How to Make a Hospital Tank for Sick Fish

Transferring an ailing fish to a hospital tank is crucial and should be done as soon as you notice symptoms or signs of illness in any of your fish. Keeping a sick fish in a hospital tank helps you to better monitor its symptoms while giving the fish a safer, quieter environment to recuperate in. Quarantining an unhealthy fish also helps protect your other fish from contracting infectious diseases. The costs of setting up a hospital tank for sick fish lowers medication costs and could save you replacing fish.

Things You'll Need

  • Glass fish tank
  • Aquarium heater
  • Aquarium filter
  • Plastic plants, caves or pots
  • Aquarium disinfectant
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a plain glass tank to serve as your aquatic hospital.

    • 2

      Place a sponge filter or internal box filter in the aquarium.

    • 3

      Add a reliable heater to the tank. Cover the heater with a plastic mesh to prevent a disoriented fish bumping into the heater and burning itself.

    • 4

      Place an air stone in the tank to allow a free flow of oxygen (some medications can reduce the amount of free oxygen in the water).

    • 5

      Place overturned pots or plastic plants and caves in the tank to provide shelter and hiding places for your sick fish and help the fish to feel comfortable.

    • 6

      Add water to the hospital tank. Before you relocate the patient, make sure the water conditions in the hospital are as close as possible to those in the tank the sick fish is leaving. A significant change in temperature or other water conditions could further weaken the fish.

    • 7

      Place the hospital tank in a dark room. This will help your fish recover if it is infected with disease-causing pathogens that require a steady source of light to survive.

    • 8

      Change the water in the hospital tank daily, removing about 30 to 50 percent of the water each time.

    • 9

      Disinfect the hospital tank after returning the fish to its home tank. Leave the disinfectant solution in the tank for two or three days. Thoroughly rinse the tank.