How would I keep a hospital tank going?

Well I bought it for my sucker to occupy since he was running out of room with the floor of 75 gallon being heavily planted. Unfortunately my good intentions killed it.

It is a 20 gallon long. I want to use it as a hospital tank in case one of them gets sick. How do I keep it running and a bio filter sustained? Should I have it inhabited by something and then move them to the main tank in the event I have to put a sick fish in there and medicate?

Edited by lozgod, 28 March 2010 - 09:31 PM.

Yes, that's exactly what you should do. I keep feeder minnows in mine. If I need the tank, the grass pickerel gets to feast. I rarely use it for sick fish, it usually gets used for quarantine. I usually medicate for fungus or ick in the display tank. Persistent fungus goes into a ten gallon for treatment because the medication gets expensive otherwise.

Well I bought it for my sucker to occupy since he was running out of room with the floor of 75 gallon being heavily planted. Unfortunately my good intentions killed it.

It is a 20 gallon long. I want to use it as a hospital tank in case one of them gets sick. How do I keep it running and a bio filter sustained? Should I have it inhabited by something and then move them to the main tank in the event I have to put a sick fish in there and medicate?

I personally would resist the temptation, in my time of grief & guilt, to christen the new 20L as "Sucker Memorial Fish Hospital," but would instead set it up for routine ongoing operations as "Water Park #2 for Some Smaller Fish I Really Like."

My recommendation is influenced by the following thoughts (YMMV):
* how regularly do you expect to HAVE sick fish ?
* how often to sick fish actually get better, sufficiently so that one is willing to return them to live with the "regular population?" (My track record not good; if salt dosing doesn't do magic, I go quickly into damage control mode. I understand Other People may have acquired better fish medic skills. Or at least the pleasant illusion that they have fish medic skills.)
* keeping a bio-filter sustained for a possible sudden fish load is a nuisance. Counting on the fact that it's "fully charged" to step up is another element of risk to an already shaky patient, or group of patients.
* there's a significant chance that any medications or cures you try will kill or compromise the bio-filter too.
* for an emergency yet totally flexible fish hospital, use a bucket or a cooler, with an air line, and just do 50% water changes daily. Or if the fish isn't too big, an Utz pretzel jar.

So ... turning to the happier side of this experience .... what kinda fish are you thinking of putting in that new 20L? Of course, to MAXIMIZE the fun, it is also NECESSARY for you go at least 180 miles, and meet some other NANFAns, to get these fish. Hey, Spring is almost here!

HTH - d.d.

lol @ DD. Thanks for the laugh. I thought about that too. Kind of spoiled by the 75 gallon didn't think of setting up a 20 gallon outside the idea of doing it for the sucker. Not a bad idea. Maybe a species only tank. Or maybe since I have a paranoia of madtoms eating my darters in spite of people telling me it isn't a worry, might go that route too.

I've only used a hospital tank once and it was a small one, 10 gallon.

I keep an extra, small HOB filter running in one of my tanks and if I need to I'll toss in some substrate and a fake plant or two.

I generally leave my hospital/quarantine tanks dry and just leave a couple cheap sponge filters in my established tanks. It is also pretty easy to just turn off a canister filter and grab a handful of media from it for a smaller tank.

I've used the "quarantine tank" method to expand the number of tanks at my house. First, I set up a quarantine tank, then I find a fish I want to keep permanently. I no longer have a quarantine tank, so I set up another one. Repeat as many times as necessary. Occasionally I mix things up by setting up a new, larger tank so I get my original quarantine tank back.

Edited by schambers, 30 March 2010 - 01:35 PM.

I agree with Doug wholeheartedly. A hospital/quarrantine tank need be no more than a rubbermaid tub with a spare filter and a few good handfuls of gravel from an established tank. The fish really don't need to see out.

If I had these two tanks, I'd use the smaller one for fish that would not be possible in the large tank. Like Elassoma. Or Enneacanthus maybe.