hospital tank help

[LMOUTHBASS]

Hi, i have a hospital tank i set up with a platy i suspected of having dropsy - this was about six weeks ago i treated him with maracyn and he seemed well but i kept him in the tank just to be sure - in the mean time i had a sword tail and a gourami get seperate illnesses one got a little tail fungus the other got some weird bumpy thinjgs on it's sides - this was weeks after i had treated the platy - but i put them in the hosptial tank as well to begin treating them with maroxy - both of them cleared up nicely and remain in my hospital tank - sadly over the last week and half or so my platy got really rough looking and his stomach caved in, he got very thin and sluggish, with slightly rugged scales - so i wasn't sure if it was dropsy or not - today he passed away - so my ? is shoul i medicate the hospital tank for dropsy with out doing a water change, or change water then medicate the water, or just leave the fish alone and let them finish their quarantine time - which i will now put off for about 6 weeks - even though they both look great? what steops woul everyone suggest???

[stoopid]

Disclaimer: What I would do...

Change 2/3-3/4 water, apply a full treatment dose and leave the sick fish in there. Changing the water dilutes the illness/bacteria/parasite's numbers, then hitting those diluted numbers with a full treatment helps to overcome it.

Frequent water changes wouldn't hurt, just be careful to keep the temps close and de-chlorinate if need be (don't want to stress sick fish either).

[TKOS]

Changing water will only help if the disease is in the water or the parasite is free swimming. I would do whatever causes the least stress to the fish. Just continue medicating like normal.

[stoopid]

Originally posted by TKOS
Changing water will only help if the disease is in the water or the parasite is free swimming.

Good point :)