LR in my hospital tank???

[bsauer]

I have a 20 gallon quarantine tank and I think I am just going to leave it up and running so it is there when I need it. I want to add a minimal sand bed and some live rock so that my fish have some form of comfort during their acclimation & quarantine period.

I have read alot about the treatments for various parasites and such ...but there is still one thing that hasn't been made extremely clear to me...I have read that when I use copper to treat Cryptocaryon & Oodinium (velvet, white spot, marine ich), that it will kill my LR and Live sand.

My question is...does that mean it will kill the invertabrates hiding in my LR, or will it actually kill my biological filter as well?

And if it kills my biological filter, do I have to put a new piece of LR in after every fish to recycle my tank again?

I feel like this is a stupid question...but I honestly don't know the answer.

Thank you in advance for any knowlege on the subject!

[lbuur]

I have heard to use the KISS method (Keep It Simple S*****), not that I have much experience. But the reason that you quarantine, is not to infect anything in your display tank, and also for treating diseased fish. I would expect that some treatments would kill invertibrates and your good bacteria. I am interested to hear what the other's will say.

[VWD]

I agee with the above, If You plan on using the tank to treat with copper and such, then bare bottom and deco things for fish to hide, but as a holding place to see the overall health of fish before placement of fish into display tank, then sand and rock is a good thing.

[bsauer]

Originally Posted by VWD

I agee with the above, If You plan on using the tank to treat with copper and such, then bare bottom and deco things for fish to hide, but as a holding place to see the overall health of fish before placement of fish into display tank, then sand and rock is a good thing.

Yes it will be mainly for observation, when adding new fish. But it will also be where they are treated if parasites present themselves.

I understand that a more natural environment means less stress & less stress means less of a chance of parasite infestation. So I would really like to have some rock and sand in there.

I just wondered if the copper would kill the bacteria I need for the biological filter everytime the tank is treated? And if that means I must recycle the hospital tank after every new fish is added to the display tank?