How to prepare a hospital tank?

[Komodo]

I purchased a small five gallon, fully equipped aquarium to use as a hospital tank. I will use the tank only if needed so it will be in storage till a need rises.

So if one of my fish get sick, injured, to aggressive or for any other reason, I thought of simply filling the tank with water from my main aquarium. It was brought to my attention that a new filter also needed to be addressed.

So my question is, how do I prepare a hospital tank for a fish if I don’t use it for many months?

 

[Mebbid]

Keep some filter media crammed into your existing filter and you can just pull it out and use it on the hospital tank to insta cycle it.

 

[Andy Sager]

I purchased a small five gallon, fully equipped aquarium to use as a hospital tank. I will use the tank only if needed so it will be in storage till a need rises.

So if one of my fish get sick, injured, to aggressive or for any other reason, I thought of simply filling the tank with water from my main aquarium. It was brought to my attention that a new filter also needed to be addressed.

So my question is, how do I prepare a hospital tank for a fish if I don’t use it for many months?

Most times, fish don;t stay in hospital tanks long enough for the need for filters and depending on what medications you are using, they can kill of the bacteria bed so in a " hospital" tank, I just use an airstone and change water as directed by the medications. Since this should be a bare tank, it will be easy to clean out any feces via a siphon hose.
For long term holding, we switch and call this a quarantine tank. For this setup, I like to keep a spare sponge filter going in my main tank ( or sump from that system) and when needed, just move it to the quarantine tank so you have an instantly cycled aquarium. If the fish in QT become sick and need to be treated, I would then sterilize the sponge filter when finished using it and replace it back into the main tank to re-seed itself.

Hope this helps

 

[Komodo]

If the fish in QT become sick and need to be treated, I would then sterilize the sponge filter when finished using it and replace it back into the main tank to re-seed itself.

How do you sterilize the sponge filter?

 

[Komodo]

I should have added a picture.

 

[Andy Sager]

How do you sterilize the sponge filter?

I've sterilized a couple of ways. 1 is to run the filter in heavy salt water for a day or so. That should kill off anything in there, wash the sponge out completely then let air dry until it is bone dry.
2 is to rinse the sponge with very hot water, squeezing the sponge so that it takes in the hot water then again, air dry until bone dry.
3 is to make a dilute solution of bleach/chlorine and water and squeeze the sponge in that so that it saturates the sponge. Rinse immediately then let air dry until.... you know the rest ( I try not to do the bleach one unless the filter was in a tank of really nasty disease. Bleach will break down the sponge's structure and shorten the lifespan of the sponge. But when you have to, you have to. )
To date, all of these methods have worked for me with no repercussions. Any diseases were not contracted by the fish in the next tank I've used the sponge in. The sponges did need to be cycled again but I do that with existing sponges anyway.
Just remember to squeeze out as much "gunk" out of the sponge as you can before sterilizing.

Hope this helps