Bacteria and salinity

[JurisHP]

On another post, I suggested that my Hippo Tang has had Ich for 3 weeks now. I have tried a round of Kich Ich, and some other ideas, but bone of them worked. What's interesting, is that along with the Hippo, I have 3 Yellow Tangs, and 2 Percula Clowns and none of them have contracted the parasite. I am now thinking that maybe it's not Ich. I also want to mention that when I wake-up in the morning, the Hippo is covered in the white spots that I thought was Ich, but by the end of the day, the white spots are virtually undetectable. If it is not Ich and perhaps a bacteria of some sort, what does everyone think of reducing the salinity? If so, what range should I reduce it to?

 

[limitdown]

All of the effective methods of treating ich in a reef tank are very painful. There just isn't a painless way. I've tried pretty much tried every single so-called "reef-safe" ich medication out there and the only result I got was a $200+ hole in my wallet.

If you're certain it's ich, then you have the following choices:
1) move all of your fish to a quarantine/hospital tank and drop salinity of the QT down to 1.009 for 4wks. Or dose copper in the QT for 4wks. Leave the display tank fishless for 6wks
2) move all of your corals, inverts and most of your live rock to another tank and drop salinity down to 1.009 in your display tank. Coral will die in low salinity so you can't leave coral in the DT.

If you have a lot of fish, then you'll need a big QT, like a 40g. There should be a few pieces of live rock in there for biofiltration, a powerhead, heater and simple light.