Hey guys,
I just lost one of my Banded Sunfish to a nasty wound that ended up infected with some kind of bacteria or fungus Unfortunately I didnt notice the wound until the fuzzy white stuff had covered half of his body and he was struggling to breathe. As soon as I noticed his symptoms I ran out to my LFS and picked up a 5.5 gallon tank so I could isolate him from the others and attempt to treat his injury/illness. Being cheap like I am I decided against picking up an additional HOB filter and took one of the two AquaClear 30 filters off my 20 gallon long and slapped it on the 5.5 gallon tank as a temporary solution. I have been monitoring the main tank since I removed him and so far none of the other fish have shown any signs of injury or the disease.
Anyway, now that the fish has passed Id like to clean up the hospital tank and store it away for future use. Id also like to return the AquaClear 30 filter to my main tank ASAP. My question becomes, how should I go about the tear down/cleanup process? I figure I will man up and purchase a smaller HOB filter for any future use on the 5.5 gallon tank, whether I use it as a QT tank, a hospital tank or an isolation tank. In the meantime Im mainly concerned with how to go about returning the AquaClear 30 HOB filter to the main tank as soon as possible? The only medicine I used in the hospital tank was a dose of Melafix and some salt. Should I be concerned with disinfecting the AquaClear 30 filter before I put it back on the main tank or should I just give it a thorough cleaning then dose the main tank with Melafix and salt in an attempt to keep the rest of the fish healthy and kill anything remaining in the water? I dont want to risk infecting or killing the rest of my fish but at the same time I dont want to kill all of the BB in my filter Anyway sorry for all of the rookie questions, this is my first experience with a sick fish and my first fish fatality. If at all possible, Id like to keep it to just the one. Thanks in advance.
- Nick
I just lost one of my Banded Sunfish to a nasty wound that ended up infected with some kind of bacteria or fungus Unfortunately I didnt notice the wound until the fuzzy white stuff had covered half of his body and he was struggling to breathe. As soon as I noticed his symptoms I ran out to my LFS and picked up a 5.5 gallon tank so I could isolate him from the others and attempt to treat his injury/illness. Being cheap like I am I decided against picking up an additional HOB filter and took one of the two AquaClear 30 filters off my 20 gallon long and slapped it on the 5.5 gallon tank as a temporary solution. I have been monitoring the main tank since I removed him and so far none of the other fish have shown any signs of injury or the disease.
Anyway, now that the fish has passed Id like to clean up the hospital tank and store it away for future use. Id also like to return the AquaClear 30 filter to my main tank ASAP. My question becomes, how should I go about the tear down/cleanup process? I figure I will man up and purchase a smaller HOB filter for any future use on the 5.5 gallon tank, whether I use it as a QT tank, a hospital tank or an isolation tank. In the meantime Im mainly concerned with how to go about returning the AquaClear 30 HOB filter to the main tank as soon as possible? The only medicine I used in the hospital tank was a dose of Melafix and some salt. Should I be concerned with disinfecting the AquaClear 30 filter before I put it back on the main tank or should I just give it a thorough cleaning then dose the main tank with Melafix and salt in an attempt to keep the rest of the fish healthy and kill anything remaining in the water? I dont want to risk infecting or killing the rest of my fish but at the same time I dont want to kill all of the BB in my filter Anyway sorry for all of the rookie questions, this is my first experience with a sick fish and my first fish fatality. If at all possible, Id like to keep it to just the one. Thanks in advance.
- Nick
