Maintaining a Hospital Tank

[smithw14]

How does one maintain a hospital tank? I've got a simple 10g up and running now with a simple power filter, treating a rainbow shark for a minor wound -

I have no gravel, and only a little plastic plant from my other tank hoping to transfer some bacteria along with using the mechanical filtration media from one of my other tanks as well.

I am doing water changes now with this tiny fish and checking parameters - its not even in a pre-cycle yet.

So anyway, this little guy is the least of my worries - he will be all well before a cycle even starts I imagine.

But in a few days after the rainbow shark is going back in his tank my two 5" oscars are coming out of theirs and going to need to plop in for a swim for about 6 days to treat extremely early signs of lateral line erosion. To me, two 5" oscars in a 10g hospital tank seems absolutely insane, but I am not treating them in their tank - cannot afford it.

I am not worried about aggression at all - I have a true pair. I know they will be cramped a bit but they will thank me in the long run .

What I am worried about is a huge spike in ammonia. How do I handle this for 6 days? Even a CYCLED 10g tank won't handle their waste as I'm sure you all know! I have never put them in something so small, so I have no idea what the spike will be and how quickly. I can imagine though I can do all the water changes in the world but that won't help - not to mention it won't keep the medicine in the tank!!

If anyone is interested I am using metronidazole via "flagyl" which my veterinarian is hooking me up with. I am also contemplating dosing some pima and melafix as well to counter any secondary infection that might be brewing.

Anyway, how do I accomplish 2 oscars in a 10g tank for 6 days?

And then my general question of how in the world do you maintain a hospital tank when not in use? I really would rather not just waste power running a tank if I am not going to use or need it. So then how do you make the tank safe when you have a fish come busting through those ER doors?

Many thanks

-William

 

[JustOneMore20]

Love the avatar!!

I'm not sure about having 2 oscars in the 10g and dealing with ammonia spikes...the only thing I can tell you is to do water changes atleast once daily. Even that may not be enough. Or you could just get a bigger tank with a more powerful filter...but thats more $$.

As for what to do when there are no fish in the hospital, I'd just store it somewhere. Keep the filter media that goes in the 10g filter in the filter on your cycled tank. That way bacteria will build up and when you need the hospital tank...you will have pre-seeded media. You don't need gravel.

Hope your oscars get well...and the rainbow shark too!

 

[Menagerie]

What I am worried about is a huge spike in ammonia.

Daily PWC, or even twice daily if needed. However, you can cycle this tank easily by adding media from an established filter to the 10 gal filter.
Normally, my QT tank is in storage. No need to keep it going since treating ill fish often requires meds that will harm the bacteria. If I get new fish and just want to QT them for 2 weeks to look for signs of illness, then I add established media from one of the big tanks and have no problems.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Have you considered medicated food? That would be a cheaper alternative to dosing their whole tank, and is generally more effective. Jungle's medicated food contains metro... Buy the "pond care" melafix and pimafix, and a medicine dropper. Much more cost efficient (10 X concentration).
Also, lateral line erosion is not usually caused by parasites, but the parasites are opportunists that infest the sores. LLE or HITH is usually the result of nutritional deficiencies or poor water quality.

 

[smithw14]

Thanks everybody for your input. I have in my sick tank now filter media from another tank, I just did not think even if the tank is cycled the amonia level is going to skyrocket. PWC or major water change is going to take out a good bit of the medication, but I guess I'll just have to do that.

Medicated food actually will not be cheaper than what I have. This RX of metronidazole is about half the price of the medicated food.

Thanks again -

William

 

[TomK2]

Well, cram that little tank's filter with as much colonized biomedia as you can possibly get in it. Water changes will take care of the rest. Alternatively, run the hospital tanks filter on your main tank for a few weeks before using the hospital tank.

Also, for next time, set up a sponge on your main tank's filter inlet. That sponge will also be colonized, and can be transfered over with the sick/injured fish to the inlet of your little tank's filter. In the event that the sick fish is contagious, you can throw out or sterilize the sponge before re-using.

The combination of a colonized sponge on the inlet, and a little filter crammed to the max with colonized biomedia can really do the job and keep any ammonia or nitrite to a minimum. Now all you have to worry about is the treatments you put in the tank impairing or destroying the biofilter.

 

[smithw14]

Good idea - I think I'm going to throw in some bio stars from my filstar running on my large tank.

 

[BrianNY]

First thing is that hospital tanks don't need to be left "set up". I break mine down when not in use. Then sterilize everything that was in it. For that reason I never use gravel and only a sponge filter and a heater.

The second thing is that fish which require meds are often in stress. Even if they aren't, merely medicating is enough to stress a fish. For that reason the tank must be large enough to handle the fish being medicated. 2 5 inch oscars in a 10g tank? Why not look around for a 20g? You'll worry less about ammonia poisoning.

Tanks are a cheap investment. As long as they are temporary they don't require all of the peripheral equipment which gets expensive. JMO

 

[7Enigma]

I wouldn't feed them more than once during the hospital stay if at all. That is a LOT of fish in a 10gallon tank....

Goodluck!

 

[Guest]

if the lateral line ersoion is very early stage, can you get away with treating them one at a time?

 

[hulkamaniac]

Hospital tanks really need to be taken down after every treatment. Otherwise you'll wind up with a parasite and bacteria hotel on your hands. Cycling can be difficult as a lot of meds tend to kill the bio-filter or at least have a detrimental effect on it. You're going to wind up doing a lot of water changes either way I think.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

When I said medicated food would be cheaper, I meant cheaper than dosing your main tank and multiple redosings after massive pwc's in the 10. What about medicating your own food with the metro?

 

[7Enigma]

Hospital tanks really need to be taken down after every treatment. Otherwise you'll wind up with a parasite and bacteria hotel on your hands. Cycling can be difficult as a lot of meds tend to kill the bio-filter or at least have a detrimental effect on it. You're going to wind up doing a lot of water changes either way I think.

I tend to agree with this. Treatment for simple things like fish nipping and malnutrition, or as a QT tank before introduction to the main tank (with no signs of disease obviously) probably don't require the tank to be restarted, but for parasites and diseases (other than Ich) I would probably do something to kill off the tank.

You can drain the tank, clean it with bleach, and store it. Or you could treat the tank with something that is guaranteed to kill everything but not damage the substrate/filter.

 

[Guest]

due to my large qty of tanks and fish, my hospital is usually up.

When using it to treat, i move the "cycle keepers (a few danios and an SAE)" into a different tank.

After using for treatment, I do a 100% H2O change, rinse the gravel with 9:1 bleach:water, 5x dose dechlor rinse, then add activated carbon just to make sure I get any traces of meds out.

I wait about 10-24 hours (depending) then move the "cycle keepers" back in.

With 50+ fish breeding like rabbits and some get sick, and frequent new inhabitants, for me it is just more effective to keep it up. However, it is a pain in the balls to clean it when someone is sick.

 

[smithw14]

First thing is that hospital tanks don't need to be left "set up". I break mine down when not in use. Then sterilize everything that was in it. For that reason I never use gravel and only a sponge filter and a heater.

The second thing is that fish which require meds are often in stress. Even if they aren't, merely medicating is enough to stress a fish. For that reason the tank must be large enough to handle the fish being medicated. 2 5 inch Oscars in a 10g tank? Why not look around for a 20g? You'll worry less about ammonia poisoning.

Tanks are a cheap investment. As long as they are temporary they don't require all of the peripheral equipment which gets expensive. JMO

Thanks for the input. Even though I agree with you about tanks being an investment, I am broke as it is paying for college and definitely cannot afford anything else - so 10g will have to do :-(

I wouldn't feed them more than once during the hospital stay if at all. That is a LOT of fish in a 10gallon tank....

Goodluck!

Thanks Engima – reduced feeding, good idea – I will do that.

if the lateral line ersoion is very early stage, can you get away with treating them one at a time?

Yeah, I had thought about that – but then wondered since they have been ‘locked at the hip’ for so long, would the stress be even greater for them if they were separated? They literally never leave each others side.

Hospital tanks really need to be taken down after every treatment. Otherwise you'll wind up with a parasite and bacteria hotel on your hands. Cycling can be difficult as a lot of meds tend to kill the bio-filter or at least have a detrimental effect on it. You're going to wind up doing a lot of water changes either way I think.

Good point hulk.