My Hospital Tank

[Ike]

Due to an urgent need arising, and an slacking before hand, today I have thrown together a hospital tank and would love to hear opinions or changes I can make to make this as effective as possible. It's on the opposite side of the garage, away from every other tank.

I'll follow this list with some pictures because I know how much people love pictures

20 gallon long tank
Aqueon glass top
Marineland 550 Penguin Powerhead
Seasoned Sponge filter
2 Air stones off a generic 500 series luft air pump
1 generic 100w heater + Thermometer
24" Coralife dual t5 light

The light is only there so I can see what's going on with water and air flow. I know light can stress fish more so it's likely I won't use it at all.

Should I add cover in the tank? I have some plastic plants at my disposal which will not increase the bio-load nor require nutrients like live ones would, but might add comfort in the cover. I also have a ceramic cave I can add for the unwell fish to hide in. Like I said I would love to hear feedback on your hospital set-ups and how I might be able to improve mine.

 

[AusPleco]

I personally would add something for the fish to hide in to lower stress, though this would depend onthe type of fish you keep as to what sort of cover would be more suitable .

By keeping it basic with just the necessities should make it easier for you to keep clean when you are housing fish in there

 

[zeebo]

agreed , good job , i have a q-tank going now , and have some fake plants , and rocks in there to give fish a sense of security, yet i can see a good area of it . I keep the lights medium, except feeding time,brighten up , then i have a chance to get a good look at the fish . I dont put a cave in there as they can hide and you will never see if there is a prob, however some rocks and or wood placed in a way would give them a feeling of hiding, yet not completely out of your view ,say from the side . I also add a bit of gravel in bottom , but some members dont ..i guess it is optional.
in a hospital tank the lights should be off/low as it can bother them with meds
good luck

Georgie

 

[bigbird]

good set up and agree with the others. Add some gravel and caves/wood to hide in. I would also look at reducing the light, lights do stress out the fish more and scares them. Well done cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[Brengun]

Cover on that heater would be good.

 

[Ike]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll be dosing the fix-it twins, Melafix and Pimafix, first and I've heard that they are bio-safe. I might get heavier duty meds soon, but I'm not sure where to get them. My friend Larry mentioned a few good ones.

Romet
Kanamycin
Oxytetracycline

I'm also trying some of this awesome stuff:

I chopped it up as finely as I could, I've heard food processors can mess up the important properties that make garlic useful. I used 4 cloves, 1 clove for each ounce of Repashy (I wasn't sure of how much to add so that's what I estimated).

Then, I measured an amount equal to 3 to 1 of water and Repashy and added all my chopped garlic to the water, gave it a quick swirl.

Then mixed it in the powder.

Did it in the garage this time, as it was a larger batch.

I also wanted to try something new.

I took a piece of my locally collected rock and gave it a dip into the mix while it was still malleable. This is supposed to support the natural feeding tendencies of scavenger fish like plecos.

 

[Lornek8]

Any decor you use should be easily sterilized so stay away from organic articles.
When are the fish going in? A seeded sponge filter will lose its bacteria if not provided with a source of ammonia.

 

[Ike]

I set this tank up last night and the fish are going in as soon as I get off work. Will 24hrs destroy the bio?

 

[Lornek8]

No. Needs to be longer than that.

 

[Ike]

Ok, fhew... was worried for a second. Should I also treat the community tank their coming from with the fix's? I'll hopefully be able to post new pictures of the tank tonight after adding the plastic plants and several rock lean-to's.

I really appreciate all the feedback, thanks a bunch guys.

 

[Lornek8]

What's the problem your treating?
What's the situation for the need of a qt?

 

[Ike]

I wish I knew...

here are some pictures of the patients:

This picture shows the difference between the heathy and the sick.

They are Red Brisletnose Plecos.

 

[Lornek8]

Your community tank has already been exposed to whatever might be affecting the patients.
How long have they been showing symptoms? Sometimes they lighten for various reasons unrelated to disease. Could be diet related, what are you feeding? There have been instances of similar conditions in L144 with the results not always favorable. I can't remember the cause though.

 

[Ike]

I feed Cucumber, zucchini, algae wafers, and Repashy "Soilent Green" along with the flakes that sometimes make it to the bottom.

I also occasionally feed frozen peas.

 

[Lornek8]

What algae wafers do you feed and how often?

 

[Ike]

I feed Hikari or Ken's depending on which one if feel like. I normally only feed wafers once or twice a week, and I don't feed anything at all for 2 days out of the week.

 

[Lornek8]

How many place are showing symptoms?
How often do you clean the substrate?
How often do you feed the rapashy?

 

[Ike]

I have 2 adults neither are showing symptoms, I have 6 juvies, 3 out of 6 and possibly 4 out of 6 are showing these signs.

I clean the substrate weekly.

I feed Repashy twice a week.

 

[Lornek8]

So algae wafers one or twice a week and repashy twice a week and no food two days a week that only leaves about 1 day for veggies or do you feed veggies wtb the other foods. Seems like a lot of meaty foods to me. Juveniles will be more sensitive than adults. Despite being "algae eaters", most place will preferentially eat meaty protein foods over veggies. It has to do with survival, meaty foods have more calories per volume.

 

[Ike]

I'll mix veggies with wafers some days, but they don't seem to like the wafers if there is a new cucumber in the tank or something. They love the repashy, but I thought the soilent green variety was mostly algae and plant matter, I'll double check the contents.

I also suspect the adult male of terrorizing the juveniles and am moving him to a different tank tonight as well as moving the sick juvies.