Hospital Tank

[Alvi]

Greetings,

Due to an ich outbreak, I have had to set up a hospital tank (HT) and I am treating my fish with Fritz Copper Safe (as recommended by LFS). The HT is 32 gallons with a sponge filter and HOB power filter and I am treating eight fish. I am having to do water changes just about every other day which is getting tough. Would it help to prolong these water changes by getting a HOB protein skimmer? If so, is there one in particular that you would recommend for this HT? Thank you.

 

[andrewey]

The protein skimmer will help with oxygenation which is always welcome, but it's unlikely to make much of a difference with regards to the frequency of water changes to deal with the ammonia production from 8 fish in a 32 gallon hospital tank. I'm not a fan of running a HOB skimmer on a hospital tank- it's easy to add an airstone to help with oxygenation, skimmers are hard to clean/sterilize, and you're still going to have to do frequent WCs for your ammonia.

Was the sponge filter seeded from your DT and/or did you add a bacterial product to the hospital tank?

 

[Alvi]

The protein skimmer will help with oxygenation which is always welcome, but it's unlikely to make much of a difference with regards to the frequency of water changes to deal with the ammonia production from 8 fish in a 32 gallon hospital tank. I'm not a fan of running a HOB skimmer on a hospital tank- it's easy to add an airstone to help with oxygenation, skimmers are hard to clean/sterilize, and you're still going to have to do frequent WCs for your ammonia.

Was the sponge filter seeded from your DT and/or did you add a bacterial product to the hospital tank?

Thank you for the response. Unfortunately, I did not know about seeding the sponge filter until after I set up the tank. However, I did add a bottle of Fritz 900 Turbo initially and continue to add Fritzyme 9 every time I do a water change.