Ats in the hospital tank

[RkyRickstr]

Hey peeps..

I have a tang with ich.. it has been years since i had ich.. dont know why its there... But its here.

So im setting up a tank to treat the fish with hyposalinity.

It is advised not to keep live rock or sand in a tank like this and to remove organics thru water changes.

How well would a scrubber work in this setup?.. will it work without live rock?.. scrubber only?

[subielover]

Ricky, if you aren't gonna pull every fish and keep them in qt for 5 weeks after you see the last spot than don't even bother. Just feed heavily and the tang should be fine. JMO

[SantaMonica]

One other person tried it in a hospital tank... never heard back. It will filter, but I'm not sure how the ick will be helped or not.

[RkyRickstr]

Well.. the lower salinity is whats going to kill the ick... My question is if the algae cqn be the Only means of filtration.. no rock or sand.. in this or any other tank for that matter.

Subie i feed so much its not even funny.. doesnt seem to be helping

[SantaMonica]

The scrubber will filter, but it may also provide a breeding place for the ick.

[RkyRickstr]

Ok thanks.. does anyone use the freshwater bath anymore?

[Ace25]

I think most people just bite the bullet and use a copper treatment. It is the only true cure for ich so far, but there are new developments that may change that soon. I would only do a FW dip if the outbreak got real bad really fast and the fish is still acting normally just to knock some of the parasite off, otherwise slowly raise copper in a hospital tank over the course of a week until you reach the proper levels, and then maintain levels for a month paying close attention to water quality. It is the only method I feel comfortable knowing it will solve the problem, all others stress the fish out more and are not 100% effective.

[SantaMonica]

Of course there is UV.

[RkyRickstr]

What u mean run a uv filter?

[Ace25]

Running UV in a hospital tank is helpful but is no means a 100% cure for anything. In a hospital setting your trying to get as "sterile" as possible, like a real hospital, and a UV filter will help in that regard. I can't see any downsides to running UV in a hospital tank other than the initial cost to buy one. Any free swimming parasites that make it into the UV, provided the flow is slow enough, should be killed by it in turn reducing the amount of parasites in the system, but possibly lead to water quality issues if you have to much death at once. Same thing with copper as well which is why I say to monitor water quality closely. Problem is, the free swimming part is just a phase parasites go through so those are the only ones that can possibly be zapped by it.