Hypo and Royal Grammas?

[swegyptian]

Has anyone managed to get a Royal Gramma through hyposalinity? I have failed four times now, three new fish, and one old one being treated for ich. My other fish seem to do just fine, but not these guys. Any thoughts?

Alex

 

[NexDog]

I also failed on 2 occasions. Would be nice to know if anyone has succeeded otherwise it will have to be cupramine next time.

 

[swegyptian]

That's what I am thinking. Thanks for the post.

 

[snorvich]

Why are you "putting them through hypo"?

 

[NexDog]

Standard QT procedure for new arrivals? Certainly is mine.

 

[Elysia]

I had a royal gramma not survive hypo. I had a tank set up, with the same fish in it, for several months. But I had added both algae and two snails w/out QTing them. All of the sudden, I had an outbreak of ich. So the fish went into a hospital tank. For the first day or so I used meth blue to help with any impairment the fish may have been having w/ ich in/near the gills. Then dropped the salinity for hypo while the display lay fallow. It was a clown, the gramma, a firefish, and a neon goby. Everyone but the gramma made it through the hypo. I cleaned the hypo hospital everyday, making sure to really siphon off the bottom, and did large water changes. The gramma died mid-way through the process. Just my experience.

 

[candeewolf]

Both royal grammas that I've had were delicate even though many sources have listed them as hardy. My take is they are easily stressed and die quickly after undergoing massive stress/disease

 

[NexDog]

Hmmm, looks like Copper for these fish.

 

[MatthewLaw]

i have had one succesfully make it through hypo and one die during hypo. the successful gramma later died during a tank crash about 3 days after being added back to the display. the unsuccesful made it only 3 days into hypo.

 

[swegyptian]

Any other input on this? It sounds like one that made it, but I'm nervous about trying again. Maybe it's time for cupramine instead...

 

[Matt850]

I may be wrong (pretty sure i am not) but I have heard numerous times that if you lower the salinity or raise the salinity to do any good in regards to parasites (ich, velvet, etc) you would have to raise/lower it beyond what the fish can handle to do any good. This would mean that hypo is pointless, fixes nothing, and causes undue stress to new fish. If you are doing it for some other purpose please elaborate.

I did once have a problem when a pair of tangs came in with velvet... I was told to give them a FW dip daily which causes the cysts to fall off the fish, and then put them back in the tank. I also ran a UV which helps (some say it may not) with killing the free floating stage of the parasite. Either way you need to treat for up to two months to insure that all the parasites are dead and gone. I did also run copper at the same time. One of the yellow tangs survived but velvet is almost impossible to win against unless you catch it early enough.

 

[NexDog]

Damn, you've been a member 2 years and you still have no clue about hypo. Mind boggles.

 

[swegyptian]

I may be wrong (pretty sure i am not) but I have heard numerous times that if you lower the salinity or raise the salinity to do any good in regards to parasites (ich, velvet, etc) you would have to raise/lower it beyond what the fish can handle to do any good. This would mean that hypo is pointless, fixes nothing, and causes undue stress to new fish. If you are doing it for some other purpose please elaborate.

I did once have a problem when a pair of tangs came in with velvet... I was told to give them a FW dip daily which causes the cysts to fall off the fish, and then put them back in the tank. I also ran a UV which helps (some say it may not) with killing the free floating stage of the parasite. Either way you need to treat for up to two months to insure that all the parasites are dead and gone. I did also run copper at the same time. One of the yellow tangs survived but velvet is almost impossible to win against unless you catch it early enough.

I'm sorry but that's not right. Most fish can tolerate lower salinity than invertebrates, hence hypo does work do to kill the ich parasite, when it is in its free swimming stage. The discussion here is about hypo with Royal Grammas, and their tolerance for it.

 

[NexDog]

Bumping this thread as I'm about to get 10 Royal Grammas (next week). So...any successes with these fish and Hypo?

 

[swegyptian]

Looks like one success story from MatthewLaw, but that's it. I would really like to know myself before I go again. Maybe send an email to the wet web media people?

 

[swegyptian]

Hey MatthewLaw, what SG did you use when you were successful?

And NexDog, are you keeping all ten together in your display?

 

[MatthewLaw]

1.009. frequent water changes to keep amonia in-check and checking of the SG.

 

[NexDog]

Yea, will be keeping all in the 340. I expect a few casualties but 7 would be cool.

 

[Mariner]

My gramma was the first fish in the 75g when I set it up in '03. It got ich. I removed it to a hospital tank and treated it with copper for two weeks, then kept it in the hospital tank for four more weeks. Anyway that was 7 years ago; he's now the biggest fattest and maybe oldest gramma you've ever seen. IME, copper works well with these fish
Mariner

 

[gavij012379]

After reading these posts now I understand the behavior of this fish. I bought this fish for my tank and gave it a FW dip after acclimation before putting it in the tank. It stopped swimming as soon as I gave it the dip.( This is usually normal for most fishes but not right away). Ever since I put it in the tank, it was not happy. It will feed and swim around but didn't looked great. It started getting ich and tail fin started geting bad. So without knowing better, I removed it and gave it another FW dip before starting hypo and it was dead the next day.
I think this fish needs more room even though they are small. ( Primaray reason I bought it for my 34 G). And definitely no FW dips next time I buy this.