just got a tang, doing hypo right away to be safe...some q's

[peckhead]

well i just got a tomini tang. i have him in qt and i have started doing hypo. im doing it just to be safe. i have noticed one spot on his fin which may or may not be ick.
anyway. he was kept in 1.019 at the lfs and that is decently low so should i bring it down to 1.0009 quicker then 48 hours?
and one thing that i was never sure of. when doing hypo, can i take out a few gallons and put in a few gallons of ro, then come back 4 or 5 hours later and do the same thing? or does it have to be steady?
thanks for looking...

 

[beth]

For hypo to be effective, the salinity must be brought down to 14 ppt or 1.009 specific gravity, using a refractometer preferably. What are you using to measure specific gravity?

 

[peckhead]

Originally Posted by Beth
For hypo to be effective, the salinity must be brought down to 14 ppt or 1.009 specific gravity, using a refractometer preferably. What are you using to measure specific gravity?

i have a refractometer.
i just dont know how steady it needs to be brought down.
i have done hypo before on my 90g and all i had to do was take out water and drip my ro into t he tank. its not that easy this time.how steady of a rate do i need to lower the sg?is it ok if it is done in less then 48hours? i dont want to take any change of having ick in my dt.

 

[jktenpro]

I have done hypo in a quarantine 3 times successfully and have brought salinity down 4 pts with 4 water changes in 2 days(1.025 to 1.009).
In your case dropping 2.5 pts with 4 water changes in 2 days would work
(1.019 to 1.009). In a 20 gal which I think you have just pull out 2 gallons and fill back up with ro/di until you drop 2.5 pts you might need more or less water to pull the following times. Calibrate your refractometer(once in awhile mine is off) and monitor ph.
I have read on Fenner's website that Steven Pro and Fenner have put fish directly into hypo conditions with no ill effect with extremely affected fish, although they wouldn't recommend this. 1 to 3 days seems to be the average. Osmotic shock is what you are trying to achieve. Your fish may not even have ich but as a precautionary bringing it down in 2 days is good.
I have raised salinity back up 2 pts a day, one in the morning and one at night.