Bucket-to-bucket
This is a very effective, cheap, and non invasive way to treat your fish, especially if you don't have any chance of getting a hospital tank. All you need are 3-4 buckets/rubbermaids, any size you like, but best would be anything above 5-10 gallon, just so the fish can swim in it comfortably. Those buckets need to be new, and never used for cleaning before, so there isn't any chance of the fish being poisoned by cleaning supply residue. Those buckets/rubbermaids can otherwise being used for storing any kind of fish things during non-treatment.
A ammonia test kit is also very important (as explained later)

What to do with those buckets/rubbermaids?
Fill each of them up with tap water, let them sit in the same room than the tank is, so the temperature can adjust to the one in the tank.You can put in each bucket 1 tablespoon per 5 gl of rock, aquarium or solar salt. This btw works fine with any other medication you might need to administer to the fish. Add an airstone to the bucket as well. If treating for dropsy, a heater in both buckets is also needed at this point.

Then put the fish in it for the duration of 24 hours, or until the ammonia in the bucket rises to even slightly detectable levels (hence the earlier mentioned test kit). Monitor the fish's behavior during that time, as well as frequent testing of the ammonia in the water.

When either the 24 hours are up or the ammonia gets to high, transfer the fish into the next bucket, also with the salt (or whatever medication) already in it. Empty the first bucket, clean it out good with a mild bleach solution and keep rinsing until the bleach smell is gone. And when refilling that bucket, dose it with a double dose of dechlorinator, just to be safe.

This moving from bucket to bucket of the fish has the big advantage that whatever parasite is bothering the fish will be left behind in huge numbers in the old bucket, while the fish gets a fresh start every time in a non invested bucket. There is also the possibility that there is something toxic going on in the fish's main tank, and moving it out from there will highly increase the fish's recovery chance.

Bucket-to-bucket can be done with no medication or salt in it for very weak fish, which would succumb to any medication. Just by putting the fish into new water over and over again without any treatment, he has a higher chance of healing and gathering strength, since no harsh medications are damaging him any further.

I have a newly re-affirmed respect for the bucket to bucket treatment. In my honest opinion, it should be used in ALL bacterial and/or parasitic treatments (available time permitting).

When treating for parasites, I even go a couple of extra steps beyond the basic outline above. There are several parasites out there that are free-living. This means that they can be found living in and eating dead and decaying matter in the filters and the gravel. This makes eradication very hard to do. I have administered many a treatment, as per strict instructions, only to have a re-occurance later on. The bucket to bucket treatment creates a very inhospitable place for parasites. Below is a compilation of tips suggestions, to go with the bucket to bucket treatment, that will help greatly in total eradication of the parasites, the first time around.



-- When doing a waterchange, you must replace the medication and/or salt that was removed along with the water. So, if you do a 50% change, then a 50% dose should be added back with the new water.

-- Utilize a ten gallon tank for fish in the 5-8 inch range. A five gallon works very well for fish under 5 inches.

-- If your parasite treatment is only going to be a 0.3% salt solution for a month, a UV sterilizer should be used (cash flow permitting). If a waterborne treatment is used, other than salt, the Uv should be turned off as it will destroy most medications. Since there is no bio-filter or cycle to worry about, adjust the flow of the UV sterilizer to the manufacturers suggest flow rate, or lower, for parasites. DO NOT use a prefilter for this as it can keep parasites from actually entering the UV sterilizer. I cannot overstate the positive effects of a UV. Used correctly, you will be killing 99% of the parasites, bacteria and fungi in the water.

-- Ammonia toxicity depends on temperature and pH. Use the following chart to calculate how much of your total ammonia is actually in its non-toxic form. The chart tells you how much ammonia you can let build-up before it starts becoming toxic (This is mainly for those without the luxury of ammonia binders like Prime) : Ammonia chart

-- Prime or Amquel Plus (both are sodium thiosulfate) are two very good products for use in this scenario. They can and will bind ammonia into its no-toxic state until you can perform a waterchange. I suggest double or triple dosing the water at waterchange so that some of the unused detoxifier will remain in the water to bind any ammonia that forms between waterchanges.

-- I highly advise a 100% cleaning of the tank and equipment at least once a week (twice, weekly, is better). This will keep the tank from trying to establish a cycle and will invariably keep nitrIte formation from occuring. The fish should be removed to a small container until the tank is set back up and filled.

-- Added aeration should be used in this scenario. Especially if there is little surface agitation. Contrary to popular belief, aeration is increase because of surface agitation, not bubbles being in the water. So, its the surface agitation that the bubbles create that increases aeration. With that in mind, bubble walls or bubble wands are better than bubble stones.

-- Salt dips (salt dip link) at a concentration of between 1.5% and 3%, administered at a maximum of 3-4 per week, are VERY effective at increasing the knockdown rate of ALL external parasites. Not to mention increasing osmoregulation and slime production wich helps clear away built-up slime. I suggest that salt dips be done when the tank is getting a total cleaning. This way, the fish is placed back into parasite-free water with a fresh dose of meds or 0.3% salt.

-- There are filters on the market such as diatom filters and micron filters. They do not allow anything above their prescribed micron sizes to progress any further. This is a huge benefit as it will not allow parasites to pass back into the tank. Used along with a UV, you have quite an in-hospitable place for parasites to live.




(will edit more in later, come back for the additions.....)