Hospital tank sizing

[forestsofkelp]

I’ve never had a hospital tank. I need to pull my fish for a full ich treatment, 76 day fallow period (will likely do 90…just to be sure)

do you think I can house the following in a 40 breeder for 90 days? Scopas tang, Powder Blue tang, gem tang (4-5” each) 6x lyretails, 2 clowns, diamond back goby, ranford goby, blenny (3”), choats wrasse, Melanarus wrasse, blue star leopard wrasse, rhomboid wrasse maybe another fish or two I’ve forgotten to mention in my despair.

 

[wculver]

I’ve never had a hospital tank. I need to pull my fish for a full ich treatment, 76 day fallow period (will likely do 90…just to be sure)

do you think I can house the following in a 40 breeder for 90 days? Scopas tang, Powder Blue tang, gem tang (4-5” each) 6x lyretails, 2 clowns, diamond back goby, ranford goby, blenny (3”), choats wrasse, Melanarus wrasse, blue star leopard wrasse, rhomboid wrasse maybe another fish or two I’ve forgotten to mention in my despair.

That's quite a set of fish for a 40 and three months keeping in mind that you have ich already this will stress them further and at least initially make the issue worse. Adding insult to injury this tank is likely not cycled either so the water quality is likely to be low.

I would question this course of action mostly because I don't know what you've done thus far. Typically I suggest a healthy fish population which would generally be up to the task of staving off ich. So to really help further I'd need to know some deets like tank parameters, what you're feeding, and what non-fish inhabitants you have like cleaner shrimp etc.

 

[Dierks]

Typically I suggest a healthy fish population which would generally be up to the task of staving off ich.

This is completely the opposite of how Ich works. Or are you saying the actual population of the fish themselves is healthy? Or are you saying a higher number of fish? Sorry, Maybe I am misunderstanding.

I would agree depending on the size of the fish that would be a pretty heavy load for a 40-gallon breeder.

 

[Tcook]

No way! That would be extremely stressful for those fish. I could imagine that powder blue going ballistic. The lyrtails wouldn't last in that tight space with the potential aggression. If you have the 40 already why not get a couple brute trash cans or tubs. Or one of those larger tubs from a feed store.

 

[wculver]

This is completely the opposite of how Ich works. Or are you saying the actual population of the fish themselves is healthy? Or are you saying a higher number of fish? Sorry, Maybe I am misunderstanding.

I would agree depending on the size of the fish that would be a pretty heavy load for a 40-gallon breeder.

I'm referring to the actual population of the fish being healthy. Even with a powder blue ich magnet if he's fat and healthy ich should not be a recurring issue.

In this case I make a big deal out of the fish being healthy because the prospect of moving them to a 40 breeder with that number of fish is going to be stressful and likely to make the ich worse.

 

[forestsofkelp]

This is completely the opposite of how Ich works. Or are you saying the actual population of the fish themselves is healthy? Or are you saying a higher number of fish? Sorry, Maybe I am misunderstanding.

I would agree depending on the size of the fish that would be a pretty heavy load for a 40-gallon breeder.

I thought it would be too heavy a load. I could do a 120 gallon tub but it would delay treatment by a week (fish don’t look too bad yet) and it’s a rubbermaid tub, so while the gallonage is bigger, the length/width isn’t much more than the breeder… so I thought it won’t be much different in terms of spacing. Thanks for the advice.

maybe I’ll see what they have at the feed store.

My other options are manage the ich (not ideal) or pay my LFS/fish buddy to treat and house them for a price..if they agree. I can’t set up a 100ish+ gallon tank as a hospital tank in my home without making the big boss real mad.

edit: hmm I see a 52x 30 feed tub but it’s only 50g. not sure if I have room for that. dang this sucks. Hopefully my LFS guy wants to run a hospital tank for

double edit: please don’t judge me on suggesting a small hospital tank, like I said, first time doing some into like this. Wasn’t sure how long these guys could manage in a small tank.

 

[Tcook]

I thought it would be too heavy a load. I could do a 120 gallon tub but it would delay treatment by a week (fish don’t look too bad yet) and it’s a rubbermaid tub, so while the gallonage is bigger, the length/width isn’t much more than the breeder… so I thought it won’t be much different in terms of spacing. Thanks for the advice.

maybe I’ll see what they have at the feed store.

My other options are manage the ich (not ideal) or pay my LFS/fish buddy to treat and house them for a price..if they agree. I can’t set up a 100ish+ gallon tank as a hospital tank in my home without making the big boss real mad.

edit: hmm I see a 52x 30 feed tub but it’s only 50g. not sure if I have room for that. dang this sucks. Hopefully my LFS guy wants to run a hospital tank for

double edit: please don’t judge me on suggesting a small hospital tank, like I said, first time doing some into like this. Wasn’t sure how long these guys could manage in a small tank.

No one is judging. We all want you to end up with all your fish back in the 180 healthy. If your lfs could do that for a fair price that would be ideal. My lfs has done that for a few customers.

 

[Dierks]

I thought it would be too heavy a load. I could do a 120 gallon tub but it would delay treatment by a week (fish don’t look too bad yet) and it’s a rubbermaid tub, so while the gallonage is bigger, the length/width isn’t much more than the breeder… so I thought it won’t be much different in terms of spacing. Thanks for the advice.

maybe I’ll see what they have at the feed store.

My other options are manage the ich (not ideal) or pay my LFS/fish buddy to treat and house them for a price..if they agree. I can’t set up a 100ish+ gallon tank as a hospital tank in my home without making the big boss real mad.

edit: hmm I see a 52x 30 feed tub but it’s only 50g. not sure if I have room for that. dang this sucks. Hopefully my LFS guy wants to run a hospital tank for

double edit: please don’t judge me on suggesting a small hospital tank, like I said, first time doing some into like this. Wasn’t sure how long these guys could manage in a small tank.

Nobody is judging at all! Maybe you can do two 40's I think you could get away with it... Or you can do a 40 and a couple of 20's?

 

[vetteguy53081]

That's quite a set of fish for a 40 and three months keeping in mind that you have ich already this will stress them further and at least initially make the issue worse. Adding insult to injury this tank is likely not cycled either so the water quality is likely to be low.

I would question this course of action mostly because I don't know what you've done thus far. Typically I suggest a healthy fish population which would generally be up to the task of staving off ich. So to really help further I'd need to know some deets like tank parameters, what you're feeding, and what non-fish inhabitants you have like cleaner shrimp etc.

I’ve never had a hospital tank. I need to pull my fish for a full ich treatment, 76 day fallow period (will likely do 90…just to be sure)

do you think I can house the following in a 40 breeder for 90 days? Scopas tang, Powder Blue tang, gem tang (4-5” each) 6x lyretails, 2 clowns, diamond back goby, ranford goby, blenny (3”), choats wrasse, Melanarus wrasse, blue star leopard wrasse, rhomboid wrasse maybe another fish or two I’ve forgotten to mention in my despair.

40breeder often ideal tank for several fish but 55g adequate for the amount of fish mentioned
Larger the tank is the more medication required to use
New fallow is 45-60 days
You want to use coppersafe or copper power for a full 30 days at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 monitored by a reliable test kit such as Hanna brand and also monitor ammonia levels during treatment
Also add an air stone to assure good oxygen

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

As @Dierks said, two tanks, or one 40 and a couple of 15s would be best. Tanks can be overcrowded two ways; biologically or territorially. You are going to need to closely manage the ammonia in the tanks, I'd suggest using filter media from your DT if you can, or even get media from your LFS. Assuming you have the ammonia managed, fish can survive in surprisingly small volumes of water, as long as they don't fight due to be being crowded. Have you seen those wholesale systems where each tang get a 8" x 10" cubicle? Those work because there is a massive filtration system keeping the ammonia low, and the fish are isolated so they can't fight. I've held fish for months like that - not ideal, but it is easily done.

Jay

 

[forestsofkelp]

thank you all for the input. I was going to run a skimmer on the tank.

Two tanks is probably the best idea, not sure if I have permission from my wife. But I think I can out a big tub in the guest shower and she will never know its there....

I have plenty of copper and a meter to be delivered tomorrow.

Right now i think I am going to do the following
1. Give it a week and see if it subsides so I have time to plan, or if I need to act fast and drop the hammer. The fish are acting totally normally and only two have a "light dusting" of ich.

2. I am looking to see if someone I trust will treat them locally, out of my home (preferred).

3. I am going to get a 80-100g tub from home depot tomorrow and just use that most likely. If there are territory issues then I will either rehome the anthias and/or divide the tank internally. The anthias were kind of mean anyways. But I have to catch all the fish....

4. if all the above fail I may switching to ich management with UV over ich eradication....I am worried sometime in the next 10 years it could pop up again from an errantly added coral or some other issue anyways

PSA Dont be like me, QT every fish, and rinse and dip your livestock if your tank is in any way "large".