i am preforming hypo in dt...

[peckhead]

ok so i took sepultan(sp)'s advice and am doing hypo in my dt. i took out the live rock and inverts. all there is is sand and a possibly snails that may be alive or may be dead that im not too worried about.
i took out alot of the water and have my r/o running into my tank so it will slowly lower the salinity.
my questions are....
1. do i NEED to have a powerhead in the tub holding some LR? i am running out of power heads since i have so much rock one of my containers doesnt have a powerhead in it but they all have heaters.
2. when i put my rock back in my tank, it wont cause any kinda cycle again or anything right?
3. is it ok that i dont have any filtration for a couple days since im redoing my sump/fuge?
4. is it ok if it take me more then 48hours to lower the salinity to 1.009? or must it be done in 48hours?
5. after bout 4 weeks of the fish being in hypo, and the rock in its own container(one container with shirmp and rocks) all the ick will have died and i will never have to worry about ick again,......right?????(i hope)
thanks alot in advance...

 

[geridoc]

Originally Posted by peckhead
ok so i took sepultan(sp)'s advice and am doing hypo in my dt. i took out the live rock and inverts. all there is is sand and a possibly snails that may be alive or may be dead that im not too worried about.
i took out alot of the water and have my r/o running into my tank so it will slowly lower the salinity.
my questions are....
1. do i NEED to have a powerhead in the tub holding some LR? i am running out of power heads since i have so much rock one of my containers doesnt have a powerhead in it but they all have heaters.
You need circulation in the containers, so I think you should have a powerhead.
Originally Posted by peckhead
2. when i put my rock back in my tank, it wont cause any kinda cycle again or anything right?
Not if it was kept under good conditions during hypo.
Originally Posted by peckhead
3. is it ok that i dont have any filtration for a couple days since im redoing my sump/fuge?
I would be more concerned about the water conditions in the dt regardless of the sump status - after all, you have removed all of the live rock, meaning most of the bacteria. Watch very closely for an ammonium surge, and have water prepared for emergency changes.
Originally Posted by peckhead
4. is it ok if it take me more then 48hours to lower the salinity to 1.009? or must it be done in 48hours?
Not a problem. Take it very slow when you come back up. I prefer 4-5 days.
Originally Posted by peckhead
5. after bout 4 weeks of the fish being in hypo, and the rock in its own container(one container with shirmp and rocks) all the ick will have died and i will never have to worry about ick again,......right?????(i hope)
You got that right!

 

[sepulatian]

4. is it ok if it take me more then 48hours to lower the salinity to 1.009? or must it be done in 48hours?
All looks good with the exception of this. It must be done within the 48hrs. If you take longer then the ich can adjust. Parasites have an amazing ability to adapt. Drop it within the 48hrs. And the rock needs two power heads, one blowing in each direction or you will get dead spots.

 

[peckhead]

what if it is done quicker then 48 hours? i seem to be right on target. i didnt leave my ro on last night so im going to start it again right now. my fish dont seem to happy right now with out there rock. the eel wouldnt eat yesterday

 

[heddy]

i went to the hardware store (home depot) and bought big plumbing tubes things l- white pvc tubes about 4 inch diameter and you can hook them together or just build them up. my fish were way less skittish when they had places to hide during hypo... i would think an eel would want somewhere to hide - i dont know any eels personally though.... :thinking:

 

[peckhead]

i have pvc in the tank. only the eel goes in it and he isnt eating anyway...they are all just sitting around kinda not swimming

 

[beth]

I prefer fake coral type of stuff for QT, but they are kinda expensive.

 

[peckhead]

is it normal that my eel who would normally eat anything will not eat right now? the rest of the fish are starting to look pretty good though..

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by peckhead
is it normal that my eel who would normally eat anything will not eat right now? the rest of the fish are starting to look pretty good though..
If you dropped the salinity too quickly you may see some negative effects for the fish. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do about it if it has already been done.

 

[peckhead]

i dont think i dropped it to quickly. its almost 48 hours and i still havent gotten to 1.009 but im almost there. im pretty sure i did it at a pretty good rate since i have just been dripping my r.o into the tank...he is swimming around and everything but sometimes when he is in the pvc he stays upside down or sideways with his head sticking out of the tube and he shows no interest in the food like he normally did. do u think he is just getting used to it?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by peckhead
i dont think i dropped it to quickly. its almost 48 hours and i still havent gotten to 1.009 but im almost there. im pretty sure i did it at a pretty good rate since i have just been dripping my r.o into the tank...he is swimming around and everything but sometimes when he is in the pvc he stays upside down or sideways with his head sticking out of the tube and he shows no interest in the food like he normally did. do u think he is just getting used to it?
It is not unusual for an eel to go on a minor hunger strike. I'm sure he will start eating again once he is more comfortable. Keep trying, but don't leave excess food in there if he doesn't eat.

 

[peckhead]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
It is not unusual for an eel to go on a minor hunger strike. I'm sure he will start eating again once he is more comfortable. Keep trying, but don't leave excess food in there if he doesn't eat.

ok thanks again.
im aware eels can go weeks at a time with out eating, i just never thought mine would because he loves to eat. i dont actually put food in ever since hte other day because he didnt eat. i just stick the feeding stick in. that is how i ussually tell if he is hungry because no matter what he normally chases the stick around with food or not.
the 48 hours is almost up, the clownfish still seems to have some ick, not that badly though. once the 48 hours is up, what should i do next? just sit and watch for a couple weeks?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by peckhead
ok thanks again.
im aware eels can go weeks at a time with out eating, i just never thought mine would because he loves to eat. i dont actually put food in ever since hte other day because he didnt eat. i just stick the feeding stick in. that is how i ussually tell if he is hungry because no matter what he normally chases the stick around with food or not.
the 48 hours is almost up, the clownfish still seems to have some ick, not that badly though. once the 48 hours is up, what should i do next? just sit and watch for a couple weeks?
It can take up to a week for the ich to drop off. Once the water is down to 1.009, monitor it very closely. Do not let it get above 1.009 Test it twice a day and top off as needed.

 

[peckhead]

what if it gets lower ? could that be bad?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by peckhead
what if it gets lower ? could that be bad?
If it is for a few days that is ok, as long as it isn't much lower. Some fish start to get stressed if it is too low for weeks at a time. If it is at 1.008 for a few days then that is not a big deal. Try to keep the level as consistant as possible.

 

[peckhead]

and how long do i leave the fish in the hypo?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by peckhead
and how long do i leave the fish in the hypo?
Once all signs of ich are gone, begin to count three weeks. After the three weeks take another week to raise the sg backup. Check the date that you pulled them out of the display tank. The display has to remain fishless for 6 weeks. Just keep the fish in the QT for the remaining time.

 

[sepulatian]

Sorry, I just noticed that you are performing hypo in the DT, so skip that last step. Just count the three weeks after all of the ich have dropped off, then raise the sg over another week.

 

[peckhead]

ok cool thank you. i have already seen a drastic change in the clownfish(my only fish that shows any sign of ick) it is almsot all the way dropped off but im not getting excited yet...

 

[peckhead]

how long should it take before there is no ick on my clown?