Hyposalinity&UV clarification/questions

[kaiboshi]

I've been prophylactically treating my fish via cupramine or the tank transfer method for a while now with great success. I hadn't had signs of ich in my display tanks for a few years however recently it reared it's ugly head again. I picked up some cleaner shrimp, hermits and various snails and ~3.5 weeks after their addition (I didn't QT these inverts, I normally do though) I started seeing some telltale signs. Flashing which spread from one fish to others within days and eventually manifested in some spots on my purple tang and false personifer. Either I screwed up my QT somewhere along the line or one (or more) of the 50-60 inverts I added brought some encysted ich. Regardless of how or why I had to treat for it and that got me thinking. I re-examined the various methods again and have some questions.

Hyposalinity: does it kill ich when it's a protomont, theront or both?

Is it safe to put a new fish into hyposaline conditions upon purchase? I've read accounts of people doing this with success and logically I can't see any reason why it would be an issue if done properly (slowly via drip acclimation using prime to nullify any ammonia). Confirmation either way would be nice.

UV sterilization: how accurate are the manufacturers claims? I have a turbo twist 36w sterilizer, mfg claims 290 gph will kill parasites. Can I assume then that 250 gph will kill 100% of what passes through it?


I have an idea for prophylactic quarantine that combines aspects of hyposalinity, uv sterilization and the tank transfer method. Whether it's even worth describing hinges on the answer to these 3 questions. Hopefully I can confirm what I suspect =]

Thanks in advance!

 

[Deinonych]

I can't comment on hyposalinity, as I don't trust it as a proven method for treating crypto. I believe it only affects the theront stage, though.

UV sterilizers can "manage" crypto at best. Because the organism must pass through the sterilizer in order for it to be killed, there's no way to ensure that all of them make it through. You might reduce the parasite load, but you'll never completely eliminate it.

If you're planning to do tank transfer, why complicate things? TT is simple and effective.

 

[kaiboshi]

I can't comment on hyposalinity, as I don't trust it as a proven method for treating crypto. I believe it only affects the theront stage, though.

UV sterilizers can "manage" crypto at best. Because the organism must pass through the sterilizer in order for it to be killed, there's no way to ensure that all of them make it through. You might reduce the parasite load, but you'll never completely eliminate it.

If you're planning to do tank transfer, why complicate things? TT is simple and effective.

I'm aware of the limitations of UV sterilizers as a stand alone treatment. My question was whether everything that passed through it was killed. IE if I have an above tank refugium with a UV sterilizer between the feed pump and the refugium will any live/viable ich make it into the refugium? I'm curious how far off the mfg claims are (or aren't).

I already do the ttm and have for a while now. I'm aware of it's merits however it's a royal PITA when you're dealing with multiple large fish that may or may not be compatible. When you increase the scale the simplicity goes out the window.

 

[Deinonych]

I'm aware of the limitations of UV sterilizers as a stand alone treatment. My question was whether everything that passed through it was killed. IE if I have an above tank refugium with a UV sterilizer between the feed pump and the refugium will any live/viable ich make it into the refugium? I'm curious how far off the mfg claims are (or aren't).

If you attain the correct flow rate, the organism should be exposed to UV light long enough for cell lysis to occur. Whether or not there have been any studies to evaluate UV unit effectiveness is another matter. I certainly wouldn't bet my life on the mfg claims.

 

[snorvich]

If you attain the correct flow rate, the organism should be exposed to UV light long enough for cell lysis to occur. Whether or not there have been any studies to evaluate UV unit effectiveness is another matter. I certainly wouldn't bet my life on the mfg claims.

If and only if you can get a killable organism passing by a UV which flows at the appropriate rate, it will kill it. The bigger problem with UV is getting all killable organisms to pass by. The odds of that are basically zero.