sterilizing the QT

[James_in_MN]

After needing to use the hospital tank / QT, what are the best methods for sterilizing...

the tank?
the filter?
the filter media (should I)?
any nets used on the sick fish?

Also, while I'm thinking about it, what's the best way to soak used nets just to keep things sanitary for the fish?

 

[mudraker]

Do you keep the tank up and running between housing/nursing fish?

If you've used meds to kill bacterial infections, or antiparasitic treatments, activated carbon will remove most medications from the tank. Just do a pwc or even whole water change first.

If you are trying to keep the beneficial bacteria in the filter and the media alive, just rinse as you would when cleaning your regular filter.

If you suspect serious, nasty, incurable disease was in the tank, you can break it down and bleach it in a 5% solution, but you will have to recycle it.

Make sure you rinse well and treat with a higher amount of dechlorinator if you do this.

But for most routine quarantines, where the fish leave fine and healthy, you shouldn't need to do anything except regular PWC. For temporary hospital stays, activated carbon and proper PWC should be plenty.

 

[James_in_MN]

I should have clarified.

I'm housing a fish that has dropsy in my hospital tank. Once the ice bath is ready and I euthanize the fish, I have to think about what I have to do with the tank, filter, etc.

 

[mudraker]

Ouch, that's harsh.

I'm assuming you have medicated the fish then and consider it a failure.

If so, a large water change and addition of activated carbon should clean the tank.

Was this a new fish?

 

[James_in_MN]

No, it wasn't a new fish. I've had it for a couple of weeks at least.

No, I didn't try medication. Everything I've been able to google suggests that what I was seeing was the final stages with a very low chance of survival. It was further complicated by the fact that I won't be around to medicate the fish over a long period of time as I'm leaving town for a bit.

Unfortunately, things have gone from one piece of bad news to another. I just noticed that a five banded barb in my other fish tank is swimming rather odd, kind of wobbly. I may need to isolate that fish before I leave, but I have to assume that I need to prep my hospital tank after I just used it.

 

[mudraker]

A couple of weeks is still a new fish.

Dropsy itself is a symptom, rather than a disease. It can be caused by factors, such as internal bacterial infections, or even kidney failure, which in turn has different causes.

Unclean water conditions are usually the culprit in bacterial infections.

How long have you had the barb?

Any other symptoms on the barb?

 

[James_in_MN]

I've had the barb since the end of March, so a couple of months. Although he's relatively new to me, he may be much older than the other barbs.

The barb isn't swimming at the surface, just awkwardly near the bottom of the tank where the rest of the five banded barbs hang out.

And yes, the harlequin rasbora was still relatively new. I had separated him from the rest when he was acting a bit odd, and now I'm glad I did isolate him, although I don't know if I successfully stopped the rest of the tank from getting infected quite yet.

Just so there is no confusion, I have two tanks: a 20g tank with the five banded barbs, and a 10g tank with the harlequin rasboras.

 

[James_in_MN]

Other symptoms of the five banded barb:

He looks like he might be wasting away. His bottom is more flattened out than the other barbs.

He wobbles when he swims around slowly, which isn't as noticeable when he darts around with the other barbs.

He tends to lean toward one side, his left.

On a few occasions, he got a bit twitchy.

When hovering in one spot, he front tends to drift upwards like he's looking up, but you can tell it's not deliberate like he's looking for food.

 

[mudraker]

Here is the bottom line: the QT is probably safe to use as a hospital or QT again.

I say this assuming the 10 and 20 gallon tanks are already cycled, properly maintained with PWC weekly, the fish are not overfed or stressed.

Like I said before, Dropsy is a symptom of several diseases, some are pathogenic, some not.

Where did you get the barbs and rasboras? An LFS probably?

It is hard to diagnose what ails them because it may be hard to know their history.

Oftentimes fish have been ill housed, improperly fed and maltreated before you get them and they can be just generally unhealthy.

Clean water from frequent PWC, and proper amounts of high quality food will go a long ways in boosting the health of fish that are fairing poorly.

If you suspect a true pathogenic infection, it is important to medicate the whole tank, not just the single fish.

This can be hard to diagnose if you don't know the history of the fish, which is usually the case.