Hypsolanity... Necessary?

[Capt. Nemo]

Hi everyone,

I just recently purchased an Australian Harelquin Tusk which has been in quarantine since last Saturday. The fish "appears" to be in excellent healt,( great color, eating very well and very active). Should I still do hyposalinity as a precautionary measure in case the fish does have ich though there are no visilble signs of this parasite at the moment. Is hypo the standard practice for quarantine of all new fish even for those which "appear" to be in excellent health? Will I be doing more harm than good? What are the chances that I could inadverently kill by fish by reducing the salinity below 1.09 ? That's my greatest concern since I have no experience with this procedure.

Thanks
Gary

 

[Andrew]

Ich can still be on the fish but not shown. I myself would put him in hypo for 5-6 weeks to assure full health and prevent any other diseases from entering the tank. It won't hurt the fish to keep them at a 1.009 salt level as long as you keep it there and lower it from 1.025 to 1.009 over 48 hours... than after 5-6 weeks... raise it back to normal over 4-5 days. I have QTed dozens of fish before and never had one die during hypo.

 

[Capt. Nemo]

Thanks Andrew. Its reassuring that you have never lost a fish using hypo. What would happen to the fish if the salinity was lower than 1.09? Say my refractometer were off even by the slightest? For example say that my refractometer read 1.09 but the actual salinity was 1.08 or so?

Thanks,
Gary

 

[Andrew]

One point isn't going to be deadly but if you get lower or higher for example, the Hypo process will be thrown off.

 

[Bebo77]

i have never put a fish through hypo and i havce some 20 fish in my tank... it is a great idea but so long as you keep up a "clean" tank it should not be a problem.. imo

 

[Capt. Nemo]

Andrew, what do you mean by if I go lower or higher than the Hypo process will be thrown off? Its my understanding that if the salinity is higher than 1.09 than the ich will not be eradicated. However, if the salinity were 1.08 how would this throw the process off or not kill the ich? Thanks.

 

[Andrew]

Lower the salt even more can effect the fish. The ich will still be killed.

 

[Capt. Nemo]

Yeah, I just want to kill the ich and not the fish in the process. I just needed to know if there was a margin of error with this process so I would have more confidence in attempting it. Thanks.