Hypo and ICH??????

ajolie30

New member
I have read the stickies on treatment of ich with hypo and I did as it said I am also using a refractometer... I have been at 1.009 since march 31 and all was well until tonight I came home to see my purple tang is again covered in spots I have maintained the water quality and constanley check to be sure the water remained at 1.009 and kept up with top off water... I read that I have to stay at 1.009 for 4 weeks but why all of a sudden does my fish have more spots?????
 
It's not all that uncommon to have an ich outbreak while the fish is in hypo.I had and outbreak at the 4 week mark and after that the fish were free and clear of the parasites.The hypo does more the end the cycle when the ich goes to encyst on the bottom of the tank.
 
so what do I do I just did a 50 percent water change??? The fish had ich when I first started hypo and within the first week of doing hypo it seemed to have gone away due to the hyposalitnity... As I stated now the fish are sick again so what do I do at some point during the first intial hypo should'nt the ich have fallen off and encysted to the bottom and have been killed during the hypo????????
 
Like stingythingy45 said. Think of it like a last ditch effort for ich to try one last time before finally giving up. Be patient your doing the right thing.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14798698#post14798698 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ajolie30
Ok so continue with hypo even with the ich still present is my fish gonna die though

Is the fish still eating?
Does it still seem strong?
Most fish can withstand a mild ich outbreak as long as they keep eating well.Make certain that you don't have any ammonia present.I found myself changing 10-20% of the water every 3 days or so.The hospital atually cycled with the fish in there.
 
yes fish are still very active and eating like champs I did like I said a 50 percent water change been montoring ammonia every day and ph I also put new fliter pads on my hang on filter that were seeded from form 65 established tank... last night fish had spots now this mourning nothing just prepared some food to feed them.. I have read somewhere that while doing hypo during its 2nd week that the tank should be completley emptied and wiped dry and set back up with hypo water and continue treatment for the next 2 weeks is this true
 
I had an outbreak of crypto back at the end of Feb. I had never QT's any fish, so my fault. Well I decided to rid my tank of crypto for good. I removed all of the fish and put them in a QT. I debated for awhile on hypo vs copper. I finally decided on Cupramine. I have enough trouble keeping the pH up in the DT, wasn't going to wrestle with that in a low salinity environment. Well 6 weeks in, with 4 four of them in copper and there are zero signs of crypto. Also no sign of stress on the fish. 2 more weeks and I will move the fish back to the DT which will have been fallow for 8 weeks. I chose cupramine due to it's ease of use, ease of testing with a Seachem test kit, and wide range of effectiveness. Also any traces of Cupramine can be removed from the water with carbon, and from the tank with a bleach and acid bath (separately of course).

Later
Drew
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14798938#post14798938 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ajolie30
yes fish are still very active and eating like champs I did like I said a 50 percent water change been montoring ammonia every day and ph I also put new fliter pads on my hang on filter that were seeded from form 65 established tank... last night fish had spots now this mourning nothing just prepared some food to feed them.. I have read somewhere that while doing hypo during its 2nd week that the tank should be completley emptied and wiped dry and set back up with hypo water and continue treatment for the next 2 weeks is this true

You will be rid of ich if you stay the course. I would be looking at hypo for 6+ weeks and not 4. I usually hear 4 weeks after the last visible sign of ich. It is going to take 6-8 weeks of fallow for a display tank to be rid of ich anyway. Combining a tank transfer method with hypo could have its advantages if it was done while the ich was tomont stage. IMO it is a lot of work, extra equipment, and stress. I would stick with one treatment personally
 
I tried hypo and had the same result where the fish were fine and then a few days later the ich came back. I went and got some Seachem Cupramin (copper) from the LFS and have not had a ich spot on any fish for the past 3-4 weeks. Just remember if you treat copper do not use it in the reef tank. use a QT
 
if hypo doesnt work ( and I've heard (maybe on bob fenners site) of strains of crypt that can survive long term at sg's of less than 1.010)

and, because you have tangs you really shouldnt use copper (it damages thier stomachs or some such)

your best bet would be quinnine, cloroquin and maybe formalin.
 
It depends on if the cysts buried themselves before the lethal salinity is reached. If some drop off the host fish then enter the substrate they stay dormant for a month or more. The cyst are not killed during that stage. Hopefully the free swimmer that emerge are killed by the hypo but if the salinity is increased before that happens they reinfect the fish. It is uncommon but it does happen, especially if the hospital tank is kept at room temperature.
 
ok so my fish are in a qurantine tank with no substrate it is bare bottom....so what is it that I do now I have to wait for it to drop off the fish again I'm confused they always been in a qt with no substrate I am maintaing a 1.009 salinity and have not let it raise what temperature should I be at I am between 79 and 80 degrees
 
Hyposalinity does not always work in my experience. . There are resistant strains. My experience with it has been hit and miss. Even after 6 weeks I've seen ich return when sg was raised north of 1.020.

Copper has always worked for me as has the tank transfer method. I have used copper sulfate(Sea Cure) and now use Cupramine. It's easier to maintain a therapeutic level with cupramine.14 days of treatment and your fish should be ich free.

Wether or not your fish fight off an infestation by a hypo resitant strain your fish will likely have parasites hosting in the more vulnerable tissue of the nostrils mouth a gills and will bring it into
the display.

It is also possible that your fish have amyloodinium(velvet) which is sometimes mistaken for ich and often accompanies it as a secondary infestation. Velvet is a deadly dinoflagellate that does not respond to hypo treatment since it lives in a variety of salinities. Copper will kill it too.
 
Very important queastion for you, ajolie.

When was the last time you calibrated your refractometer and what did you use to calibrate it?
 
It was just calibrated by my lfs it's also only 2 months old... So if I use cupramine what test kit do I need to get and how is it administered how much and how long and do I slowly raise my salinity back up before starting this treatment where do I get this med at 2 of my lfs don't carry it
 
Salinity should go up by about .002 per day to avoid addtional stress. I believe you can treat with cupramine at low salinity. That would be my inclination if the ich was active. Check the Sea chem sponsor forum. There are many q and s on cupramine and ways to test levels. Most online vendors acarry aline of Sea Chem products.
 
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