Help with emergency hospital tank

[John A!10]

Later today I will be setting up a tote as a hospital tank which I will have while I do a 4 week fallow period for ich I will be posting pictures, as I Am scared in going to kill my fish. Please point out any mistakes I made. The fish are two clowns and one firefish and it is a 10 gallon tote.

 

[Chrisfish]

What are you using to seed the tote with bacteria? Do you have a heater, filter And a wave maker ?

 

[John A!10]

What are you using to seed the tote with bacteria? Do you have a heater, filter And a wave maker ?

I have a heater, hob filter which produces good flow, air pump. I’m going to use bio balls from my dt to seed my tank qt. I will post pics of the setup before adding water.

 

[Billdogg]

I don't bother with biological filtration in my QT/hospital tank. I just do water changes to keep the ammonia/nitrite in check. In addition, the fallow period for Ich is a minimum of 72 days, not 30. If you return your fish to the DT before then you will not have fixed a thing.

 

[John A!10]

I don't bother with biological filtration in my QT/hospital tank. I just do water changes to keep the ammonia/nitrite in check. In addition, the fallow period for Ich is a minimum of 72 days, not 30. If you return your fish to the DT before then you will not have fixed a thing.

I read that by raising the temp it can be 4 weeks.

 

[Billdogg]

Although you may increase the parasites metabolic rate a little by increasing the temperature, it would be, at best, hit or miss.

Remember - the saying "Nothing good happens fast" holds so very true in this hobby. I'd wait at least 72 days regardless.

Also - how are you treating the fish? Copper can work but requires accurate testing - too low of a dose won't work, too high can harm the fish. I prefer TTM (tank transfer method) - no medications at all,and 100% effective by interrupting the parasites life cycle.

 

[John A!10]

I’m going to do a fallow period for 5 weeks at 82degrees I might do more depending on how it’s going. I can’t be doing water changes every other day for 6 weeks, but if the nitrifying bacteria does its job and after the treatment I stop doing as many water changes I might go longer. In addition I will be leaving for a week near the 20th of February so I’m not sure if I want to leave the fish in the tote, and especially not if I don’t have nitryfying bacteria.

 

[John A!10]

@Humblefish said that the fallow period has to be 6 weeks at 80 degrees and another couple researchers say 2 weeks at 86 degrees. My coral can’t handle 86degrees, but something like 83 and a 5 week fallow could work.

 

[Kongar]

I'm a noob, but I did set up a hospital tank recently. It was surprising to me how fast the ammonia rose. My advice is test twice a day for the first few days, and always have plenty of fresh water on hand. I'd advise 100% of the hospital tank volume - then you're ready to do whatever you need for a water change. After a couple of days, things settled down and the hospital tank was quite easy to maintain. You just gotta be extra vigilant at the start.

 

[don_chuwish]

I read that by raising the temp it can be 4 weeks.

Incorrect for marine ich.
And I would suggest some bacteria in a bottle even if you do use the bio balls

 

[John A!10]

I will be using tap water. I won’t wast my RO on the fish. I had a successful reef tank in the past with tap so it should be fine. Also should I add chaeto to help with the nutrient levels.

 

[John A!10]

Also to keeps the ich out of anaerobic areas could I put my power head max and use my hand to stir around all the sand every 3-5 days?

 

[don_chuwish]

No need to add the chaeto, and if you plan to medicate you definitely don't want it in there.
Might as well give the sand a good rinsing while going fallow actually. Clean things up.

 

[John A!10]

What do you guys think of the setup? Am I missing anything. Will this have enough hiding spots for the firefish. I’m also adding a small piece of rock. Water will be added later today.

 

[John A!10]

Is the plastic plant fine?

 

[don_chuwish]

Is the plastic plant fine?

Yep! Anything non-porous is good. I have a big fake tree stump I use. I think that setup will be fine. Get some BioSpira or similar. Floss or something in the HOB filter?

 

[John A!10]

I’m very limited to material because I have corona but will something like knew kitchen sponges with no soap ofcourse work as mechanical filtration?the filter cartridges contain a small amount of carbon in them and I can’t go buy anything before i get this thing up an running. Otherwise I could remove the carbon from the filter cartridges.

 

[John A!10]

Also the pvc have writing stamps on them will that leach?

 

[John A!10]

Big issue!!!
My hob filter is not working. Could this be done with just the air pump?

 

[John A!10]

Okay so I added 9 gallons of water conditioner and salt. I’m going to look for an hob filter to order will my fish be fine in the dt till after tomorrow?