Hypo Question

cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
My whiteface tang has ick and we decided to hypo the tank. I am using a refractometer that I purchased from this website to measure the salinity. My fiance calibrated it and I also checked it out, it looked good to go. My whiteface tang has had a very mild case of ikc b/c I was originally treating the tank with copper. I stopped the treatment after a little longer than 3 weeks and he started to show signs of ick again. This is when I decided to go with hypo. I bought the refractometer and here I am. I have been at a salinity of 1.0095 for a little over a week and the ick has gotten worse. On top of the fact that I took in my neighbors hippo tang b/c of a move that she was going through and it looks as though she's getting it too. How long should it take for the ick to start to go away? Is this what usually happens? I'm just not sure what I shoudl be looking for? Is it the salinity? Could it be that b/c it's not perfectly at 1.009 that it's still living? I know it won't clear up in a week but I thought I would at least start to see it get better rather than worse. Any thoughts or suggestions, they are more than welcome.
PS- I only have the 2 tangs and a diamond goby in the tank.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
You should begin to see a difference soon. Hyposalinity does not kill ich immediately. What it does do is stop ich from being able to reproduce. This is why hyposalinity is so effective at controlling and ridding a fish of ich.
In order for the fish to fight it off while the ich is still alive, you need to make sure the fish has a strong immune system. You would do this by providing good water quality and proper foods in its diet.
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
I'm doing hypo in my main tank b/c I only have three fish in there, no LR or LS (anymore after the copper). I woke up this morning and my whiteface is covered, like peeling (like sunburn peeling). I'm very nervous, he did't want to come out and eat. I have been feeding formula 2 pellets (they have garlic in them) and prime reef flake in the morning and mysis shrimp with a little bit of either blood worms or brine, soaked in garlic exlir at night. I have some vitamin stuff called fish solution. I haven't been using it b/c I have a polyfilter and cuprisorb in my filters right now extracting the copper from about 2 weeks ago. I didn't think that the vitamins would be effective if I used them with those in there. If it would be okay please let me know. Please let me know that what's happening is normal b/c my fiance and I are really nervous about our tangs. If there is anything else I cn add to the tank let me know.
PS Lion where do you get you Juilius sea sprung veggies? I'd like to get some for my tangs.
Thank You
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
my whiteface tang has had ick on going for over a month as I'm sure you remember my previous posts about copper. We the tang looked good for about 1.5 weeks and we decided to stop the copper treatment. He got it back again only a couple of white specks. So I decided I wasn't going the copper route again and I bought a refractometer from this website and decided to go with hypo. I started to bring the salinity down on 5/21 and reached the 1.0095 on 5/25. It has been that low ever since.
My tang has gotten progressively worse. The white specks kept mutiplying as I figured they would b/c there is nothing in the tank to stop the ick from multiplying and I also figured that it would a couple of days before I would start to see results (giving time for the ick to react the the salt level). Yesterday I looked at the tank and I ick was covering him. The best way I can describe what I saw last night and this morning, is to compare it to a sun burn. When you get a sun burn and start peeling that very thin layer of skin starts to come off. That's what it looks like. I figured that there was so much ick on him that this is how it's falling off now. Thin and transparent looking, and I know it's ick b/c he's had white specks the whole time and I can still see some on him now. I'm on lunch from my job, when I get home I will try and take a picture to post. If I can figure out how to make my camera zoom in on him and make the picture clear. My other tang has far less white specks on him but they are slowly increasing in number as well. Please help if possible! Let me know if there is anything I can give both of them to helo raise there immune systems other than what I've already posted above. Thank You Beth for all your help!!!!!
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
I have alos visited your diseased pictures website and didnt see anything like what I am talking about. But the ick pictures are like my fish only the tang is way worse compared to the ick pictures. The hippo does look like them.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Could you maybe provide me with your water levels?
I need to know ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alkalintiy, and temperature.
I sent you an email in regards to the Julian Sprung's Sea Veggies!
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
Luckily I just did my water levels
Temp:78
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
Ammonia: 0
pH: 8.0 (I think the color I got wasn't on the new color chart, but was on the old color chart I had. I ordered a new master saltwater test kit)
Alkalinity: 6dH
Salinity: 1.0095, bordering 1.010 (should I do another water change so it's 1.009 exactly?)
Copper: 0 (has been for a couple weeks)
Thanx for the e-mail, let me know what you think... please :) I have a picture that I'm going to edit now and try and post.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Okay, I will check out the pic when you post it.
That alk is a tad low. Your pH could be stressing the fish out. I would try to get the dkH up to betweem 8-12. This will help keep your pH up and stable.
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
can't figure out how to post our pics. I suck at this stuff. I have all JPG format. What do I do? Oh yeah, do we raise the dKh by adding pH buffer?
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
You raise the dkH by using dkH buffer such as Kent Marine's Super dkH buffer. This product works best, IMO.
Nevermind, just got your email, posting pics now.
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
here are your pics. Basically, I just put them in paint and skewed them down a ton because you can only post pics on this forum that are 500 X 500 and below.

 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Looks like your hippo is developing cloudy eye because of the ich. MelaFix has always worked well for me with cloudy eye.
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
I read on the back of te bottle that you should remove the carbon in your filters to use the product. Do you keep your carbon filters in? I'd hate to ruin these filters since I just put them in my tank 2.5 weeks ago. I dont think my hippo is doing well. She's been laying in her side all day long just breathing and moving her eyes. Every so often she moves but not very much. Got some zoe today too with the melafix, hopefully some vitamins will help. Let me know what you think... thanx
 
lion_crazz

lion_crazz

Active Member
Yes, take the carbon out of your filter when using MelaFix. You won't be ruining the carbon. You need to change the carbon every 3 weeks anyway.
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
Here's the update:
My blue hippo tang is now laying on his side (has been for almost 24 hrs) moving his fins and breathing(she's breathing some what labored) but that's it no eating and no swimming. My whiteface tang is swimming but is still not eating very well, although I noticed him eating a couple of the mysis that I put in the tank last night for their dinner. He is also breathing very fast and his white cheeks are pinkish, red. My diamond goby has been hiding under the sand for days, only comes out to eat. He came out this morning when I put the flake in the tank and I noticed he was on his side between the glass and one of our big shells in the tank. I moved the shell and he went back on his belly but his breathing I noticed is extremely labored as well. His face did look like it had a little bruising but that's it. He had that once before (the bruised marks) and he hid of a couple of days, then came out and the marks were gone. I'm wondering (looking at Beth's diease pictures if he has that fake bruising thing where it's really an infection, still no ich on him).
Water levels:
Ammonia: 0.25-0.5
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:20
pH: 7.8-8.0
Alkalinity: 8
Salinity: 1.009
Temp:78F
I'm going to do a water change today and try and suck out as much uneaten food as I can. I'm also going to remove the carbon for my filters for the melafix. I also bought Zoe yesterday for them. Is there anything I can give them or put in the water for nutrition since none of them are eating well? Something seems to be stressing all of them out badly.
My tangs still have the ich spots on them and my whiteface still pretty much looks like he did in the picture I posted. Any suggestions are much appreciated.... Thank You!
 
cashemin44

cashemin44

Member
cheeks on the whiteface tang look like the cheeks on the whiteface tang in Beth's diseased feish section. The picutuer is like second to last.
 
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