything is amiss in a tank, I change water!

[melanie]

I like the idea of using a small filter in a main tank for the emergency scenerio.Besides you can never have too much filtration.

[Squeek]

I believe that cycling a hospital tank is a waste of time because alot of meds actually kill the bacteria that establish the tank....A hospital tank IMHO is the most important thing in fish keeping

[blang]

I'm thinking of getting a QT with a bio wheel and keeping the biowheel in my main tank.  My question is, after I use the QT, do I wash the biowheel to get rid of any medicine or possible contagious diseases and then place it back in my main tank?

[DavesGirl]

Yes, that would be the safest bet.  Thoroughly cleanse the filter to prevent cross contamination.  Then either let it dry out and hang it back on your main tank, or, if you're comfortable that its clean, dechlor it and hang it back on your main tank.