question beth
- Thread starter hoycetee
- Start date
hoycetee
Member
yah i have had my salt level at 1.009 since last friday, i dont see any difference with the fish if anything i think one looks a little worse, but i guess all i can do is wait it out for a couple more weeks and see what happens, if there not cured in three wekks do you keep going until all signs of ich are gone then bring my sg up.
mavgi
Member
look on this trade what the member diane4 said to about the hypo.
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=179967
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?t=179967
hoycetee
Member
well my question now is when i get new fish i put them in my qt tank for how long and under what conditions do i keep my sg. cause now that i'm treating my clowns i have in hypo and i'm getting a naso tang in a week and don't want anything to happen to him with disease cause he's pricey. my qt tank for him will be a 120g so he well be happy untill he goes into my 125g display. i want to use my 120 as a qt for my naso when i get him, which i put him in my display i will be turning it into a aggresive fish tank.
but my question above about the qt tank is what i need help with since i'm now starting to purchase fish after having my tank up and running for over 2 months and just added a refugium this week
but my question above about the qt tank is what i need help with since i'm now starting to purchase fish after having my tank up and running for over 2 months and just added a refugium this week
diane4
Member
Originally Posted by Beth
You need to wait the full 3 wk for hypo and then take another near week to bring the salinity up. Don't put a new fish in that tank until the current fish have been acclimated back to the display.
And don't rush the process or you will be back to square one.
From experience, I will testify what Beth is saying, you have to do the process exactly with no shortcuts or you will not only spend work, time, money and energy for possibly nothing to only have the ich come back.
Hearing on the various threads on this forum that fish only can live in hypo mode for quite a while, I chose to take the most common opinion of how long the fish must be in hypo AFTER the very last spot of ich is gone, thats when you start the clock. The clock does not count while you are working on lowering salt levels and it does not count when you are raising salt level. Clock starts only after you have the fish at the hypo salinity level AND the very last visible spot is gone. Then you begin the count.
I went for 6 weeks in that mode - fish were fine. I had one issue though, I used Maracyne once while in hypo mode and it made my fish very very ill one night, almost lost him. I do not recomend medications at full stregnth in hypo, if any at all. At least that was my experience. The only reason why I tried some Maracyn while in hypo is because I read that secondary infections are fairly common from ich condition. I thought he had a cloudy eye or a little cloudy and thought I was doing a good thing, it was just all too much for his system.
Keep the water temp and salinity stable, lights on a scheduled timer, let them eat when they are hungry to rebuild their energy, nutrition and imune system and don't make any other changes during that time of hypo. No meds, no new fish, no decoration changes. Keep it simple.
I found that I think my fish did very well with very small baby steps to brint his salt level back up. People are right on the money that raising the salt back up is more stressfull for the fish that lowering the salt. I saw the difference. For that reason, I never raised his salt level more than SG number at a time, (ie.., like 1.015 to 1.016). Wait a day or two, then raise it again. Sometimes because life is busy with other things or sometimes I think the fish didn't have a particularly good day, I even skipped 2 full days before I made any changes.
Good luck to you and don't listen to pet stores when they tell you that you can eliminate ich with 2 weeks of hypo. Wrong. Ich has a 28 days lfe cycle. If you do the match for retail business of a pet store, the hyposalinity lowers over a week, and by the second week the cycsts fall off. For the lfs, that is the magic time when they can start pushing the fish back out the door to new homes. For the loving owners that own the fish, that is only the beginning. The cycsts fall off the fish to the substrate. People think the ich is gone. However, the cysts that fell (and I know I am not using the correct word or names for the ich at the varous stages
), that is when ich re-occurs. The free floating cysts look again for a host of a fish passing by, jumps on the fish and viola, ich again. People think they got ich again, when in reality, they never fully eliminated the cycle.
It is clear to me, hypo takes time and patience, lots of tiny changes done carefully. And I will never introduce anything in my main display tank again without 3 weeks of QT. Maybe even longer. I don't ever want to go through that again, if I can avoid it.
But I learned from the best - saltwaterfish.com. Beth was a huge help with hypo - thanks Beth. My puffer is alive today, because of your help.
You need to wait the full 3 wk for hypo and then take another near week to bring the salinity up. Don't put a new fish in that tank until the current fish have been acclimated back to the display.
And don't rush the process or you will be back to square one.
From experience, I will testify what Beth is saying, you have to do the process exactly with no shortcuts or you will not only spend work, time, money and energy for possibly nothing to only have the ich come back.
Hearing on the various threads on this forum that fish only can live in hypo mode for quite a while, I chose to take the most common opinion of how long the fish must be in hypo AFTER the very last spot of ich is gone, thats when you start the clock. The clock does not count while you are working on lowering salt levels and it does not count when you are raising salt level. Clock starts only after you have the fish at the hypo salinity level AND the very last visible spot is gone. Then you begin the count.
I went for 6 weeks in that mode - fish were fine. I had one issue though, I used Maracyne once while in hypo mode and it made my fish very very ill one night, almost lost him. I do not recomend medications at full stregnth in hypo, if any at all. At least that was my experience. The only reason why I tried some Maracyn while in hypo is because I read that secondary infections are fairly common from ich condition. I thought he had a cloudy eye or a little cloudy and thought I was doing a good thing, it was just all too much for his system.
Keep the water temp and salinity stable, lights on a scheduled timer, let them eat when they are hungry to rebuild their energy, nutrition and imune system and don't make any other changes during that time of hypo. No meds, no new fish, no decoration changes. Keep it simple.
I found that I think my fish did very well with very small baby steps to brint his salt level back up. People are right on the money that raising the salt back up is more stressfull for the fish that lowering the salt. I saw the difference. For that reason, I never raised his salt level more than SG number at a time, (ie.., like 1.015 to 1.016). Wait a day or two, then raise it again. Sometimes because life is busy with other things or sometimes I think the fish didn't have a particularly good day, I even skipped 2 full days before I made any changes.
Good luck to you and don't listen to pet stores when they tell you that you can eliminate ich with 2 weeks of hypo. Wrong. Ich has a 28 days lfe cycle. If you do the match for retail business of a pet store, the hyposalinity lowers over a week, and by the second week the cycsts fall off. For the lfs, that is the magic time when they can start pushing the fish back out the door to new homes. For the loving owners that own the fish, that is only the beginning. The cycsts fall off the fish to the substrate. People think the ich is gone. However, the cysts that fell (and I know I am not using the correct word or names for the ich at the varous stages
It is clear to me, hypo takes time and patience, lots of tiny changes done carefully. And I will never introduce anything in my main display tank again without 3 weeks of QT. Maybe even longer. I don't ever want to go through that again, if I can avoid it.
But I learned from the best - saltwaterfish.com. Beth was a huge help with hypo - thanks Beth. My puffer is alive today, because of your help.
Glad it worked out for the little fella, Diane. I love pufferfish. Real pet fish.
Maracyn Two should work out fine in a fully cycled QT with lots of water circulation, however, in a new QT, many tanks, I've seen, have ended up crashing. Its just an antibiotic with VitB.
Maracyn Two should work out fine in a fully cycled QT with lots of water circulation, however, in a new QT, many tanks, I've seen, have ended up crashing. Its just an antibiotic with VitB.
aelene
Member
Originally Posted by Beth
If this is an uncyled tank, do it daily, using a combination of water from your display, and diluted it with DI water to achieve the same levels as the hyposaline conditions in the QT. Small water daily is better than infrequent larger changes.
Beth I have a question about this. Is it ok to use water from the main tank even though there is technically "ick" in it? Does it die the minute it hits hypo conditions? I have been using new FW and SW when doing my water changes and I'm wondering if using my display water will help bring in some bacteria to combat some of the spike of ammonia and nitrite i've been experiencing..
If this is an uncyled tank, do it daily, using a combination of water from your display, and diluted it with DI water to achieve the same levels as the hyposaline conditions in the QT. Small water daily is better than infrequent larger changes.
Beth I have a question about this. Is it ok to use water from the main tank even though there is technically "ick" in it? Does it die the minute it hits hypo conditions? I have been using new FW and SW when doing my water changes and I'm wondering if using my display water will help bring in some bacteria to combat some of the spike of ammonia and nitrite i've been experiencing..
hoycetee
Member
for what understand you don't start counting days in hypo until you see that your fish look healty then you start you count down, but if i read it write your display without fish ick can't survive and well start to vanish after 14 days
but i'am no expert but i do take my ro/di water and mix with display untill i get readings of 1.009 with my refracto
but i'am no expert but i do take my ro/di water and mix with display untill i get readings of 1.009 with my refracto