FishProfiles.com Message Forums |
faq | etiquette | register | my account | search | mailbox |
Hospital Tank Question | |
donovan Fingerling Posts: 38 Kudos: 26 Votes: 143 Registered: 06-Nov-2007 | what would be a good set up for a hospital tank and could it have other uses ? what would be a good size for one ? what would be some good other uses for one ? |
Posted 02-Apr-2008 22:10 | |
longhairedgit Fish Guru Lord of the Beasts Posts: 2502 Kudos: 1778 Votes: 29 Registered: 21-Aug-2005 | Well a hospital tank can also be a quarantine tank, and a fry raising tank depending on what you have a need for , and obviously its size is dictated by the type of fish you want to keep. Personally id have one around 10 gallons,(actually thats a lie, my QT is 20 gal, but I have some chunky fish)of normal dimensions mainly because at that size a standard aquarium has a nice surface area ratio, all the better for using meds safetly. Many dyes, accriflavine etc damage gills and melafix and pimafix may bind oxygen, and you need dilution for accuracy of antibiotic doses, so ten gallons for most average small aquarium fish would seem most useful. Go too small and all you get is a box in which fish wont survive treatments and it basically becomes a box of death. Pretty much like when people try to treat bettas in bowls and tiny aquaria, they usually end up killing them because they havent thought about the meds impact and complications on the fishes environmental health. Get a bottle of ammolock too. Most antibiotic meds kill filters, so often filtering them can be a waste of time, though an airstone is a damn good idea. For those occassions when you arent using it as a treatment tank or want to use it as QT or a fry raising tank you could do worse than to have a flexible modular filter like an eheim aquaball , so you can use carbon inserts or not as necessary, and its not such a big filter that you couldnt put it in a larger tank to cycle up ready for new fry to go in etc. Keep substrates simple and replaceable if you need them, stuff that isnt porous and doesnt offer bacteria, fungi, and protozoa refuge. Use halved drainpipe pieces for cover. A small UV unit can be an idea should you need to segregate and treat a med sensitive fish species. Obviously a UV unit for a small aquarium will be cheaper than a big one. |
Posted 03-Apr-2008 05:06 | |
donovan Fingerling Posts: 38 Kudos: 26 Votes: 143 Registered: 06-Nov-2007 | how about a UGF and river gravel small as possible maybe use as a fry and plant tank when not needed for QT tank ? on UV know of any cost effective ? |
Posted 03-Apr-2008 15:58 | |
superlion Mega Fish Posts: 1246 Kudos: 673 Votes: 339 Registered: 27-Sep-2003 | I had a QT tank. Then I ended up putting fish in it that couldn't go in my other tanks. Now it's get its own little community. No longer appropriate for quarantine. So... don't do what I did. Quarantine, grow-out, and hospital uses are fine, but you may want another tank entirely for misfits, because they will take it over. ><> |
Posted 04-Apr-2008 05:18 | |
donovan Fingerling Posts: 38 Kudos: 26 Votes: 143 Registered: 06-Nov-2007 | something to keep in mind superlion as MTS usally takes over how about a small tank and when needed just add tank water from needed fish's tank and a sponge filter i always use some kind of air in my tanks and a sponge filter in a corner wouldnt matter to much and just pitch it when done with QT? quick way of getting good bio stuff in small tank ? |
Posted 04-Apr-2008 16:30 | |
brandeeno Mega Fish Posts: 929 Kudos: 636 Registered: 13-Sep-2007 | another good thing to add to a QT or hospital tank would be clay or terra cotta pots cut in half. this will allow for the sick or new fish to hide in the caves... and if you need the bacteria, you could keep a new sponge filter in a tank, then when needed put it into the QT tank along with some tank water to get your cycle going quick!... or keep some snails and small amounts of plants in the tank for a QT to keep bio up... bacteria additives aer good as well... as well as when putting new fish in it is wish to dose once or twice with melafix to reduce stress on the fish... \\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\" |
Posted 06-Apr-2008 08:08 | |
donovan Fingerling Posts: 38 Kudos: 26 Votes: 143 Registered: 06-Nov-2007 | Thanks for the advice all was very helpfull |
Posted 10-Apr-2008 03:32 |
Jump to: |
The views expressed on this page are the implied opinions of their respective authors.
Under no circumstances do the comments on this page represent the opinions of the staff of FishProfiles.com.
FishProfiles.com Forums, version 11.0
Mazeguy Smilies