Hospital Tank

[meta]

Circa 3 weeks ago I ordered my first fishies, being a Clown (Claus) and Fire fish (Lucifer).

Spoiler: Pictures

Unfortunately for them, I took a risk regarding a proper QT protocol / solution.
I read that a lot of nano-owners do fine without, and because I only would have 3x fishes maximum, I didn't see the need for it.
Luckily, that state of thought changed rather quick haha.

Context:

​

About a 2 weeks ago I noticed some white soft "specks / dots" on Claus. At the time there were only 3 noticeable ones. ​

Thinking back, there probably were a lot more, but given the amount of white on Claus, it would have been difficult spotting them.​

Claus had been showing some strange behaviour too (swimming manically against the glass, up and down in a corner / rubbing / swimming in the current) ​

But that specific behaviour had been there from the moment we got it. According to the internet, that would be "silly Clownfish" giggles.​

​

A week later, it was still eating vigorously, and the behavioural spasms mostly dulled out.​

The amount of dots however multiplied in force. Especially under certain lighting -- and angles, they were really noticeable. ​

It also seemed to have some issues breathing (minor, that is).​

​

I began researching, and Ich would be my pick.

Since I had nothing really to DIY a hospital tank out (despite heater / powerhead), I had to order everything of it. Which since today has all arrived.
In the meantime, Claus had been doing fine. It was (really really) eating well, and actually seemed okay. The amount of dots sometimes where more than other times.
Lucifer hasn't showed any (noticeably) sign yet, despite being perhaps more shy than before.

Regarding the tank itself. That's where I could use a check-up, to see if I'm fully armed to embark the 78 QT / fallow period -- or that I'm missing something.

Spoiler: Setup

Index:

• 30L Tank
• Eheim Liberty 75 HOB
• Eheim 75W heater
• Tunze 6020
• Seachem Badge
• Eggcrate lid (with a finer mesh under it)
• Aqua Medic Refill Fix
• /
• Seachem Cupramine
• ATM colony

About 4 hours ago I applied the ATM bact and a small amount of ammonia to kickstart it. ​

Given that the fish are still doing okay in the DT, is it OK that I wait for the bacteria to stabilize before transferring them over? ​

​

Regarding the available surface for the bacteria, would a single sponge suffice? ​

Spoiler: Sponge

​

Regarding the future: I read that people store a sponge in their sump for circumstances like these. Would it be okay for me to store on in a AIO Waterbox Cube 20 sump?​

​

Many thanks in advance!​

​

 

[Sharkbait19]

Sponge is all you need. Consider putting a bottle of bacteria in the qt. I wouldn’t put anything from the dt into the qt because you run the risk of carrying any disease, like ich, over.
What you describe could be ich or velvet. I assume ich because it isn’t dead yet. Firefish are hard to see spots on being mostly white, and are very disease resistant. Mine survived a velvet outbreak without a spot on it. Still should be in qt with the clown though. Fallow for at least 76 days.

 

[meta]

Sponge is all you need. Consider putting a bottle of bacteria in the qt. I wouldn’t put anything from the dt into the qt because you run the risk of carrying any disease, like ich, over.
What you describe could be ich or velvet. I assume ich because it isn’t dead yet. Firefish are hard to see spots on being mostly white, and are very disease resistant. Mine survived a velvet outbreak without a spot on it. Still should be in qt with the clown though. Fallow for at least 76 days.

So hypothetically: if I kept a sponge in my sump -- and I would get a disease like ich / velvet again. It's best to not use the sponge, but bottled bateria instead?

 

[Sharkbait19]

You can leave the sponge in the sump, running fallow and quarantining all new additions should keep your tank disease free. Sponge is important as it gives bacteria somewhere to live. Just not really necessary in qt as it’s supposed to be pretty much the bare minimum.

 

[meta]

You can leave the sponge in the sump, running fallow and quarantining all new additions should keep your tank disease free. Sponge is important as it gives bacteria somewhere to live. Just not really necessary in qt as it’s supposed to be pretty much the bare minimum.

Gotcha, thanks!

---

I just moved the Clownfish to the hospital tank -- and immediately noticed the flow was way too much. Sucks that I can't adjust the Tunze 6020's flowrate; for it's a steady 660gph. Well, that plus the HOB's 100gph.

For now I shut down the Tunze to not traumatize the poor thing even more. But I was wondering how flow is actually needed in a 10gal hospital tank. Anyone who could chime in?

Edit: as a safety measure I will use a air brick for the night, hopefully that would help some.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Gotcha, thanks!

---

I just moved the Clownfish to the hospital tank -- and immediately noticed the flow was way too much. Sucks that I can't adjust the Tunze 6020's flowrate; for it's a steady 660gph. Well, that plus the HOB's 100gph.

For now I shut down the Tunze to not traumatize the poor thing even more. But I was wondering how flow is actually needed in a 10gal hospital tank. Anyone who could chime in?

Edit: as a safety measure I will use a air brick for the night, hopefully that would help some.

I just have the hob rated for a 10 and the sponge filter/airstone in my 10.

 

[meta]

I just have the hob rated for a 10 and the sponge filter/airstone in my 10.

Awesome. That saves some money haha.

Just managed to catch the Firefish in just 2 hours.
What a PITA, and then again -- seems I got lucky compared to the horror stories I read.