Quick Hospital Tank Setup for Dummies

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VivaLaVics

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Oct 3, 2008
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This has happened to many of us before. A fish is ill or wounded and you don't want the illness to spread or infection to occur in the injured fish! Here are a few basic Hospital Tank procedures that I have learned through books, my LFS (Local Fish Store) and good people on AC, that have worked for me.

*For our causes we'll call the tank an injured/ill fish is originally from a "Home Tank".

Hospital Tank Procedures:

1: You need a separate tank, filter, and heater. Keep a tank that can house your largest fish alone comfortably, with a spare heater and filter in storage just for these occasions.

1a: It is often a good idea to run a spare HOB (Hang On Back) filter on all your "home tanks" in case of emergencies. (The filter should be sufficient for the spare tank you have for Hospitals, and not necessarily efficient for the tank it is set on, assuming you have another filter dedicated to just that tank.) This extra HOB is not necessary but saves a lot of time and trouble. (I personally recommend "AquaClear" filters as spare HOB filter as you can easily add either Bio-media or bio-wheels to customize the tank as needed.)

1b: I do not recommend medication, but many hobbyists do. If you plan on or think you may use medication, or simply want to keep your options open, do no have carbon in your Hospital tank filter. Carbon often neutralizes medications or renders them ineffective.

2: The first thing to do for setting up a Hospital tank is filling it with water. At least 60% of the water added to the hospital tank must come from the original or "Home tank" the injured/ill fish is from. The rest should be fresh, clean, de-chlorinated water.

3: If you have a spare HOB filter on the injured/ill fishes "Home tank", place it on the hospital tank and start it up.

3a: If you do not have a spare filter from the injured/ill fishes "Home Tank" you need to add bio media from the Original or "Home Tank" filter to the filter you are going to use on the Hospital tank. You can either cut a piece of the bio sponge from the "home tanks" original sponge and put it in the new one or if you use a canister filter you can take some of the bio wheels and put them in the new filter. (An AquaClear filter will accommodate the media, either bio sponge or bio wheels, used in both a general HOB or Canister filter.)

4: You need to gather some of the substrate (This would be the gravel/sand/rock you have at the bottom of your "Home Tank") and put them in a mesh bag. If you don't have a mesh bag you can use the foot from pantyhose or a thin dress sock. Tie a knot at the end so they don't fall out. Place the bag of rocks directly in the tank.

5: Start up the heater for the Hospital tank. Depending on the temperature of the water you put in the Hospital Tank in Step 1, you may have to wait for the Temperature in the "Home Tank" to match the temperature in the Hospital tank. You DO NOT want to place an injured/ill fish in a tank with drastic temperature differences.

6:
Retrieve a bowl/bag large enough to temporarily hold your ill/injured fish.

7: Once the filter is running and the temperature in the Hospital tank is the same as the temperature in the "Home Tank" Remove some more water from the "Home Tank" and place it in the bowl retrieved in step 5. Remove the injured/ill fish and place it into the bowl place with as little stress imposed upon the ill/injured fish as possible. (It would be best to have the bowl near the "home tank" so the ill/injured fish doesn't have to make a long trip from room to room.)

7a: If you are using a bag (which is ideal) float the fish in the Hospital Tank while acclimating in step 7.

8:Acclimate your ill/injured fish to the Hospital tank like you would a new fish to your tank. Add a little water from the Hospital tank to the bowl it is currently in, slowly over a 30 minute time period.

9: Leave him alone, and fast (do not feed) it for 12 hours.

10:
The next day feed the ill/injured fish and let it eat as much as it will. Watch it's eating habits. You want to make sure the fish is eating.

10a: If eating behaviors are unusual, such as not eating at all- attempt rubbing fresh, slightly crushed garlic clove on the fishes food. (If you have a jar of minced garlic you can add a drop or two of the juice from the jar to the fishes food.) This will entice the fish to eat. For some reason, they love garlic.

11: After feeding, change 70-80% of his water, again, de-chlorinating the new water being added. Repeat this processes DAILY.

12: Pay attention to the ill/injured fishes waste. If its poo seems white or stringy this may imply an internal parasite or infection. You may also want to vary the fishes diet as allowed, feed it veggies, and minimize proteins. Vitamins are just as good for fish as they are for us. You should research your specific fishes dietary needs.

13: If conditions are extreme or you are unsure, please post on Aquaria Centrals "Illness and Disease" forums for guidance and advice. There are 1000s of years of experience combined experience here on AC, and AC is here to help. Post your further questions and concerns in the appropriate forums for guidance and advice. Remember that dealing with injury/illness only makes you a better fish keeper with the knowledge of how to deal with and avoid these stressful situations.

I hope this was helpful, and good luck.
 
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bazil323

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Great guide! I think this is a very helpful guide for all hobbyists to know. Could a mod please make this a sticky?

Can I just add that the hospital tank should be in a quiet, but visible, place to put as little stress on the fish as possible but still be able to observe the fish as much as possible. It's also very important that you know the fish's normal behavior so that you know what it looks like when it is unwell.
 
Apr 2, 2002
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I hate to say it, having kept and treated fish, including in H tanks for a number of years, I disagree strongly with a lot of what is in this post. I will go point by point.

Item 1: I strongly recommend against using a cycled filter or media in an H tank. An uncycled sponge filter is more than adequate for aeration and water movement. The point of an H tank is to be able to medicate and many medications kill bio. Instead of a cycled filter, doing wcs of at least 25% every other day will accomplish the same thing. Further, if one fails to cure the sick fish the odds are good everything in the H tank will be infected with whatever the problem was. This means it must be bleached or discarded at the end. Further, sick fish often need reduced current, ie less than that that from an HOB.

Item 2: It is not necessary to use any home tank water. All that is needed is for the H tank water to match the params and temp of the home tank and to be dechlored. In fact, new water is likely to be cleaner which is actually better for the fish.

Item 3: See 1 above. This is a temporary tank, one which may kill bio and/or necessitate the throwing out of it. I see little point in risking an ammonia spike in the home tank due to bacteria removal for an H tank.

Item 4: An H tank should be bare bottom- no substrate at all. This not only allows one to see if and how mych the sicj fish may be eating, but also to see the poop and any potentially visable worms or parasites. It also makes regular mini vacs simple.

Items 6-8: All of this is totally unessesary and will only stress the fish even more. If the H tank and home tank params are close to identical, net the fish directly into the H tank.

Item 9: I see no reason to fast the fish for 12 hours. If the needed treatment is medicated food, it would be counterproductive to wait.

Item 11: There is absolutely no need for changing this much water under normal H conditions. 25% a day is more than enough and every other day is my preferred method unless there is a need for more. I would certainly never do this daily- it will likely stress the fish. Most of my 25% change is accomplished via several small dail vacs to remove poop and uneaten food, the balance is done normally.

I would also suggest that one have some fake plants and bleachable decor to put into an H tank. This should make the fish feel "more comfortable" and hopefully less stressed.

Finally, if you have used an H tank it is because the fish needs it. This will often mean that medication will also be needed. It is important to identify the symptoms exhitbited and any behavioral abnormalities in order to identify an illness before medicating.
 

pinkertd

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I have to agree with TwoTank with the exception that I prefer to pull a piece of foam from an established filter especially if meds need to be used and the med manufacturer states once med is added not to do water change until day 3 (just as an example). I keep plenty of foam in multiple filters on all tanks.
 

bazil323

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Good points. I do think that having cycled media in the QT tank is preferable to having all new stuff. Yes, meds will kill bacteria, but many times you don't need meds at all so there would be no sense in keeping back cycled media from the QT tank. And not all meds will kill BB. Like Pinkertd said, some meds call for no WCs for a few days, so having no BB in there would seriously stress the fish.

In general, this is a good guide for newbs. Somethings may be need to be changed on a case-by-case basis, as has been brought out.

Thanks for bringing out the point of having some decor that you can bleach/disinfect TwoTankAmin. I had thought of that when I was typing my other point and by the time I got done with that, I forgot about it. I like the weighted plastic plants you can get. Those stay up nicely, and you don't have to worry about what to weight them with. I also like the fake driftwood caves or rock caves for a place to hide. Just make sure that you can see the fish from at least one angle even if they are hiding. I find that many fish will just hide in the cave, which defeats the idea of being able to observe them.
 
Apr 2, 2002
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I never pay attention to the no wcs. I do my 25% every other day and simply replace the removed med by adding a 25% dose with the new water.

For me the issue is not only if moved over bio will besubjected to a med that would kill it, buit also that I am "uncycling" another tank to some extent.

A Qt tank is not the same as and H tank. I normally use a cycled tank for Qt but not for H. The odds the Qt will need meds are lower than the H will.
 

clb2196

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Question: I have danios, cardinal tetras and cories. Is a 5 gallon big enough for a hospital tank? I'm not worried about a QT for now, no new additions in the near future.
 

VivaLaVics

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All good points! This is just the way I do things when I need to set up a quickie tank. There are going to be various ways to set up a hospital tank. Any sort of Hospital tank setup is not posted anywhere, and I think it ought to be. Perhaps we can come to a middle ground on a decent, basic hospital tank setup for people who need to know. :)

As for what is mentioned by TwoTank.

Item 1 Yes, you will have to sanitize or toss out any spare HOB you have. I recommend the ClearView HOB as you can adjust the water flow. It is especially a good idea to have a back up HOB when keeping aggressive fish. I keep Cichilds and occasionally a territory spat will end up with an injured eye or irritated scale. In this case I take the extra filter and place it on my Hospital tank. For my planted peacful tanks, if there is ever and issue, I snip some media from the home tank. I would assume people would use their own judgment as to how often they may need a Hospital set up to determine if a spare filter is needed.

Item 2 I've not heard of not using home tank water. The home tank water will be slowly removed as you complete water changes.

On "Item 4" I may have miss-communicated. There should be no substrate used in the Hospital tank, as you stated to keep an eye on food, waste and parasites. I've heard and read of using the mesh bag filled with Home Tank substrate from several sources and I've always used it myself without issue.

Items 6-8 can be removed to state something along the lines of “With as little stress imposed on the fish as possible, remove it from the home tank and place in hospital tank.” Less stress is the best idea and a person can choose which way the want to do the transfer.

Item 9 I generally fast my fish for a short period so that they are more inclined to eat when I do feed them. This way I can confidently determine whether the fish is not eating due to injury/illness rather than wonder if the fish is just not hungry or not interested due to the move.

Item 11 I've seen people discuss the amount of water needed to change in a hospital tank on many threads. I always change around 65-70% daily on Hospital tanks. But as stated, this is something I've seen many people debate- it's a personal preference. We all agree on daily water changes, so perhaps we can leave a generic or broad percentage. "25-75% water based on what you determine is necessary."

We should add keeping the tank in a quite, visible place and to have some decor. This helps reduce stress. Keep bring in the suggestions, I'd just like to get a resource like this out there. It would have helped me a lot when I needed to set up my first Hospital tank.
 

VivaLaVics

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Question: I have danios, cardinal tetras and cories. Is a 5 gallon big enough for a hospital tank? I'm not worried about a QT for now, no new additions in the near future.
A five gallon will do. I like to keep a spare 10 gallon for a hospital tank, but as the fish are small, a 5 should be just fine! :)
 
Apr 2, 2002
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Actually a lot of the problem here is due to mixing 3 different types of tank: Quarantine, Hospital and Isolation.

1) A Q tank is for newly acquired fish. The fish will be in it anywhere from a few weeks to a few months if problems develop. While this might mean meds are needed, they are more likely not to be if you are getting fish from decent sources. This sort of tank can most certainly be cycled and run as a normal home tank would be. The odds are decent the bacteria survive the Q process and can make it back into the home tank system.

2) An Isolation tank is for just what is sounds like, it is a place to put a fish which may be injured or being bullied by tankmates but which is not sick. The fish needs this sort of setting to recover. Medications are not likely to be needed unless infection or fungus ensues. Antibiotics may bebio killing meds, but the anitifungals are not. More often water changes, peace and quiet and perhaps a bit of melafix are all that is called for. Again this tank can also be a cycled one since the odds are good the bacteria will survive to be put into another tank. People who keep more agressive fish will have more use for this type of tank than those who keep other less bellicose fish.

3) A hospital tank is for treating a sick or severely injured fish in which special conditions and/or the use of medications are most likely called for. That is why its called a hospistal :) This tank should never be a cycled one, imo, for the reasons mentioned above in my prior posts. I did not say that you should not use home tank water to the H tank, only that if you have similar parameter water readily available, then using any home tank water at all is not necessary. It is also the case that new water should be cleaner than home tank water.

Not all fish that go into an H tank come out, some die in the hospital. If this happens and one is not 100% certain of what was wrong or that any treatment has killed off the problem, then not only will the tank and all contents need to be bleached, but the sponges are likely to fare badly in bleach and are better thrown out rather than risking a disease surviving along with the bacteria. In short, the odds of bacteria surviving the H process to make it back into a home tank are not great, so why even bother?

The reason I prefer a sponge filter to an HOB, aside from current issues, is cost. I can buy sponge filter for 5 or 6 bucks, a spare HOB is about 3 times that or more. And most of us usually have an air pump or two lying around :)
 
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