Hospital Tanks

[LadyHatred]

Oh no! I'm thinking again. Or rather...wondering.

Most people keep their hospital/QT filter media in their main tanks.

When a fish gets sick or a new batch arrives, the secondary filter is placed on the other tank, in go the fish, treatment, fish gets better (YaY), into the main.

Then the filter is put back into the main tank.

But wouldn't putting that media from the "sick" tank onto your main transfer w/e illness? A filter essentially "filters" stuff out of the water and holds it in there until you clean it out.

[rich311k]

I throw out the media and start with new to get reseeded for the next time I need it.

[Wild Turkey]

It can be a potential problem if you only have one tank, but not a severely concerning one. By that I mean if its a disease that will spread that easily, (like ich) you should probably be treating the main tank anyway. Retuning the media however, shouldnt be a problem since in theory the fish that are returning with the media are fine to go into the tank.

Even with diseases like NTD that are very transmittable but not contagious, there is no chance of the filter getting them sick unless is had a dead ntd fish stuck to it or a large hunk of flesh.

[korith]

Hmm that's a good point. I just have some of that cheap blue foam and poly fill in a small hob. So it's cheap enough to just toss out. Also have a sponge filter. Hmm I haven't had any outbreaks of anything, so was never too concerned about putting it back into the regular tanks. I suppose you could try to reuse the sponge filter, by sterilizing it somehow and then cycling it again for next time you need it.

[Northernguy]

I wouldn't take any chances,but thats my luck!
I would clean out the QT filter,replace the media and place it on your show tank to polish and get recycled.You can just move the filter back over to the QT tank when needed.

[Jaster]

Normally I'll take the oldest media from my main filters to use in QT and then just toss it when I'm done if I'm treating for something. Because that would be my luck too...lol.

If it's just for new adds and everyone is fine, I'll give it a good washing (or toss it if it's really old media) and put it back into the filter of the main tank.