# hospital tank



## fish fever02 (Oct 23, 2012)

i wasn't sure where to put this so this is where it ended up.

im starting a hospital/quarantine tank and im not sure exactly what needs to go into it as far as equipment.

heres what I have in it so far, please let me know what else I need.

27 gallon cube
double bright led
canister w/ built in uv light
heater
powerhead

what im curious about is the 

skimmer
live rock 
live sand or any sand at all

please just let me know what else I need to put in there


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Since I have ich ,I set up a hosp tank.Bare bottom,air sponge ,heater and lights.No substrate since it may react with some meds(or lessen their effect).I cut pieces of pvc for the fish to hide in,or swim around while they're being treated.
If just a QT for new fish and not going to medicate them,then sand and or live rock may be fine,but I wouldn't put LR in if meds are going to be used as tthe meds may just kill the bacteria anyways.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

. .


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## fish fever02 (Oct 23, 2012)

ok so since everything I have is fine ill go pick up some pvc and toss it in the tank. im using it for ich also. damn tangs


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Good luck with the marine ich.I just lost my second juvi emperor angel.I have had 0 issues in my 29 or my 75,but both 120s are lousy with ich.Lost about $500 worth of really nice fish.I don't think I'll ever get a new saltwater fish without QTing them first.All readings (links)are different,but if you pull ALL fish out and treat them and keep tank fish free for at least a month you may whip it.It's not like FW ich at all!


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## fish fever02 (Oct 23, 2012)

hey bandit I know this is off topic but can u post a pic of how the high range ph test results are suppose to look for 8.3. mine is like a dark pink almost purple


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

AOL Search


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

I'm trying a cocktail of seachems copper and kordon rid ich in my hospital tank.It was copper in paticular that I read the substrate or live rock would mess up the effect of.


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## fish fever02 (Oct 23, 2012)

thanks id guess 8.3-8.4 range lol


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

fish fever02 said:


> i wasn't sure where to put this so this is where it ended up.
> 
> im starting a hospital/quarantine tank and im not sure exactly what needs to go into it as far as equipment.
> 
> ...


Looks good. No substrate. Raise temp and kill the lights when treating for ich. No skimmer on medicated hospital tanks. I have a couple Tunze 9004 Nano Skimmers I use on my QT tanks although those tanks did fine previously with no skimmer; just frequent water changes. Hospital tanks and QT tanks are not always the same thing. Sometimes you'll separate marine life to make sure their not infected/infested(QT tank), but other times you'll medicate their water etc(hospital tank) cuz they are sick. I try to keep a cycled QT tank open at all times. My hospital tanks sit dry and empty unless I need them.


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

fish fever02 said:


> ok so since everything I have is fine ill go pick up some pvc and toss it in the tank. im using it for ich also. damn tangs


How are your tangs doing? I hope they're better. I'll share with you what's worked for me...

Kordons Ich Attack three times per day exactly 8 hours between each dose in combination with a CLEAN newish 15 watt UV bulb will get marine ich. But you can't miss a single dose. Start treatment on first sign of infection and for high risk fish- start before. A hospital tank is always ideal but if you can't make it happen, I've used the above treatment in a heavily stocked coral reef without negative effect. I've seen this work on fish that were literally covered with ich, including tangs in the early stages of respiratory distress- lethargic but still eating. I've also seen it work when the entire community is infected. If you have fish in a hospital tank where they can be easily netted, I'd definitely freshwater dip them once per day as that provides some immediate relief and speeds medicinal treatment up considerably.

The active ingredient in Ich Attack is classified as "natural" however the same technology in human healthcare is considered mainstream pharmaceutical. It basically messes with the cytoplasm of cells- that's where growth happens, thus the parasites lifecycle is interrupted. Since there's likely ich in your system at multiple stages of life, and since you don't know for certain how fast the lifecycle of this particular species of Ich is (there's more than one, some faster than others)...worse case senerio 3 times per day will cover you. Some people dose once or twice per day. My only experience is with 3 doses per day in combination with UV. Fewer doses may or may not work, I just can't speak to that personally. 

Good luck. Hopefully the fish are strong enough to get through it- many are.


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## fish fever02 (Oct 23, 2012)

well there has been no sign of ich it was a precaution. I got impatient and they are in the 120, but everything is looking great. ill get pics of them in the 120 soon


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## Goby (Mar 21, 2012)

fish fever02 said:


> well there has been no sign of ich it was a precaution. I got impatient and they are in the 120, but everything is looking great. ill get pics of them in the 120 soon


Awesome! 

If/when you do have to deal with ich, I forgot to mention the importance of highly oxygenated water during treatment. Fish get ich in their gills first so by the time you see it on the outside of the fish theres already serious issues on the inside of the fish. Both the trophs and the injured gill tissue impede respiration. Raising the water temp (important part of treatment IMO) reduces the waters dissolved oxygen content. Medications do the same thing and can also reduce futher a fishes ability to respire. Fish with low oxygen saturations lose their feeding response...they're in a daze, not to mention their organs are hypoxic and can't function well enough to utilize the medication. Their kidneys and liver can't metabolize it. It can reach toxic levels. So keep the top of your hospital tanks open in room with lots of fresh air and keep the powerhead pointed slightly upward.

Okay I'm done now. Hopefully you'll never have to deal with the nightmare of ich.


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