kaileykari
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2011
- Messages
- 67
When the fish go back to display in 3 weeks, should I keep the small tank going to use for quarantine. Do you do that, or just get tank going when your going to get a new fish?
Hospital tank
- Thread starter kaileykari
- Start date
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Sniperhank
Giant Clam Addict
Just get the tank going for new or sick fish. There isn’t any reason to ever keep it up year round.
kaileykari
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2011
- Messages
- 67
Ok thanks!
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Came to the party ( and your thread 
) a bit late but hopefully this will help. One of the issues with ich is that it has multiple stages and we only see one of them ( when they are on the fish. ) The best hospital tank for treating ich is a bare bottom tank with nothing in the tank that can absorb the medication or that the trophants ( one of the stages of the parasite) can use as a hiding place to grow. Water in a hospital tank should be brand new water that is matched to the temperature and salinity of the display tank and not water from your display tank. Because it is new water, you will have days ( usually about 7 if it's only 1 smaller fish in a 10 gal tank) before ammonia is an issue and a hospital tank should never be up long enough to need to cycle. When medicating, there are water changing schedules that the medications explain and should be followed as prescribed. This will usually prevent any buildup of ammonia preventing any cycling from happening.
Because the lifecycle of Ich depends on fish at one stage, leaving a tank devoid of fish will eventually kill off the parasite naturally however, you need to be careful that you know that the parasite is Ich and not oodinium or other parasites. Other parasites have a longer life cycle than "common" ich so the amount of time a tank needs to stay without fish is extended depending on the specie. Depending on what else is in the tank, you can destroy your parasite issue with heat. This is not recommended for tanks with other invertebrates tho.
As for your question regarding long term usage of your "hospital tank", in reality, you should have both a hospital tank and a quarantine tank. A hospital tank is used for medicating and is typically a short term used receptacle. I say receptacle because you can use just about anything as a hospital tank as long as it holds water and doesn't absorb medications and dyes. A quarantine tank however is best when it's a see through tank. A qt is for observation. It should be cycled, kept with the same water parameters as your display tank and running all the time so that when you get a new fish or invert, it has a chance in the qt to get used to it's new surroundings, feeding and light schedules, and you as it's new "companion." Once the animal passes the time where it is unlikely to get sick from the move, then it can be placed in your display tank. In the long run, using both tanks as they should be used will help keep your main display tank disease free and it's stock much happier.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: I just read the article that Coralbandit listed and while I understand that author's aversion to having a QT running all the time, it's my experience that having one up and going tends to get them used more so than first having to spend the time to do it when you need it. In this case tho, there is no right or wrong just a to each their own.
) a bit late but hopefully this will help. One of the issues with ich is that it has multiple stages and we only see one of them ( when they are on the fish. ) The best hospital tank for treating ich is a bare bottom tank with nothing in the tank that can absorb the medication or that the trophants ( one of the stages of the parasite) can use as a hiding place to grow. Water in a hospital tank should be brand new water that is matched to the temperature and salinity of the display tank and not water from your display tank. Because it is new water, you will have days ( usually about 7 if it's only 1 smaller fish in a 10 gal tank) before ammonia is an issue and a hospital tank should never be up long enough to need to cycle. When medicating, there are water changing schedules that the medications explain and should be followed as prescribed. This will usually prevent any buildup of ammonia preventing any cycling from happening. Because the lifecycle of Ich depends on fish at one stage, leaving a tank devoid of fish will eventually kill off the parasite naturally however, you need to be careful that you know that the parasite is Ich and not oodinium or other parasites. Other parasites have a longer life cycle than "common" ich so the amount of time a tank needs to stay without fish is extended depending on the specie. Depending on what else is in the tank, you can destroy your parasite issue with heat. This is not recommended for tanks with other invertebrates tho.
As for your question regarding long term usage of your "hospital tank", in reality, you should have both a hospital tank and a quarantine tank. A hospital tank is used for medicating and is typically a short term used receptacle. I say receptacle because you can use just about anything as a hospital tank as long as it holds water and doesn't absorb medications and dyes. A quarantine tank however is best when it's a see through tank. A qt is for observation. It should be cycled, kept with the same water parameters as your display tank and running all the time so that when you get a new fish or invert, it has a chance in the qt to get used to it's new surroundings, feeding and light schedules, and you as it's new "companion." Once the animal passes the time where it is unlikely to get sick from the move, then it can be placed in your display tank. In the long run, using both tanks as they should be used will help keep your main display tank disease free and it's stock much happier.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: I just read the article that Coralbandit listed and while I understand that author's aversion to having a QT running all the time, it's my experience that having one up and going tends to get them used more so than first having to spend the time to do it when you need it. In this case tho, there is no right or wrong just a to each their own.
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