Hyposalinity Treatment for Ich
- Thread starter webdizzy
- Start date
ThRoewer
New member
It's most definitely not reef safe - all corals and inverts (with very few potential exceptions) will die. And the resulting ammonia spike will kill whatever is left - including the fish.
In short: hyposalinity treatment has to be done in a dedicated hospital tank with fish only. Even in a FOWLR you may get big problems due to the die-off of microorganisms and algae.
The treatment itself is easy:
Set up a hospital tank with a salinity between 1.009 to 1.010 and put the fish you need to treat in it for a bare minimum of 2 weeks, though I would probably go 3 to 4 weeks to be on the safe side.
I usually don't bother with acclimating the fish at this end of the treatment as most fish handle salinity down-swings well.
The actual salinity limits of the therapeutic range are 1.008 (lower kills the fish) and 1.011 (above that it won't kill Cryptocaryon) but you should account for measurement errors and leave a safety margin to both sides.
After the treatment you will have to ramp up the salinity slowly to not damage the fish's kidneys. The fish will usually handle a daily salinity increase of +0.001 well until you reach 1.016. From that point you can go faster up like for example using a standard drip acclimatization.
Keeping the salinity within the therapeutic range is usually not hard as at 1/3 of the standard salinity you would need to evaporate 3 times the amount of water as in a tank with normal salinity to get a 0.001 change. So adding a lid to the tank is generally enough to keep the salinity from going up quickly. A daily check is still advised.
One thing you may encounter during hyposalinity are bacterial blooms. If you have a UV sterilizer, this would be a good time to use it. Otherwise do water changes as needed (but make sure to have the salinity right!)
It should also be noted that there are some fish (some rays and sharks) that do not handle hyposalinity treatment. But teleost fish should have no problems.
In short: hyposalinity treatment has to be done in a dedicated hospital tank with fish only. Even in a FOWLR you may get big problems due to the die-off of microorganisms and algae.
The treatment itself is easy:
Set up a hospital tank with a salinity between 1.009 to 1.010 and put the fish you need to treat in it for a bare minimum of 2 weeks, though I would probably go 3 to 4 weeks to be on the safe side.
I usually don't bother with acclimating the fish at this end of the treatment as most fish handle salinity down-swings well.
The actual salinity limits of the therapeutic range are 1.008 (lower kills the fish) and 1.011 (above that it won't kill Cryptocaryon) but you should account for measurement errors and leave a safety margin to both sides.
After the treatment you will have to ramp up the salinity slowly to not damage the fish's kidneys. The fish will usually handle a daily salinity increase of +0.001 well until you reach 1.016. From that point you can go faster up like for example using a standard drip acclimatization.
Keeping the salinity within the therapeutic range is usually not hard as at 1/3 of the standard salinity you would need to evaporate 3 times the amount of water as in a tank with normal salinity to get a 0.001 change. So adding a lid to the tank is generally enough to keep the salinity from going up quickly. A daily check is still advised.
One thing you may encounter during hyposalinity are bacterial blooms. If you have a UV sterilizer, this would be a good time to use it. Otherwise do water changes as needed (but make sure to have the salinity right!)
It should also be noted that there are some fish (some rays and sharks) that do not handle hyposalinity treatment. But teleost fish should have no problems.
Last edited:
Hypo salinity is based on keeping salinity at 1.009 in a separate tank and maintaining this salinity:
A) in the first 4-7 days the spots will fall off.
B) continue the treatment for 14 days after you see the last spot.
C) the DT must remain fishless for 72 days.
The Hypo trick here is that the parasite cannot process its intake of this low salinity water, it can take it in, but cannot expel it, so they literally "explode" and they are so dead.
When the fish are clear, SLOWLY increase salinity upwards by .001 per day until you reach your normal salinity.
It is important to Feed well, high protein foods like pellets and keep Ammomia at bay by exchanging 10% water daily.
Other than TTM and Copper based products, nothing else works.
Some very good detail above, hope this helps.
A) in the first 4-7 days the spots will fall off.
B) continue the treatment for 14 days after you see the last spot.
C) the DT must remain fishless for 72 days.
The Hypo trick here is that the parasite cannot process its intake of this low salinity water, it can take it in, but cannot expel it, so they literally "explode" and they are so dead.
When the fish are clear, SLOWLY increase salinity upwards by .001 per day until you reach your normal salinity.
It is important to Feed well, high protein foods like pellets and keep Ammomia at bay by exchanging 10% water daily.
Other than TTM and Copper based products, nothing else works.
Some very good detail above, hope this helps.
Last edited:
ThRoewer
New member
In that case all you can do is hope that the fish will acquire immunity against ich. One key component of that approach is to identify the stressor and remove it. That worked for me before with tanks where I simply couldn't treat all fish at once without putting their health seriously at risk. Sometimes doing nothing is the lesser evil.
But sometimes treatment of individual fish will be required so the fish has a chance to recover and acquire immunity. So you might have to find a space for a small QT/HT. Depending on the fish you have, 2.5 to 10 gallon may be sufficient.
What fish do you have and which are sick?
webdizzy
New member
Flame angel
Royal flasher wrasse
Midas gold benny
Bartlet’s anthias
Chinese zebra barred dartfish
The wrasse has several spots and the blenny just a few. I noticed the angel rub against rock a few times. The stressor for the wrasse is probably the anthias, which chases him sometimes. All of them are active and eating well.
I have lucked out in the past, too, in other setups in which I’m assuming the fish developed some immunity after an ich breakout. I’m hoping that happens again but was curious about the hyposalinity. I didn’t think it would be reef safe.
Royal flasher wrasse
Midas gold benny
Bartlet’s anthias
Chinese zebra barred dartfish
The wrasse has several spots and the blenny just a few. I noticed the angel rub against rock a few times. The stressor for the wrasse is probably the anthias, which chases him sometimes. All of them are active and eating well.
I have lucked out in the past, too, in other setups in which I’m assuming the fish developed some immunity after an ich breakout. I’m hoping that happens again but was curious about the hyposalinity. I didn’t think it would be reef safe.
ThRoewer
New member
Keep an eye on it and be ready to intervene if it starts spiraling out of control. If the fish have partial immunity it will stay at the current level for a while and then slowly die down.
If you see that one or several fish get worse you may have to pull those out and treat them in a bucket in the bathtub if nothing else is available.
If you see that one or several fish get worse you may have to pull those out and treat them in a bucket in the bathtub if nothing else is available.
webdizzy
New member
No more signs of ick on the fish for weeks now. It may still be in the water, but if so they must all be immune. [emoji846]
ThRoewer
New member
In hyposalinity ick can't encyst and dies off after it falls off the fish. So it's unlikely that there is still ick in the water.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
webdizzy
New member
ThRoewer
New member
In that case I would assume that the fish developed enough immunity against Cryptocaryon to be symptom free. But the parasite is still in the tank.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
webdizzy
New member
Similar threads
