Ich hospital tank question

[foster200]

I recently gave up and removed all my rock and coral to catch my fish.. all my fish. Not all were infected however. one of them that were not infected was my lawnmower blenny. He is in my hosp. tank now. The problem that i just realized is the issue of food. What is my blenny (rocky) going to eat now? The tank is bare. I also have a green mandarin (ichy) that is going to have problem finding food. what do I do? Thanks for your help.

 

[foster200]

my sand sifting goby as well.

 

[blennielove]

Try dried sea weed for the lawnmower (my lawnmower blenny LOVES brown seaweed)and live brine for the mandarin. Just remember don't overfeed and be ready to do daily water changes of at least 10-20 percent. Watch your pH and temperature closely.

 

[foster200]

is it really necessary to do DAILY water changes? its a 30 gallon tank, so 3 gallons of RO water really isnt that big of a deal.. but is daily the norm? a total of 25 inches of fish. I have a mechanical filter installed mounted on the back. Should i include an airstone and or a powerhead?

 

[sedor]

Depends on the size of the tank...hospital tanks are generally pretty small and don't have a skimmer, LR or a CUC helping in the filtration process therefore rule of thumb is generally to do WC's every day, or at least every couple. If your planning on treating the hospital with copper, remember to leave your DT fallow (or fishless) for 6 - 8 weeks so as to kill off the remaining parasites in the tank.

 

[sfboarders]

is it really necessary to do DAILY water changes? its a 30 gallon tank, so 3 gallons of RO water really isnt that big of a deal.. but is daily the norm? a total of 25 inches of fish. I have a mechanical filter installed mounted on the back. Should i include an airstone and or a powerhead?

I have a 30 gallon with 3 fish in there and I'm doing 5 gallon water changes daily. I was doing 50% water changes every other day but I think my fish started to get stress more due to the pH change (hyposalinity). It's a PITA but it's part of the process. I added a koralia 1 for some flow and also have a HOB. I also use amquel + so ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are not as toxic to the fish.

If you have a medium that has high enough nitrification than you can get away with less water changes. wooden_reefer will probably post more info about that.

 

[foster200]

Thanks everyone

 

[RBU1]

It is not neccesary to do water changes everyday....IF your tank is established and has enough bacteria to control the ammonia and Nitrite.

Sorry to say but you are probably going to lose the mandarine. They can not be treated in a QT unless its eating frozen food. I would probably see if I could find him a new home or return him tot he LFS.

I would really like a mandarine but the fact you can not QT them has me not getting one.....

 

[wooden_reefer]

is it really necessary to do DAILY water changes? its a 30 gallon tank, so 3 gallons of RO water really isnt that big of a deal.. but is daily the norm? a total of 25 inches of fish. I have a mechanical filter installed mounted on the back. Should i include an airstone and or a powerhead?

Is there cycled filter medium in the tank?

Copper against ich does not harm nitrification bacteria by much, so there should be vigorous nitrification in a QT against ich.

 

[foster200]

I purchased a filter housing for the back of the tank. per the recommendations of the lfs owner, I cut slits in the filter and removed the carbon. Also, should i add an air stone?

 

[lucidheights]

i usually keep two QTs running with the same exact salinity and temp. If ammonia starts creeping up i just transfer all the fish to the other tank along with the filter. Then reset the "dirty" qt with new water and repeat if necessary. I find it less stressful on me and the fish to be prepared this way.

 

[wooden_reefer]

i usually keep two QTs running with the same exact salinity and temp. If ammonia starts creeping up i just transfer all the fish to the other tank along with the filter. Then reset the "dirty" qt with new water and repeat if necessary. I find it less stressful on me and the fish to be prepared this way.

I see that in a bind you may have to do so, but if you had cycled in advance you would likely not have to do so much work.

Do you really want to do so much work for eight weeks by choice?

 

[lucidheights]

hehe no not really, but sometimes i get in jam and this gives me insurance. Especially when using copper.

 

[foster200]

I just tested my qt tank for copper. The test that i have is so vague on the difference between 0 and .25. As i understand I am not to go above .2 while treating the fish.. correct? i add my copper again after i do a water change, do i just add enough to get me to .2? how do you go about adding the correct amount? again, thanks for all the info.

 

[wooden_reefer]

I just tested my qt tank for copper. The test that i have is so vague on the difference between 0 and .25. As i understand I am not to go above .2 while treating the fish.. correct? i add my copper again after i do a water change, do i just add enough to get me to .2? how do you go about adding the correct amount? again, thanks for all the info.

For effective and toxicity of straight copper, there is a duration/concentration relationship.

If you are maintaining a constant level, you should aim lower, say 0.2 ppm metallic.

If you want to maintain a constant level, you are better with a more stable chelated copper, not straight copper.

I prefer to periodically pulse straight copper with a calcereous material in the tank. When I pulse I aim for 0.3 ppm peak. Every three days is very common. You may or may not want to do so. I have no strong opinion on how copper and which copper is best used.