gdown
Member
Hyopsalinity to cure saltwater ich.
Saltwater ich is a disease caused by tiny parasites of either Cyptocaryon or Oodinium. These parasites imbed themselves in the fish's skin and gills, causing great irritation. Initial symptoms usually include loss of appetite, rapid breathing and scratching. The parasites feed and grow for a few days, then drop off the fish in preparation for reproducing. They lie on the tank bottom in an encysted state for several days or weeks and mature. Each cyst then ruptures, releasing dozens to hundred of new parasites to begin the cycle once again. In nature or in very uncrowded aquariums, very few of these parasites are successful in finding a host, and their population is kept in check. In a more typical aquarium situation, however, the number of parasites multiplies tenfold or more with each cycle, and the fish are soon overcome. There are many products on the market designed to kill ich, I have found that NONE of them truly do it. There is only one tried and true method to cure saltwater ich, Hyposalinity. Hyposalinity is simply the slow lowering of the specific gravity of the water to a level of 1.009, a level which fish can survive comfortably but the ich parasites cannot.
If you have a reef tank, and there are inverts, live rock, and live sand, you MUST prepare a hospital tank to put your fish in to perform hyposalinity, You can not hyposaline your reef tank, you'll lose everything in it but the fish, which is obviously not the goal here. I know its tough to catch fish in a reef tank, believe me, but you have to do it! The good part is, if you do it once, you'll never have to do it again if you follow quarantine procedures with future fish purchases. If you have a fish only tank, you can choose to treat the tank itself, or remove the fish(all of them)to a hospital tank for treatment. If you have live rock and/or live sand in a fish only tank, you'll need to do this or you'll lose the filtration benefit of your live rock/sand.
A hospital tank can be a simple glass tank with no substrate, a hang-on filter, a heater, light, and pvc pipes or clean rocks for hiding places. Nothing fancy, nothing special. Your fish will be in there 30 days, and they'll be okay.
To begin hyposalinity, your hospital tank should be prepared in advance, using water from the main tank. If you're doing hypo in the main tank, just follow the hypo steps.
The specific gravity of the tank must be lowered gradually to a level of 1.009. Lower the salinity over a 48 hour period by removing water from the tank, and replacing it with fresh water. Remember as salinity goes lower, it will take greater volumes of water change to get lower readings. If the ich on the fish is really bad, (they look like someone put salt all over them) do it over 36, or 24 hours. 48 is safer, if possible. After you have the water at 1.009, the best part comes. The ich will die over the course of 2-5 days, you'll see the spots dissappear from your fish. You're not done yet, leave them in there for 30 days. I know its tough, but its a must. Also, be sure to put ALL fish in there, not just the ones with visible signs of ich. Ich can be carried but not visible on hardy fish, and it must be eradicated.
After 30 days at 1.009, you must take a FULL WEEK to raise the salinity back up to normal(1.0232_1.025). Higher dalinity is tougher on fish then lower, so you take your time with this. Again just remove tank water and replace it with full(or slightly higher) salinity water over a week, until its back to normal. Wait another day or two, and then put your fish back, ich free, into your tank. Any remaining ich in the tank will have died off a long time ago, since without a fish host, the ich parasite will die in 48 hours. No problem there. To prevent future breakouts, apply this procedure to new fish purchases, and you have an ich free saltwater future.
the author is unknown to me but should be given credit for this informative piece.
Saltwater ich is a disease caused by tiny parasites of either Cyptocaryon or Oodinium. These parasites imbed themselves in the fish's skin and gills, causing great irritation. Initial symptoms usually include loss of appetite, rapid breathing and scratching. The parasites feed and grow for a few days, then drop off the fish in preparation for reproducing. They lie on the tank bottom in an encysted state for several days or weeks and mature. Each cyst then ruptures, releasing dozens to hundred of new parasites to begin the cycle once again. In nature or in very uncrowded aquariums, very few of these parasites are successful in finding a host, and their population is kept in check. In a more typical aquarium situation, however, the number of parasites multiplies tenfold or more with each cycle, and the fish are soon overcome. There are many products on the market designed to kill ich, I have found that NONE of them truly do it. There is only one tried and true method to cure saltwater ich, Hyposalinity. Hyposalinity is simply the slow lowering of the specific gravity of the water to a level of 1.009, a level which fish can survive comfortably but the ich parasites cannot.
If you have a reef tank, and there are inverts, live rock, and live sand, you MUST prepare a hospital tank to put your fish in to perform hyposalinity, You can not hyposaline your reef tank, you'll lose everything in it but the fish, which is obviously not the goal here. I know its tough to catch fish in a reef tank, believe me, but you have to do it! The good part is, if you do it once, you'll never have to do it again if you follow quarantine procedures with future fish purchases. If you have a fish only tank, you can choose to treat the tank itself, or remove the fish(all of them)to a hospital tank for treatment. If you have live rock and/or live sand in a fish only tank, you'll need to do this or you'll lose the filtration benefit of your live rock/sand.
A hospital tank can be a simple glass tank with no substrate, a hang-on filter, a heater, light, and pvc pipes or clean rocks for hiding places. Nothing fancy, nothing special. Your fish will be in there 30 days, and they'll be okay.
To begin hyposalinity, your hospital tank should be prepared in advance, using water from the main tank. If you're doing hypo in the main tank, just follow the hypo steps.
The specific gravity of the tank must be lowered gradually to a level of 1.009. Lower the salinity over a 48 hour period by removing water from the tank, and replacing it with fresh water. Remember as salinity goes lower, it will take greater volumes of water change to get lower readings. If the ich on the fish is really bad, (they look like someone put salt all over them) do it over 36, or 24 hours. 48 is safer, if possible. After you have the water at 1.009, the best part comes. The ich will die over the course of 2-5 days, you'll see the spots dissappear from your fish. You're not done yet, leave them in there for 30 days. I know its tough, but its a must. Also, be sure to put ALL fish in there, not just the ones with visible signs of ich. Ich can be carried but not visible on hardy fish, and it must be eradicated.
After 30 days at 1.009, you must take a FULL WEEK to raise the salinity back up to normal(1.0232_1.025). Higher dalinity is tougher on fish then lower, so you take your time with this. Again just remove tank water and replace it with full(or slightly higher) salinity water over a week, until its back to normal. Wait another day or two, and then put your fish back, ich free, into your tank. Any remaining ich in the tank will have died off a long time ago, since without a fish host, the ich parasite will die in 48 hours. No problem there. To prevent future breakouts, apply this procedure to new fish purchases, and you have an ich free saltwater future.
the author is unknown to me but should be given credit for this informative piece.
