How to Clean or Treat a "Sick" Aquarium

When dealing with tropical fish illness and disease, it's always a good idea to have a good guidebook at your side. We recommend this book as a handy desktop reference.

Most hobbyists will keep a spare tank on hand, for those hopefully rare occasions when they have one or more sick fish. This hospital tank should be a 5-10 gallon aquarium, with a heater, as well as a pump and air stone for oxygen circulation.

A sick fish should be removed from their normal tank for several reasons. If you spot illness early enough, you can limit an outbreak of something like ick, to two or three fish. And while ick can be treated successfully, the drugs/chemicals in most fish medications can also destroy natural and useful bacteria in the environment. Plus, carbon packets in your filtration system would virtually remove all medication from the water, and since most treatments are external, e.g. a "bath" treatment given by adding medication to the water, the normal tank's filter would cancel out the treatment.

Some hobbyists will take 20% of the water from the regular tank and put it in the hospital tank, to minimize the shock of the sick fish entering a totally sterile environment. Water changes in the "sick" tank, should be done on a daily basis when there have been sick fish, as opposed to the recommended twice a week routine. This is partly to remove pathogens in the water, and also to keep it as clean as possible, while still having a balanced pH and bacterial level.

Other than removing the sick fish, and doing daily water replacements until there have been no fresh signs of illness for 5-7 days, there is nothing else that needs doing for the regular tank. The exception to this rule, is when the outbreak is sudden, or has gone unnoticed, and there are too many fish to make quarantining a practical alternative.

If medication is being added to the tank, the carbon cartridge of the filter should be removed, and along with the daily water cleaning, it helps to vacuum the gravel, or gently move it with your hand to a ridge at the back of the tank, which will allow dirt and parasites eggs to gather on the bare bottom near the front for easier vacuuming.

Many hobbyists recommend raising the temperature of a tank with sick fish, by four degrees, providing the species there can tolerate the extra warmth. This will boost the fish's immune system, and will also accelerate the life cycle of parasites so that they are hit with the full power of any medication.

Recommended! A-Z of Tropical Fish Diseases and Health Problems: The aim of this book is to help aquarists recognize signs of illness so they can identify and resolve problems. Divided into three sections, the first focuses on health and husbandry, describing the signs of a healthy fish, anatomy and general care; the second provides signs of diseases and health problems and is cross-referenced to section three, which covers the treatment of diseases and health problems. Illustrated throughout with top-quality color photos, the book is an invaluable reference for novice to experienced fishkeepers. Click here for your copy.

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