ick or bubbles?

[flsurf420]

ok well my protein skimmer some times shoots into the wetdry pump. and make tiny air bubbles. well about 10 min ago i saw spots on the tail and swimming fins of 2 of my butterflys. the tanks been set up for about a year. but a set of fish a while back had ick and died and the only thing that lived were 3 damsels. well a couple moths after that i started to buy fish again. could it still be in the tank, or should i wait until tomorrow to find out the truth. and how would i treat it, with 4 shrimp and about 10 snails.

 

[flsurf420]

will hypo kill the shrimp?

 

[flsurf420]

ok went to the lfs and got my water tested they said everything was ok but the salt was at .027 n said that could be the cause. so he told me to drop the salt down to about .020 slowly and they might clear up. well took about 18 gallons of sw out and put 18 of fw. now its down to .024 should that help any. its probably been this high the whole time but my old hydrometer said it was alot lower like .023 so i bought a new one and thats how i got ^ those readings.

 

[beth]

If you want accurate salinity reading, do not ever use a swing arm hydromter. They are so off the mark that they are worthless, and, in fact, harmful.
Go with a high grade glass hydrometer or, better, a refractometer. There is info on refracts in the FAQ Thread as well as info on hyposalinity.

 

[flsurf420]

ok well since i probably cant afford one, i'll have to stick with my new swing arm. anyway i just moved the fish out of the 180 and into the 35 hex. i gave my friend 2 of the 3 damsels and couldn't find the 3rd. will look for it tomorrow when the tank clears up. anyway now to do the hypo is it ok to take the sw out of the 35 and back in to the 180 and fill the 35 up with fresh water? could the 3rd one have jumped out?

 

[flsurf420]

no the new hydrometer is the one saying 1.027 while the other said it was 1.023. no i couldn't do the QT because i didnt have a tank to put them in until now. i am in the process of hypo right now.