Capt. Nemo
Active member
I am gearing up to hypo my Harlequin Tusk that has been in my QT for the last week. He appears to be in excellent health so this will be a precautionary measure to eradicate any ich parasites that may not be presently visible. I'm a little nervous since there is some risk involved and I could end up doing harm to what may very well be a very healthy, hardy and expensive fish. I'm also doing this out of consideration for my adorable porcupine puffer who already resides in the display tank since I would not want to expose him to any ich that the tusk could be carrying. Now to the questions about hypo:
The following is an article I read and I wanted to know if this is the best and most widely used practice of hypo.
Your starting point should be between 1.025 and 1.027. Replace about one fifth of the volume with RO, RO/DI or aged freshwater that has been well aerated. Repeat this 12, 24 and 36 hours later, monitoring the specific gravity along the way. After the fourth water change the specific gravity should be 1.010 or pretty close. Wait a few hours to make the final adjustment to get down to 1.009. Note that you can estimate the resulting specific gravity. If you are changing one fifth of the water and the current specific gravity is 1.025 the result will be:
((1.025*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.020 approx.
Then, after 12 hours:
((1.020*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.016 approx.
After 24 hours:
((1.016*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.013 approx.
After the 4th change:
((1.013*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.010 approx.
The only problem I have is that I dont know if I can follow this time table since I may not be able to do this every 12 hours. Every 18 or 24 hours may work better with my busy schedule? Would this be okay?
According to this article I should be measuring my salinity and not my specific gravity because of the influence of water temps on the sg. However, my refractometer has an auto temp adjustment feature for this. What do you guys measure when doing hypo?
Thanks!
Gary
The following is an article I read and I wanted to know if this is the best and most widely used practice of hypo.
Your starting point should be between 1.025 and 1.027. Replace about one fifth of the volume with RO, RO/DI or aged freshwater that has been well aerated. Repeat this 12, 24 and 36 hours later, monitoring the specific gravity along the way. After the fourth water change the specific gravity should be 1.010 or pretty close. Wait a few hours to make the final adjustment to get down to 1.009. Note that you can estimate the resulting specific gravity. If you are changing one fifth of the water and the current specific gravity is 1.025 the result will be:
((1.025*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.020 approx.
Then, after 12 hours:
((1.020*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.016 approx.
After 24 hours:
((1.016*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.013 approx.
After the 4th change:
((1.013*4)+1.000)/5 = 1.010 approx.
The only problem I have is that I dont know if I can follow this time table since I may not be able to do this every 12 hours. Every 18 or 24 hours may work better with my busy schedule? Would this be okay?
According to this article I should be measuring my salinity and not my specific gravity because of the influence of water temps on the sg. However, my refractometer has an auto temp adjustment feature for this. What do you guys measure when doing hypo?
Thanks!
Gary