Hyposalinity Questions

[YamahaF934]

I have the water heating up to treat my fish who are suffering from marine ich.

I want to have this thread so I can ask questions as I go through the process with hopefully successful results.


Here are some:

I have some dead rock. Could I add it to the tank to give places to hide? (or will this cause a cycle)
Can anything from the display tank be put into the QT. The clownfish have a bed they sleep in every night (or will the die off cause nitrates, etc)
I have a leapord wrasse. I was just going to put a deep Tupperware with sand on the bottom

Thanks in advance.

 

[NC2WA]

Moving to Lee's forum to get better coverage and answer from Lee.

 

[NC2WA]

I will take a stab at the questions;

1. No
2. I wouldn't
3. I don't see a problem with this.

 

[YamahaF934]

whats the best way to make hiding spots for the fish? PVC pipe. Can I use a hot glue gun to put them together?

 

[NC2WA]

Yes or plastic plants

 

[YamahaF934]

Yes or plastic plants

Oh good idea. Good thing I just have all mine away. Walmart here I come!

 

[YamahaF934]

Question about the sand! Can I use some from the tank (live sand) or would it be best to buy fresh new sand?

 

[IPisces]

I dont think you want to use anything like live rock or live sand. I dont think you really want to use sand in hyposalinity treatment either. Unless you can siphon it out good to keep detritus cleaned out of it regularly. You want the tank easy to keep clean so that stuff can not build up and cause an ammonia spike. Just my thoughts on it. I would stay with pvc pipe pieces in different sizes.

 

[YamahaF934]

Okay ya I will. But my wrasse requires sand to bury at night.

 

[IPisces]

For the amount of time they will be in treatment, I think you will be okay. But I suppose to keep him comfortable, you could use clean sand rinsed in rodi water and change the sand out every week at least, if not every 2-3 days.

 

[vinny2261]

You should put nothing in the bucket but the water. Fish may panicic a little in the Hypo water and you dont want them injuring them selves during treatment. The water should be about the same temp. Keep an eye on the fish anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. The purpose of the Hypo salinity change is that it sheds the fishes slime coat and at the same time the ich cists and flukes that are already on the fish, This help to break the cycle of the ich and help speed in the recovery of the fish. Usually about the safest treatment. Hardest part is usually catching the sick fish out of a established tank is the job.

 

[vinny2261]

Also, my above mentioned advice is for a fresh water dip for Saltwater or you can do a saltwater ( not Sea salt ) dip for Fresh water.

 

[IPisces]

I thought you were talking about fresh water dip. But is that effective on ick? I didnt think it was because ick is still in the tank and will just continue to infect the fish when you put the fish back in the tank. The hyposalinity treatment will keep the fish out of the DT for a period of time long enought for the ick to die, meaning many weeks. I think 8 weeks is recommended.

 

[kpiotrowski]

You want bare bottom...no sand or rock so as to decrease the number of places the ich can attach to in their cyst stage.( i read an article where they compared the same ich treatment with one bare bottom tank and one with sand and the sand tank was not successful) the actual hyposalinty treatment should be for the lifecycle of the ich about 3-4 weeks, ( some say less) but the qt after treatment should be an additional 8 to 10 weeks...is my opinion based on reading many different articles and having recenlty done it myself. I used plastic tie straps for the pcv and have many differnent sizes.

 

[leebca]

I have not read the other posts. I am only responding to the first post by Yamaha

Why are you heating the water? Not sure what this means. Maybe you can explain what you mean by this.

I would add no rock to the treatment tank. Follow the guidelines you see in this Forum for setting up a QT. Also, follow the guidelines you find in the sticky in this Forum for hyposalinity treatment.

Use plastic or resin decorations without calcerous substrate. The decorations will provide good enough hiding places without complicating what is in the QT.

You can put decorations from the DT into the QT IF they are plastic or made out of resin.

You can put the bowl of the sand in the QT for the wrasse IF you are sure the sand is pure silica. You can test for this by adding 1/4 cup of diluted (1:2) vinegar to a tablespoon of the sand. If there is no bubbling or fizzing, it should be okay to use.

Whatever goes into the QT (like the Tubberware bowl you mention) must be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed to prevent any contamination (even a tiny bit of contamination) of the treatment or quarantine tank.

Make sure you read both of those sticky posts! Before you post anymore questions, you absolutely need to read the sticky post titled: Curing Fish of Marine Ich.

Good luck!

 

[vinny2261]

Also possibly cleaner shrimp do wonders in tank maintenance of the fish. I have even had some in with Triggers. Is the tank the fish are in a reef? If not you could possibly find a ich treatment for the tank while you are treating the fish.

 

[YamahaF934]

Thanks for the replies. I have read both posts several times. Its just a little nerve wracking.

I was warming up the water to add salt. Its a 50 gallon QT and my DT is 72 gallons, so I am going to have to start with some new saltwater. I do not have a biological filter set up, so I am unsure what to do here.

Does the wrasse HAVE to have sand to survive? The only place I can find silica sand around here is Ace Hardware. Is this stuff the kind you are talking about. I do not have a very good saltwater store around here.

 

[vinny2261]

I would just see how the fish does without anything in the tank. Keep the lights low. You can put in some plants, culerpa for them to hide in. But really the fish should be fine.

 

[NC2WA]

yamaha,

I assume you have seen and read this sticky on Lee's forum:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f15/hyposalinity-treatment-process-27155/

you need to watch your ammonia and be prepared to do daily watch changes if not starting with biological filters..the key thing to hypo is after treatment...you need to raise the salinity SLOWLY over a period of time....this is explained in the link i posted.

 

[leebca]

The wrasse is not one of those fishes which must have substrate in the short term. It should do fine without. I was only responding to your question about whether you could put some in.

The Hyposalinity post should cover all your questions. As previously posted, without an active biological filter you compensate either by using a chemical filter (which will help control ammonia and/or nitrites), or doing frequent water changes as you find levels of ammonia in the water tests, or doing both.

Make sure you monitor the pH closely. In a hypo condition, the water is not able to adequately buffer itself (resist) against pH changes.