documenting my hypo experience

[crvz]

I've recently added fish to my new display, a 300 gallon mixed reef tank with a shallow sandbed and a light amount of liverock (about 120 pounds). I have a foxface (~6 inches, about 7 years old) and added a purple tang (~3 inches), blonde naso (~6 inches), regular naso (~3 inches), a pair of clowns, a canary wrasse, and a bicolor blenny. 3 days after getting the purple tang, it started to show signs of what I believe to be ich. I decided to wait it out a little instead of acting rash, but now a week later and the two other tangs are also showing pretty significant signs. I took the time this weekend to get my 120 gallon stock tank finished up (by adding a sump and ATO), and the plan is to catch and transfer all the fish from the display to the stock tank to treat the fish. Since the main display is pretty new (about 3 months, and it was a transfer from a smaller system), I've decided to treat now in lieu of having bigger issues down the line. I initially thought it worth the risk to add these additions directly to the main display as I had but one fish in it, and I still feel it a reasonable risk to take, but it is certainly a poignant lesson learned.

The stock tank to be used as the QT is barebottom with about 60 pounds of live rock. It has actually had rock and lights on it for over 15 months, so it's pretty well settled (I have removed about 80 pounds of live rock from it this week, however). The salinity is at about 1.025 at this point, and once I get all the fish in it I plan on driving it down. I've been baiting my fish trap for a week in order to catch the fish, and I think it should provide decent success. I've removed all the inverts (with the obvious exception of various pods, collonista snails, asterina stars, etc. that I've not yet found or been able to catch). I'll share some pictures before I get much farther.

I suppose the point of this thread is to document my experiences but also get input. I'm rather experienced as a hobbyist (having been doing this for near 15 years), but I've never had the need to perform a hypo treatment. I'm trying to do this as well as possible to ensure the fish have the best chance. I've read through a number of threads here, but any thoughts or experiences unique to my application are welcome.

 

[Sk8r]

So you are leaving your DT with just inverts for 8 weeks.
And you are setting up the stock tank as your qt. One bit of advice: get a thoroughly plastic (metal would corrode) float switch or just plain float valve on a gravity feed of fresh ro/di water to keep that qt/hospital salinity spot-on 24/7. If you have a hose from a bucket of rodi, gravity-fed, mediated maybe even by an ordinary toilet float, you can keep your salinity constant. You need a heater for that tank. I'm of the opinion that many reported hypo and treatment failures are a failure to maintain a steady water condition.
Put an ammonia badge somewhere prominent. And you might lay some eggcrate around the rim if you have any jumpers.

 

[crvz]

thanks for the input thus far, Sk6r. Yes, I am planning on leaving the display free of fish for the 8 weeks.

I've got a pair of redundant float switches plugged into my Apex to turn on/off the solenoid hooked up to my reserve water source for the purposes of maintaining water levels/salinity. I'll shoot a picture of the ATO stuff I built for this system. I know people will find it interesting (and maybe not in a good way ). I do have a heater in the tank. This stock tank is set up to be used as a completely redundant system to my main display and main sump, so I hopefully will have no issue with water quality during this time period.

I think my one biggest question right now is whether or not to leave the rock in the system. I think I would prefer it, especially since I plan no medications, but I understand that any resident inverts would die and I'll have to watch nutrient levels as a result. I would prefer the rock for the sanity of the fish, if nothing else. Once again, I'll get pictures up soon.

 

[Sk8r]

Pipe would work as well: the problem is that the rock can provide nooks where an ich cyst can find a refuge, and maybe a way to survive: ich in the 'sand' portion of its life cycle attaches to rock, sand, filter medium, as well as fish; and will attach apparently LESS well to smooth surfaces like glass and polished plastic. If you can use floss and toss it daily, you stand a chance of discarding some of its attempts to reproduce. And be VERY careful to oxygenate!!! You don't want microbubbles near the fish, but keeping that water circulating and aerating is good. Oxygenation failure is a real problem in treatment and quarantine.

 

[crvz]

I'll take the substrate suggestion into consideration. I've read that as well, but I've yet to be convinced. Regarding aeration, I think the use of the return pump, as well as the vortech in the tank, should provide ample circulation for the purposes of oxygenation.

 

[Sk8r]

The pump should be good. Also read Snorvich's sticky on ich, above: it's got a real good explication of the life cycle, which is a good thing to know.

 

[crvz]

Alright, the promised pictures. Here's a poor picture of the display from the main living space of the house.

Again, it's a 300 gallon (72"x36"x27") tank. You can see in the upper right the fish trap that I built years ago. It's manual, I just drop the front door when a fish swims in the trap. I've had it in the tank for a week, clipping nori in it to convince all the fish to enter. Here's a close up.

Here's the stock tank (48"x30"x20"), it's about 120 gallons. I have a side overflow and a 20 gallon long tank for a sump with a mag 7 return. You can also see a heater, the three pumps (2 koralia 3s and a vortech mp10), and the light fixture (one of the icecap reef illuminations fixtures, but I'm not running the metal halides at this time).

Here's the ATO stuff that I've got. I earlier implied that it would be questioned, as it is a bit controversial, but I've been running this setup for over 5 years without any type of failure. It is plumbed directly into the RO system. The needle valve limits flow rate to about 3 gallons a day, and the in-series float switches help eliminate any false triggers. I also power the solenoid through the neptune controller to ensure power is only available for brief periods of time, and I've got a number of redundant water floor sensors in case there are any leaks on either the main display or this stock tank (from any cause, including the ATOs).

I'm open to comments on this, but it's a proven system for my purposes and the risks are acceptable.

Finally, the fish. I've caught all but the yellow canary wrasse out of the main display (the fish trap worked like a charm, I'd caught them all in about 30 minutes last night). The canary wrasse will prove to be a challenge. Any tips on that would be most welcome. Here's the 6" blonde naso tang this morning, well covered it what I can only assume is ich. Alternative diagnosis comments are encouraged, but from my research I've drawn the conclusion that it's not viral or bacterial.

Thanks for following along thus far. I've started diluting the stock tank salinity (I'm going to do it over probably 3 days in six 10 gallon water changes). Hopefully I can catch the canary wrasse and start the "fallow display" clock very soon.