Help with Hyposalinity & Ich, what am I doing wrong?

jstlsn

New member
Please Help. My clownfish has ich and I have been trying to get it to go away for almost 3 months. Here is a history of what I have done.

Back on January 31st, I moved my clownfish to my QT tank because he appeared to have ich. Two days later on February 2nd I was able to catch my Yellow Watchman Goby and move him to my QT tank. He showed no signs of ich. Those are the only two fish in my tank. They have been living my the QT tank ever since. I lowered the SG to 1.015 for the first four weeks and moved it even lower to 1.011 about two weeks. The clownfish had shown no signs of ich for six weeks. So, I thought the ich was gone. So I stated to slowly raise the SG in the QT back up to match the main tank. About .002 each day. After four days the ich came back. Needless to say I was very frustrated. So, I did some more research on hyposalinity. That is when I found this article:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

From what I understand, the first time around I didn't have the SG low enough and the ich didn't die off. So, I started over. The next three days I lowered the SG all the way down to 1.009. That was on March 25th. The tank has been a constant 1.009 ever since. That was 32 days ago. Right now my clownfish has 3-4 cysts on him that appear to be ich. Now according to what I have read, 32 days is longer than the life cycle of ick. So, why does my fish still show signs of it? What else do I need to do? Am I missing something here?

Thanks
Brad
 
Takes at least 6 weeks at the proper salinity to get rid of ich. Are you sure your fish don't have any other disease? I once had a clown that I thought had ich, similar symptoms to yours. Over the course of 2 months, started getting skinny, skitish, etc. Turned out to be something bacterial, antibiotics cured it.
 
I am measuring the salinity with a Refractometer and it is calibrated with the PINPOINT Salinity Monitor 53.0mS Calibration Fluid. So I am pretty sure my measurement are accurate. However, good thing to check. Thanks for the idea.

Brad

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9820920#post9820920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Freed
What are you measuring your salinity with?
 
Thanks for your help. I guess I am not 100% sure that it is ich. What other types of diseases could it possibly be? I haven't noticed him getting skinny or skitish. And he still eats. But, I guess it is possible that it could be something other than ich. Any ideas?

Brad


<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9820848#post9820848 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by amike5
Takes at least 6 weeks at the proper salinity to get rid of ich. Are you sure your fish don't have any other disease? I once had a clown that I thought had ich, similar symptoms to yours. Over the course of 2 months, started getting skinny, skitish, etc. Turned out to be something bacterial, antibiotics cured it.
 
When i moved my fish to hypo i did it pretty quick. I went from 1.025 to 1.009 over the course of 2 days. But going back up to 1.025 should be done slowly and only after 6 weeks at 1.009. I did hypo on my yellow tang ywllow goby and clown and not a single fish in my tank has shown any signs of ick.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9822040#post9822040 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by all-apologies
you can do a freshwater dip if you wanna try to get em off, and then let him stay in the hypo for a while afterwards.

Freshwater dips are not that effective. I think the article that you linked to is by ATJ (user ID here at reefcentral). He's got pretty good advice on dealing with ich.

Lymphocystitus (I think that's how it's spelled) looks like ich, but is usually is on the fin tips. It's viral, and will last much longer than 4-5 weeks.

The lifespan of ich is temperature dependent. 6 weeks at hypo ought to get all of it. Even 4 weeks at normal reef temps (78-82) should be good enough to catch two lifecycles of ich.

Are there more spots in the morning than in the evening? That's a classic ich symptom, although if not, it doesn't mean it isn't ich.
 
Can hypo be safely combined with chemical treatments like copper-based ones or is that too stressful to the fish?
 
I did a combination on my True Perc last year.

I started with a freshwater dip, then moved him into a Hypo QT. While in QT I fed with fresh garlic and cyclopeeze to keep him fat and healthy.

During the first few days in Hypo and during the FW dip I used an appropriate amount of Seachem Stress Guard to keep him calm. It supposedly "promotes healing" and is a "antiseptic". I any means it didn't seem to hurt.

I only treated for 3-4 weeks before returning him to the display and he/she has been growing and disease free ever since.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9824628#post9824628 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by alan214
Can hypo be safely combined with chemical treatments like copper-based ones or is that too stressful to the fish?

"Stress" isn't the concern. Hypo and copper mixed together are deadly for the fish.
 
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