Questions about diseased tanks

Beeker

Beeker

Aquariaholic
Oct 8, 2004
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If I have a tank that has bacterial based diseases or any other contageous disease, I will most likely lose all of my fish right?

How can I clean the diseases out of my tank with fish in the tank? Without fish in the tank?

What do I do to make my tanks safe again?

How do I know if the fish that live through a diseased tank are safe to put in a tank with other fish?
 
The faster you catch a problem the better. Some diseases are more contagious than others. If you ever notice just one or two sick fish you can separate them from the other fish. There at least two good reason to separate sick fish. 1) Healthy fish often beat up the ill and could quickly kill sickly fish. 2) This can decrease the spread of the disease and save some fish. There is a good thread on hospital/quarantine tanks in the fresh water newbie forum.
 
But how do I clean a disease that has spread through practically my whole tank and killed most of my fish? (It hasn't happened yet, but I don't want to take any chances.)
 
It really depends on the illness. There are different solution for diferent things
 
waterchanges and sanitation go along way

Waterchanges and good sanitation go a long way in keeping a tank healthy. It is hard to treat an illness and often the cure is worse than the disease, especially when we are so uncertain what the actual problem is.

That is why you want to have a Q tank for separating an ill fish, barebottom with sponge filter and heater. Keep separate net and siphon hose and do massive water changes and siphon bottom of the tank often to keep very clean so parasite eggs that are shed are not ingested, and bacteria floating in the water can be removed. You do not want a sick fish to die in the tank for bacteria will leave the dead body to find new hosts and well fish will eat the dead fish and ingest the parasite or disease. So, pull any sick fish ASAP. Some people run a small sponge filter in the main tank so that if they have to start up the Q tank they can take that filter too.

Most of the time, the medications are way more expensive than the fish, and the fish may be greatly harmed by incorrect usage.
 
Basically, I have Epsom Salt and another Python. When I change the water, I'll add Epsom Salt and I'll use the old Python to take the water out and the new one to add water back in. My hospital tank is too small for my goldfish and the most recent situation I was in, I found myself dealing with a sick goldfish and a sick tropical at the same time. One went in the hospital tank, the other couldn't. They both died from bacterial dropsy. Now, I find myself treating my whole coldwater tank and constantly fighting off bacterial dropsy. How do I clean the tank from this bacterial infection? I can't medicate them forever. I have to somehow sterilize the tank but that would cause me to have to re-cycle the tank. I don't want to do that. How do I get rid of this bacteria?
 
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