Going to try hyposalinity

mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
Sound like you are doing great job if the fish is still eating during the lowering of salinity. One tip I do during the three weeks of hypo is to lower the salinity to 1.008, because I'm at work about 12hrs and can not check the tank. So by the time get home and the salinity goes up due to evaporation it doesn’t go above 1.009. Lower is better than higher and all the fish I hypo'd showed no sign of ill effect from this.
 
clown-lover

clown-lover

Member
Thanks for that tip. I was curious as to if it was ok if it was at 1.008 or 1.010 and not exactly at 1.009. Was wondering if I had that room for error when doing water changes or not. Now I know it's better lower than higher.
How many water changes should I be doing on this hypo QT tank? It's a 10 gallon
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I recall reading a post that said that 1.012 is the magic number for preventing ich from reproducing but people use 1.009 just in case you might get a swing up a point or two you are safe.
Don't quote me on that, just recalling something ive read recently on another thread here.
 
pirates

pirates

Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3277422
you can't use copper and hypo at the same time. Pirates, what are you saying?
He's lowered his salinity on purpose to kill the ich cycle.
CL, sounds like everything is going good. good to have a refractometer for the hypo.
So if im reading the directions correctly you need to get the ich to not show any more visable signs and then continue the hypo treatment for 4 weeks after you see the last sign of ich.
I do know from talking to joe and some others that the hypo works be not allowing the cells to divide when in the tomont stage. effectively killing the cycle.
good luck,
Im doing copper treatment right now, today is day #9 of 30. fish are looking great. eating good, much better than I was expecting when dosing somehting that could potentially kill them. So far so good.
I did and it worked for me i had a fish that just could not get rid of ick so set my salt at 1.012 know lower then used copper and the others that i said and the fish had no ick in one week and the fish was bad before i started thought i was going to lose the fish tried every thing that i could do and seemed that nothing would work so i am just saying what worked for me i saved my fish and it was bad just giving my input on how i saved my clown fish i still have my fish
and do a slow slow acclimation do the drip if you do not do that right you will kill your fish
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
everything ive ever read say not to mix the two medications. one or the other will work just fine. Im guessing that the problem you had with eliminating the ich was:
A.) you didnt treat for 4 weeks or more
B.) once the fish looked clear of ich you thought it was cured
C.) perhaps you were able to kill the ich in your QT tank but when you added the fish back to the DT there was still ich present there becuase you didnt leave the tank fishless for the full duration of the tomont cyst cycle wich can be about 29 days
If any of these things happened (easy to do) that could be the cause of your original medication not working by itself.
 
clown-lover

clown-lover

Member
Just posting an update for my own sake.
Yesterday marked day one of the 4 weeks. Water is at a steady 1.010. pH doesn't want to get to 8.2, it stays at 8.0 (when I add sodium carbonate to it) otherwise it drops to 7.8. Temp is 78. Fish is eating 3 times a day. I take out what he doesn't eat. No signs of stress or ich.
My DT is fishless, things are going fine in that tank other than some small sort of plant or algae growth. I feed my cleaner shrimp twice a day. And I don't know if I am seeing copepods becasue my fish was eating them, or if its just coincidence...but they are all over the glass by the sand and back wall. Cool! Also getting some spots of coralline growth, yay!
Wondering....anyone know if it would be ok to add coral to my DT right now?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
yes as long as its not more fish you are ok to add corals. good idea to dip them in a soulution before adding :)
 
bs

bs

Member
Hi everyone,
I also have some clowns with ich. The one is doing ok, but the other is losing color and not swimming well. I am treating them right in the DT, since that is all that I have in there. Is there any point of doing a freshwater dip on each of them and then putting them back in? Or does that defeat the purpose since I'm putting them back in the tank that has ich?
Thanks! Don't mean to steal your thread!
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
the dip it to knock off critters that may be hanging on the side of the fish and such, not really to kill ich. ich when on the fish is protected inside of the fish in a cycst that is protected by the fish itself.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
sure you can dip them, but its not going to cure the ich, just knock off other parasites that don't have the benefit of the fishes protection. if the fish is on its deathbed I'd skip the dip sicne it might push it over the edge
 
bs

bs

Member
So both of my clowns ended up dying in the span of about 3 days from when I first noticed that they had spots. Originally I thought I was dealing with ich, but I think that it may have been brookynella. I'm going to let my tank sit without fish for quite a while now.
Next time I get clowns (or any fish). Can I treat them with medications to prevent brookynella/ich, before I see any signs or symptoms? Or is it best to only treat what you can see?
Thanks
 
bs

bs

Member
I just read something saying you could rid your tank of ich in 4 days if the temperature is above 80. Does anyone know if this is true?
 
srfisher17

srfisher17

Active Member
Re: Post #33This is NOT true. There are zillions of stupid (IMO) ideas to make parasite control work easier or faster; I've never seen any credible evidence that any of them work. They just kill more fish and drive off more hobbiests. All increasing temp does is speed up the life-cycle of the parasite a tiny bit and 80 degrees is not a high temp at all. Your tank should be fishless for at least 4 weeks. In the mean time, if you don't have a QT; try to get one. It is a minimal investment that pay for itself in no time. (Try Craigs list.)
Re: your post#32 I do preventative treatment in QT on all new fish; but I don't really suggest it. It is controversial and will do more harm than good if you aren't exact. I use copper; it will kill ich, but not brooklynella (Clownfish disease.) I'd do all the research you can on fish diseases and parasites before you add another fish, this knowledge is vital for long-term success in the hobby.
 
bs

bs

Member
Ok, I didn't think that raising the temperature would work that well anyways. I do have a QT now, so next time I won't add anything to the DT until I know they're all healthy.
And I've been reading a lot on parasites now. Nothing makes you want to research about parasites more than having some of your own in your tank!
 
srfisher17

srfisher17

Active Member
Originally Posted by BS
http:///forum/post/3278309
Ok, I didn't think that raising the temperature would work that well anyways. I do have a QT now, so next time I won't add anything to the DT until I know they're all healthy.
And I've been reading a lot on parasites now. Nothing makes you want to research about parasites more than having some of your own in your tank!
I think most people in this hobby have learned many things the hard way.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
there is a temp that kills the ich but I think its something like 95 or something, so needless to say your fish probably wouldnt live through it either :p
 
srfisher17

srfisher17

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3278738
there is a temp that kills the ich but I think its something like 95 or something, so needless to say your fish probably wouldnt live through it either :p
Whatever the high temp is (95 sounds too low); I'll bet that temp would kill everything on your LR, including friendly bacteria.
 
clown-lover

clown-lover

Member
Just wanted to thank everyone for all the advice!
My clown is in his home now, as of today. He did pretty darn good in QT/hypo. He did lose some meat on his bones due to me trying to keep ammonia down...but now that he's in the DT, I plan on feeding him a little extra to keep him fat and happy.
I really rely on these fourms to get me through my struggles in this hobby...this one was a big one for me...but with y'alls help, I got through it (and so did my clown!)

Thanks again ever so much!
 
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