Thanks for the good question, Subsea.
I thought this needed clearing up. I did not treat my inverts with hypo salinity. I moved them to my QT to be in normal salinity, while I treated the display with hypo salinity. I did this because I couldn't catch the royal gammas, which were infected with ICH. The inverts, of course, are a lot easier to catch.
My sponges and anemone withered away in the QT because of neglect - my own fault. I (wrongly) assumed the anemone would get plenty of food, with all the molly fry in the QT. The lighting wasn't adequate either. I had hoped I could bring it, and the sponges, back to good health, once I got them back in the display.
Looking back at the whole scenario, I think my choices were, all in all, wrong. I desperately wanted to save the grammas. In doing so, I ended up sacrificing so much more. With hindsight, I guess it would have been better for the tank as a whole, to let all the grammas die, and run the tank fallow for a while, without resorting to hypo salinity treatment. After all, I was only able to save one gramma. And now, with him still in the tank, I can't add a peppermint shrimp to eat the aiptasias! And I have no idea if he will be cool, when I try to start up a new harem. Irony, anyone?
What did I learn?
1 Don't impulse-buy beat up Look Downs, or ANY other fish.
2 Quarantine ALL new fish.
3 When contemplating any treatment, like hypo, consider the tank as a whole, rather than clinging to saving a few fish. I know that sounds kind of harsh, but I am trying to manage an ecosystem, and that, sometimes requires harsh decisions.
I lost my pivotal species - the manatee grass. I had read that they could withstand short hypo salinity events in nature, but I guess six weeks was too long. They were OK right to the end, so I think they could have made it, if treatment was a month long.
Sorry for the wordy answer, but it helps me to sort it all out.
Lessons learned, onward and upward!
I thought this needed clearing up. I did not treat my inverts with hypo salinity. I moved them to my QT to be in normal salinity, while I treated the display with hypo salinity. I did this because I couldn't catch the royal gammas, which were infected with ICH. The inverts, of course, are a lot easier to catch.
My sponges and anemone withered away in the QT because of neglect - my own fault. I (wrongly) assumed the anemone would get plenty of food, with all the molly fry in the QT. The lighting wasn't adequate either. I had hoped I could bring it, and the sponges, back to good health, once I got them back in the display.
Looking back at the whole scenario, I think my choices were, all in all, wrong. I desperately wanted to save the grammas. In doing so, I ended up sacrificing so much more. With hindsight, I guess it would have been better for the tank as a whole, to let all the grammas die, and run the tank fallow for a while, without resorting to hypo salinity treatment. After all, I was only able to save one gramma. And now, with him still in the tank, I can't add a peppermint shrimp to eat the aiptasias! And I have no idea if he will be cool, when I try to start up a new harem. Irony, anyone?
What did I learn?
1 Don't impulse-buy beat up Look Downs, or ANY other fish.
2 Quarantine ALL new fish.
3 When contemplating any treatment, like hypo, consider the tank as a whole, rather than clinging to saving a few fish. I know that sounds kind of harsh, but I am trying to manage an ecosystem, and that, sometimes requires harsh decisions.
I lost my pivotal species - the manatee grass. I had read that they could withstand short hypo salinity events in nature, but I guess six weeks was too long. They were OK right to the end, so I think they could have made it, if treatment was a month long.
Sorry for the wordy answer, but it helps me to sort it all out.
Lessons learned, onward and upward!