Will be Starting Hypo Treament Soon

alvin

alvin

Member
Well, last week my Kole Tang died. The next day I noticed spots on my Magnificent Foxface. Most likely Ich.
My DT is 110 gal with 1 - Mag Foxface; 1 - Fire fish Goby; and 2 - False Perc Clowns. The Clownfish and goby looks good, but I want to rid the DT of Ich completely, hopefully before Christmas.
I am planning on capturing all fishes and putting it in a Hospital Tank. However, I ONLY have a 15 gal tank. Should I buy another tank for treatment? If so, how large should it be? Can I put all 4 fish in to the same Hospital Tank?
Oh another question, I have a HOB filter that is rated for 15 Gal tank. BUT I also have 2 Fluval 405 filters on my DT right now. Should I just steal one from my DT and use that, along with the Filter Media (Just sponges and SeaChem Purigen) in it for the Hospital Tank during Hypo?
This will be my first Hypo, and I tried to read as much as I can. I am going to be baking up some Baking Soda hopefully today. My Refractometer should be coming tomorrow in the mail also.
So far my Foxface has been showing spots, but of course falls off, then shows up again. He's eating normal, but of course want to get him in to Hypo as soon as I can. And along with the other fish so no re-infection of Ich can happen.
So all advice and suggestions would be very helpful!
 
alvin

alvin

Member
To Maintain the PH level. That's right, isn't it?
So yah, I'm still curious regarding the Tank Size for all 4 fish, and whether I should use my Fluval 405. I think I can adjust the flow so it will not be too strong.
Ok, I will be waiting for some advice once again =)
 
luvmyreef

luvmyreef

Active Member
If I remember correctly, you shouldn't use baking soda to buffer your ph. You need to figure out why its low and fix the problem. PM beth about your hospital tank, she gives great advice for sick fish..
 
alvin

alvin

Member
I heard that if I bake the baking soda, then it will be the perfect PH buffer.
Anyways, any word on if I should use my Fluval 405 for Filtration during Hypo treatment?
My Refractometer should be here tomorrow.
 
pauloesco

pauloesco

Member
Your fluval ultimately wont work as Bio filtration as the bacteria who break down ammonia wont survive in the hyposaline water.
Good that you found part of the thread on hypo treatment -- since you read about making baked baking soda...
But why are you doing it? It only works for 1 thing -- ick. -- and you need to do it for over a month. Its much quicker easier and effective the copper your fish for part of the month in a q-tank with elevated temp and leave salinity alone. IMHO.
 
pauloesco

pauloesco

Member
Modification-- "most likely ick" if its not ick, hypo wont work. Meanwhile you need the main tank to sit fishless for 6 weeks!
And, when done you need to reintro your fish to maintank over weeks as its Bio capacity will have shrunk due to lack of bioload.
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
Sounds like you have done your research and understan how to do the hypo.
How big is the Foxface? If it is small, you may be able to make the 15g work, but if you have access to something larger, that would be great!
As far as filtration is concerned, you really just need something to move the water around. You don't need heavy filtration, as you will be doing water changes daily or possibly more than that.!
get ph to .009 and keep it there, maintian ph, and watch for ammonia, etc. When you are thru with the hypo, be sure to bring salinity back up very slowly. You can drop it quickly, but a quick raise in salinity can kill your fish!
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
be sure to get a fair amount of surface aggitation for good gas exchange, this should help keep your PH levels up and allow the CO2 to escape.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I prefer the copper as well, but its still a 4 week process. I like ti because it's a dose once and done (except if you are doing a water change you need to redose the amount you took out)
Hypo requires alot more hands on testing. And if your SG gets too high during the process you may have allowed some ich to continue its life cycle and it onky takes 1 to make hundreds.
 
alvin

alvin

Member
Ok, so I will leave my Fluval in the Main Tank. That is true, I will be doing water changes, so I guess it will not matter as far as filtration.
My Foxface is not big. Probably 4 inches? I'm just concerned having all 4 of my fishes in a small tank for over a month.
I know that Hypo takes a long time, but I want to do it right and stay away from Copper. I don't want to mess with Chemicals on the fishes.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by alvin http:///forum/thread/381578/will-be-starting-hypo-treament-soon#post_3324792
Ok, so I will leave my Fluval in the Main Tank. That is true, I will be doing water changes, so I guess it will not matter as far as filtration.
My Foxface is not big. Probably 4 inches? I'm just concerned having all 4 of my fishes in a small tank for over a month.
I know that Hypo takes a long time, but I want to do it right and stay away from Copper. I don't want to mess with Chemicals on the fishes.
Just for the record Hypo can be jsut as dangerous if not more so than copper, so be sure to watch closely and keep your SG perfect the whole time. and don't use it any longer than you have to. Hypo has been known to cause liver shutdown when used too long. That's usaully not a problem considering people are usually anxious to get the new fish into their tanks.
 
pauloesco

pauloesco

Member
Copper is sure fire, and most fish tolerate it well. With hypo and that many fish in a small tnk you're gonna have troubles with ammonia and a biofilter and Ph.
Not to mention bringing the salinity down/up slow enough not to just shock/kill the fish outright. (Most sw fish handle it, but some don't).
Keep us posted.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
you guys have the exact same picture for your avatar LOL freaking me out.
 
alvin

alvin

Member
I'm too lazy to change my Avatar

Hmmm.... Now you got me thinking about this whole Hypo thing. I was concerned about keeping all my fish contained in a small tank for more than a month. The thing with ich though, It's already in my tank, so even if I treat my foxface with Copper, who seems to be the only one showing signs right now (2 Clowns and Firefish are fine), doesn't that mean he can get it again?
In a way it was for the better my tang was gone, because it was terrorizing the crap out of everybody else.
Hmm... I'm going to research copper treatment for now. But I would appreciate some feedback regarding my main tank having Ich. I mean, as long as I QT any new fish, my DT should be ok, as long as not much stress is present?
Ok, on to research copper treatment. I'll check back later in the day.
Thanks!
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
ok so here's the deal.
ich needs fish to live and complete its life cycle. The life cycle is approx 1 month.
So here's what I would do.
treat all your fish (hopefully in a proper sized QT tank) for ich using either cuprimine (copper) or hypo for 4 weeks then keep them in the same system after you raise your salinty for hypo (or add carbon to remove most of the copper) for an additional 2 weeks. This will leave your Display tank fishless. If the display tank is fishless for 6 weeks it will no longer have ich in it as it will have died off with no host.
this also gives you an additional 2 weeks after the 4 week treatment to observe your fish in the QT to be sure the procedure was succesfull.
After the entire 6 weeks if all looks good, add your fish back to the DT and you are ich freen and ready to move forward.
In the future now that you know you are realatively certain you have an ich free tank you should Qt all new additions to the tank as well for the same 4 week period.
Once your fish have ich in the DT they all have ich, even if some arent showing it.
It's going to be stressful on the fish to chase them around the tank and scoop them out and put them in a new enviornment. This is really the worst time to treat is when they are allready weak. If your tang was the only one showing ich and he passed away you might even consider leaving the fish in the DT for a while. feeding them well, possibly with some garlic in the food. wait for them to get back to healthy for a while and then go ahead and pull them out and do the QT thing.
Better chance of them surviving the stressful move.
 
pauloesco

pauloesco

Member
I concur - copper with hospital tank or tanks, 4-6 weeks. I wouldn't do hypo in the hospital tank but I would bring temp to 86 or so to speed the little buggers life cycle and let the cupramin kill them as they fall off. (The bugs are pretty tuff to kill when imbedded in the fish and protected by the fish's mucous. As I said above, the hypo can jeopardize the h-tanks ability to eat ammonia. One neat trick I learned was to use a number of h-tanks and hook them up with a couple canister filters. Keeps aggression n stress down. Also lower lighting and and some flower pots for shelters.
I wouldn't do anything to the main tank that you aren't doing now -- that is, maintain feeding the tank keep skimming and water changes. In fact I'd add some filter material to a sump to use for your hospital tanks in a pinch. (Note on feeding - give a couple pinches fish food to the tank for corals etc and to maintain ur biofilter.
 
pauloesco

pauloesco

Member
One comment -- u can usually pick up 10-20 gallon tanks cheap locally on Craig's list or yardsales. Its a couple of bucks but what's it gonna cost to repurchase fish if they go belly up?
 
alvin

alvin

Member
yah, i'm goin to hold off and get the fish strong. They all seem to be doing well as far as eating. The Foxface is of course getting spots again, so i'm watching him closely. I'll keep this updated once I start.
 
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