Hyposalinity

spnohio

Member
I am doing hyposailinity for my powder brown tang. I noticed when i tested the ammonia it was 20ppm, is this normal when doing hypo? the hypo is 14 ppm. is water changes only going to drop the ammonia?
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by spnohio
http:///forum/post/2907969
I am doing hyposailinity for my powder brown tang. I noticed when i tested the ammonia it was 20ppm, is this normal when doing hypo? the hypo is 14 ppm. is water changes only going to drop the ammonia?
Normal if you did this in your display, or if you did not cycle your qt. In either case this is not good. Yes, do water changes and get this to 0. Find out what the cause is and eliminate it.
 

spnohio

Member
Well since he is breathing really hard and changed a little color darker grey, and i don't know the source of the ammonia yet, i put him on our display sump/fuge, seems to be doing a little better, this will give him a better environment to live for now ammonia free? i know there is no ammonia there. Can fish live in the sump/fuge?
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by spnohio
http:///forum/post/2908046
Well since he is breathing really hard and changed a little color darker grey, and i don't know the source of the ammonia yet, i put him on our display sump/fuge, seems to be doing a little better, this will give him a better environment to live for now ammonia free? i know there is no ammonia there. Can fish live in the sump/fuge?
Are you doing hypo in the display?? If so, the die off on your rock and sand is the cause...and if this is the case being in the sump won't help...it has the same water.
or did you move it from a qt with 1.009 salinity to a display with somewhere around 1.020 salinity....that big of a jump is NOT good and is probably worse for the fish. Did you cycle the qt...if not this is the cause of the ammonia, and you would have to do daily water changes to keep it in check.
 

dnvrbrown

Member
I was one of the nieve individuals who didn't have a QT and when my fish got ich...guess what? I realized I had no choice. I had to do a QT without cycling it and the only way I am keeping my fish alive and the amonia level down is daily water changes. I have been changing at least 1/2 of the water and they are doing really well now, but like I said...the water changes are still a must. Its a lot of work, but they are worth it in my opinion. I know now that I need to keep the QT set up for sure. I'm like USIRCHCHRIS, if you are doing hypo in your display, that's the cause of the die off and amonia spike. I would hate to lose everything on my rock and sand in my display. Leave the display empty while you hypo in a QT and let the parasites fade away. That realy is your best way to go. Good Luck
 

spnohio

Member
usirchchris and dnvrbrown - you know i have live sand in the qt. I didn't even think about it till i tested i am sure its the live sand. I needed to take the sand out and I forgot. Well, as of 6:30 pb tang was doing really great in the sump/fug, he struggled for a while, but has made it so far. Yes, i know that taking him from 1.009 to 1.020 from 14 to 28ppm was a huge jump. i had no other choice at the time, he would have died from the ammonia spike, so i tried whatever i could, lesson learned, i hope it doesn't cost him his life. So, can he live in the sump/fug for a while, it has a uv, skimmer too? the reason i didn't put him back in the display was that he had a small amount of ich, hence the qt tank. the hypo- worked but its only been a week. any advice what to do? he got ich from the flame angel stressing him. if i rearrange the rocks would this calm the flame angel down? i have a 75 gal with lr, crabs, snails, orange spotted goby, scopas tang, royal gramma and a flame. please give me your suggestions?
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by spnohio
http:///forum/post/2908489
usirchchris and dnvrbrown - you know i have live sand in the qt. I didn't even think about it till i tested i am sure its the live sand. I needed to take the sand out and I forgot. Well, as of 6:30 pb tang was doing really great in the sump/fug, he struggled for a while, but has made it so far. Yes, i know that taking him from 1.009 to 1.020 from 14 to 28ppm was a huge jump. i had no other choice at the time, he would have died from the ammonia spike, so i tried whatever i could, lesson learned, i hope it doesn't cost him his life. So, can he live in the sump/fug for a while, it has a uv, skimmer too? the reason i didn't put him back in the display was that he had a small amount of ich, hence the qt tank. the hypo- worked but its only been a week. any advice what to do? he got ich from the flame angel stressing him. if i rearrange the rocks would this calm the flame angel down? i have a 75 gal with lr, crabs, snails, orange spotted goby, scopas tang, royal gramma and a flame. please give me your suggestions?
Ok, so I am on the same page. You had ich in your dt...you took one fish out, and left the rest in. You put the 1 fish in qt for a week, then put him in the sump of the dt. If I am understanding this correctly...you are back at square 1. If there was ich in the dt, you have to get all of the fish out, and in a qt. If one fish in your dt has ich...they all do. 1 week would not have killed off the ich on the 1 fish anyhow, so you have not lost anything really besides the week. I would get the sand out of the qt, and make sure the tank is cycled. When this is done put all of the fish in. There is no benefit of putting that fish in the sump of the DT...might as well be in the tank with the others at this point.
 

spnohio

Member
Yes, when I put the pb tang in the dt, the flame starting pestering the pb tang to the point that pb tang was getting stressed and starting to get ich. I immediately, caught pb tang and put him in the qt tank. all levels at that time was great in the qt tank. I had to bring up the ph while lowering the sp grav. and salinity from 28 to 14. There is no sign of ich in the display on any of my fish, thank god. PB tang has just a few spots on his fins now, I live away on the weekdays so I cant tinker with my qt tank till next week, should i keep PB tang in the sump/fug?
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by spnohio
http:///forum/post/2908544
There is no sign of ich in the display on any of my fish, thank god. PB tang has just a few spots on his fins now, I live away on the weekdays so I cant tinker with my qt tank till next week, should i keep PB tang in the sump/fug?
It doesn't matter really...all of your fish now have ich. Even if you can't see it...it is there. I will bet you money if you put that tang into qt...rid of the ich..., then put it back into the DT with all the fish you didn't take out...it will end right back up with ich. Beth has a sticky on the life cycle of ich...you should give that a read.
 

daphne

Member
Originally Posted by usirchchris
http:///forum/post/2908557
It doesn't matter really...all of your fish now have ich. Even if you can't see it...it is there. I will bet you money if you put that tang into qt...rid of the ich..., then put it back into the DT with all the fish you didn't take out...it will end right back up with ich. Beth has a sticky on the life cycle of ich...you should give that a read.
I'm going through the same problem than Spnohio and I had to remove my trigger in emergency to put it in a QT tank that did not cycle. Now I have setup another tank for the rest of the fish and I'm planning to let it cycle before transfering the fish. For the trigger, I'll go with water change and hope for the best (hyposalinity). The other tank will be cycle by the time I'll add the fish. However, I'm going to progressively decrease salinity, will the tank cycle again because things will die on the LR and sand of the QT?
I wanted sand even if it is a QT because my gobby love to burrow and I don't want to stress it more than necessary.
Thanks!
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by daphne
http:///forum/post/2908723
However, I'm going to progressively decrease salinity, will the tank cycle again because things will die on the LR and sand of the QT?
Thanks!
Most likely yes, this will cause an ammonia spike. Also keep in mind that you will loose many if not all of the beneficial critters on the live rock and sand...it essentially becomes dead rock and sand. You can re-seed it...but I would just have the goby go without it for a month. Bare bottom and PVC for hiding places.
 

daphne

Member
Originally Posted by usirchchris
http:///forum/post/2908730
Most likely yes, this will cause an ammonia spike.
So then there is no chance to avoid ammonia spike when doing hyposalinity. I guess if there are enough bacteria because the tank cycle it won't be so bad. I just have a tetra filter (carbon and some sort of bioball).
Any recommendations?
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by daphne
http:///forum/post/2908734
So then there is no chance to avoid ammonia spike when doing hyposalinity. I guess if there are enough bacteria because the tank cycle it won't be so bad. I just have a tetra filter (carbon and some sort of bioball).
Any recommendations?
If you hypo the entire DT, you will kill all of the critters in your rock and sand. Do a quarantine tank. Bare bottom and pvc for hiding. The goby will be OK for 1 month
, and your rock and sand will thank you. Besides that, the ammonia may get so high that it nukes your tank, and all the bacteria will have to "re-set" for lack of a better term.
 

dnvrbrown

Member
the way to avoid it is to remove the sand and rock. Most recommend in a non-emergency situation to cycle the QT with a piece of live rock before doing the hypo and once you get ready to put the fish in, just simply remove the rock. During down time, you can also keep the filter cartridge in the display sump to keep it "active" and allow the benificial bacteria to remain alive until you are ready to use. I actually read that in one of the other posts and thought it was a great idea.
 

daphne

Member
Originally Posted by usirchchris
http:///forum/post/2908749
If you hypo the entire DT, you will kill all of the critters in your rock and sand. Do a quarantine tank. Bare bottom and pvc for hiding. The goby will be OK for 1 month
, and your rock and sand will thank you. Besides that, the ammonia may get so high that it nukes your tank, and all the bacteria will have to "re-set" for lack of a better term.
No not in the DT, I have a reef tank no way my invert would survive such a drop in salinity. I was talking of setting up a QT with LR and LS. I've read the Ick is present for 6 weeks so I'm not sure how happy would be the gobby sand to burrow or the blenny without algea to graze on the LR...
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by daphne
http:///forum/post/2908766
No not in the DT, I have a reef tank no way my invert would survive such a drop in salinity. I was talking of setting up a QT with LR and LS. I've read the Ick is present for 6 weeks so I'm not sure how happy would be the gobby sand to burrow or the blenny without algea to graze on the LR...
Algae dies off in hyposalinity. I am speaking from experience here. I hypo'd a DT...fowlr no inverts....I have also coppered a DT before....would not recommend it to anyone. The sand I guess you could put in for the goby, (I wouldn't) but I definitely would not put any live rock in. Use PVC for hiding, and you can add algae or seaweed strips for the blenny to chomp on.
 

daphne

Member
Originally Posted by usirchchris
http:///forum/post/2908790
Algae dies off in hyposalinity. I am speaking from experience here. I hypo'd a DT...fowlr no inverts....I have also coppered a DT before....would not recommend it to anyone. The sand I guess you could put in for the goby, (I wouldn't) but I definitely would not put any live rock in. Use PVC for hiding, and you can add algae or seaweed strips for the blenny to chomp on.
i'll try that butI'm afraid my blenny won't eat the added algea (he doesn't in the DT). However, he eats brine shrimps, so even if it is not a good diet I guess it couldkeep him alive for the time of the QT.
Thanks!
 
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usirchchris

Guest
Originally Posted by daphne
http:///forum/post/2908821
i'll try that butI'm afraid my blenny won't eat the added algea (he doesn't in the DT). However, he eats brine shrimps, so even if it is not a good diet I guess it couldkeep him alive for the time of the QT.
Thanks!
Just soak the brine in something like selcon, zoecon, or vitachem...that will help.
 
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