Hospital tank for Royal Gramma

[hectorharvey]

Six weeks after I setup my 14gal oceanic, I added my first fish, a Royal Gramma. Ten days after adding him, I am setting up a hospital tank to cure the ICH. Hold the lectures on the quarantine tank, I have learned a lesson which will play out on all future fish additions to the tank.

I have:

5 gallon hospital tank
hang on filter cycling water (charcoal removed, sponge/floss in DT sump)
heater
moved all 5 gallons from the display tank
moved the fish to the 5 gallon
added copper (2/23/2011 is day one (night))

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I am very concerned about keeping this fish alive in the 5 gallon tank for more than a couple of days. He seems OK and the ICH is a mild case. I'd like to keep him out of the DT for 8 weeks to make sure the ICH is gone.

I have already spent more on the hospital setup and medicine than I did on the fish. But that is not the point. I really want to save this fish.

I plan on:

testing/adjusting the copper levels per instructions on the medication
testing the ammonia and nitrate levels regularly
changing water regularly
feeding very lightly

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Questions I have
1) The sponge filter I dropped in the sump is pretty pitiful. Should I get a better piece of sponge, and should I even be doing this at all as the sponge may collect some ICH and reinfect my fish?
2) How often how much water changes should I be doing? No bio filter worries me. Seems I read before I COULD change all of the water. Obviously no more comes from the DT.
3) If I measure ammonia should I address it with more aggressive water change, or drops of some neutralizer?
4) Recommended test kit for ammonia and nitrate. The copper treatment plan came with a test kit.

Thanks for any help

 

[mred]

Wow. Royal Grammas arre pretty much bullet proof. I have used them to cycle tanks. Never tried a bare quarrantine tank. Would think that daily water changes would be necessary. A good sponge filter is essential. I am actually using one in a 10g tank that I have about 60 black and white clowns (70 days old) and it is doing well. I still change water since it is a bare bottom tank.

For a quarrantine tank. I keep a 20g L going all the time with a little sand in the bottom and a little rock with a Whisper hang-on filter going all the time. This tank stays cycled so it is ready anytime I need to quarrantine either fish or coral. I don't treat unless something shows up. Otherwise the fish stays there 4-6 weeks. That gives time to get it eating well and ready to go into the main tank if nothing shows up by then.

 

[jennm]

I wrote an article on quarantine, that can be found here: http://imagine-ocean.com/node/58">LINK</a>

Are you certain it's ich? Grammas are also prone to Brooklynella although it's early in the year to be seeing it... I'm asking because the two are sometimes confused with each other and the treatment protocols are very different. A picture might help.

Jenn

 

[hectorharvey]

JennM - Thanks for the link. I will study it. The fish was very ichy. Scratching on glass and rocks. Small white spots, though they seemed more 2d than 3d (not like a grain of salt on fish, but painted on)

Fish is dead. Couldn't handle one night. Very disappointed. Medication recommended 40 drops for 12 gallons. I added 16 drops for my 5 gallon tank. Test kit suggests I did it right, though the water was blue and the chart was more purpley.

I will scrub everything with a mild bleach solution and convert this to a quarantine tank.

Any guesses as to the quick demise of my fish? I have 0 confidence that I can keep a fish alive during a 6 week quarantine process. I HAVE to figure this process out.

 

[jennm]

You'll probably never know with 100% certainty but Brooklynella can kill in hours.

With ich it's usually the secondary infection, rather than the parasite itself.

Unfortunately it happens, despite best efforts.

Jenn

 

[psipro]

JennM;617939 wrote: Brooklynella can kill in hours.

I can second this, I lost a battle with brooklynella with my last two clown fish. Never buying from that shop again...

 

[grouper therapy]

hectorharvey;617938 wrote: JennM - Thanks for the link. I will study it. The fish was very ichy. Scratching on glass and rocks. Small white spots, though they seemed more 2d than 3d (not like a grain of salt on fish, but painted on)

Fish is dead. Couldn't handle one night. Very disappointed. Medication recommended 40 drops for 12 gallons. I added 16 drops for my 5 gallon tank. Test kit suggests I did it right, though the water was blue and the chart was more purpley.

I will scrub everything with a mild bleach solution and convert this to a quarantine tank.

Any guesses as to the quick demise of my fish? I have 0 confidence that I can keep a fish alive during a 6 week quarantine process. I HAVE to figure this process out.

Sorry it did not end as you had hoped but you have my respect for giving it a commendable try!!!:up:

 

[hectorharvey]

Wish I had waited a day before adding the mediation. I'd been watching the fish for 5 days or so, even pondering if it was getting better by itself. I wanted to be sure to rid the tank of any parasites so I proceeded with the medication. With no visible stress other than scratching and white dots, I just don't think the disease kicked in and got it.

I really fear killing another in the quarantine process. Must figure it out though.

 

[jennm]

My article goes in to choosing a specimen in the first place. Some tips -

1) Find out how long it has been at the store. Straight out of the bag is a bigger risk. Some stores will hold your choice for several days to a week (some may require a deposit).

2) Observe tank-mates and other fishes in the same system (shared water/multiple tanks)

3) See it eat. Ask staff to feed it. If it doesn't eat, leave it there. If it does, find out what it's eating. At the very least, if it stresses when you get it home, at least you'll know what and when it ate last.

Sometimes despite all of this, an outbreak of this or that can happen, but taking those steps greatly increase your odds of success.

Jenn