"ICH FREE TANK" Quest Begins
- Thread starter Triggerfish
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tjay
Premium Member
lee thanks so much, That is why I added the disclaimer.
I am tickled to death with our progress. No major setbacks yet, well except for the ich infected fish we plopped in the main tank that has us where we are now.
But again I feel lucky it happened now and I learned the correct way before getting to far along.
I only have 3 hermits in the tank and I don't plan to add more. I will most likely pick up a few more snails after the qt tank is back out of hypo. Don't think they would last long in there now, and ill be dang if they are getting in my main without a QT
I did just find two bristle worms in there as well. One is about 1.5 inches dark in the middle light on both ends. The other I could not get a length on because it was moving around in a rock but it was a pinkish color under the actinic
I am off to do some research on them as I have no clue if they are good worms or bad worms
I am tickled to death with our progress. No major setbacks yet, well except for the ich infected fish we plopped in the main tank that has us where we are now.
But again I feel lucky it happened now and I learned the correct way before getting to far along.
I only have 3 hermits in the tank and I don't plan to add more. I will most likely pick up a few more snails after the qt tank is back out of hypo. Don't think they would last long in there now, and ill be dang if they are getting in my main without a QT
I did just find two bristle worms in there as well. One is about 1.5 inches dark in the middle light on both ends. The other I could not get a length on because it was moving around in a rock but it was a pinkish color under the actinic
I am off to do some research on them as I have no clue if they are good worms or bad worms
Hello again...
I have been doing hypo for two weeks. The first week was getting the salinity down to 1.009. And the second week I have been holding at that salinity level. I am testing with a modified swing arm tester. I just put some putty on it to compinsate for the different weight of the low salinity water... Just kidding. I am keeping track of the salinity with a pinpoint monitor. The temp is 81degrees. I am also circulating the water with a powerhead and the return from the precision marine skimmer that is skimming the tank. The tank is a 30 gallon. The PBT was a fish that I have always wanted. I had ick in my main tank and decided to remove all of the fish. In the process I came across a nice PBT for only $24. Naturaly I picked him up. He did not even show signs of ick until the water was almost at the target salinity. I gave him a FW dip and did a large water change and it seemed to go away. Now he has gotten it again and the whole time he has been in low salinity. I was initially under the impression that the ick would die once it fell off and it would not infect the fish again. That has not been the case so far...unless the ick is just finishing out its life cycle...but it seems he has been re-infected. What do the pros think?
I have been doing hypo for two weeks. The first week was getting the salinity down to 1.009. And the second week I have been holding at that salinity level. I am testing with a modified swing arm tester. I just put some putty on it to compinsate for the different weight of the low salinity water... Just kidding. I am keeping track of the salinity with a pinpoint monitor. The temp is 81degrees. I am also circulating the water with a powerhead and the return from the precision marine skimmer that is skimming the tank. The tank is a 30 gallon. The PBT was a fish that I have always wanted. I had ick in my main tank and decided to remove all of the fish. In the process I came across a nice PBT for only $24. Naturaly I picked him up. He did not even show signs of ick until the water was almost at the target salinity. I gave him a FW dip and did a large water change and it seemed to go away. Now he has gotten it again and the whole time he has been in low salinity. I was initially under the impression that the ick would die once it fell off and it would not infect the fish again. That has not been the case so far...unless the ick is just finishing out its life cycle...but it seems he has been re-infected. What do the pros think?
cduran02
New member
Just though Id drop in and give a quick status. Its going on six days since the fish were returned to their home and everything looks good. They have gotten re-acustomed to their tank. At the moment I have a halequin shrimp in QT, thinking of letting this beauty in QT for about 6 weeks, but still wondering how am I going to feed it while in QT, they only eat live sea stars which means I will need to buy a supply of sea stars that would last it months (each sea star will need to be QT'd before being fed to the shrimp when its in the display). Im going to look into raising my own supply of sea stars.
My wife is dying to add one more fish, but Im holding out for at least 4 months before adding another fish. I want to make sure everything is going good before adding more fish.
My wife is dying to add one more fish, but Im holding out for at least 4 months before adding another fish. I want to make sure everything is going good before adding more fish.
Triggerfish
Active member
parks said:
so it has been at the target sg for 1 weeks,,probably another cycle got loose b/f the sg was at its target, which is what you are seeing now.
when was the last time the monitor was calibrated?
Triggerfish
Active member
Plan to raise the SG
Plan to raise the SG
Ok,,i checked out Lee's link,
http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/SalinityAdjust.php
this is the procedure it says to follow when i entered raising the water 3PPT for each change. thinking that this should be slow enough.
"When raising the salinity, no water should be discarded. You should raise the salinity of the water removed to the value shown and then replace the water into the system."
This plan calls for 5 water changes
Tank Sal. (BEFORE) /Gallons/ Salinity Tank Sal. (AFTER)
1 2.127 sg / 1009 ppt/ 51.3/ 2.132 sg / 1012.216374269 ppt 2.131 sg / 1012 ppt
2 2.131 sg / 1012 ppt /51.3/ 2.136 sg / 1015.216374269 ppt 2.136 sg / 1015 ppt
3 2.136 sg / 1015 ppt/ 51.3 /2.141 sg / 1018.216374269 ppt 2.14 sg / 1018 ppt
4 2.14 sg / 1018 ppt /51.3/ 2.145 sg / 1021.216374269 ppt 2.145 sg / 1021 ppt
5 2.145 sg / 1021 ppt /51.3 /2.147 sg / 1022.0721247563 ppt 2.147 sg / 1022 ppt
i am not sure how i will change 51g at a time. it will not leave enough water in the tank for the fish.
maybe i could change 30g and stretch it out to 6 days.
wonder what the duration should be per change..
every 24 hours be slow enough.
Plan to raise the SG
Ok,,i checked out Lee's link,
http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/SalinityAdjust.php
this is the procedure it says to follow when i entered raising the water 3PPT for each change. thinking that this should be slow enough.
"When raising the salinity, no water should be discarded. You should raise the salinity of the water removed to the value shown and then replace the water into the system."
This plan calls for 5 water changes
Tank Sal. (BEFORE) /Gallons/ Salinity Tank Sal. (AFTER)
1 2.127 sg / 1009 ppt/ 51.3/ 2.132 sg / 1012.216374269 ppt 2.131 sg / 1012 ppt
2 2.131 sg / 1012 ppt /51.3/ 2.136 sg / 1015.216374269 ppt 2.136 sg / 1015 ppt
3 2.136 sg / 1015 ppt/ 51.3 /2.141 sg / 1018.216374269 ppt 2.14 sg / 1018 ppt
4 2.14 sg / 1018 ppt /51.3/ 2.145 sg / 1021.216374269 ppt 2.145 sg / 1021 ppt
5 2.145 sg / 1021 ppt /51.3 /2.147 sg / 1022.0721247563 ppt 2.147 sg / 1022 ppt
i am not sure how i will change 51g at a time. it will not leave enough water in the tank for the fish.
maybe i could change 30g and stretch it out to 6 days.
wonder what the duration should be per change..
every 24 hours be slow enough.
markcasto
New member
Hi everyone again been busy putting in a new kitchen phew...
Now in my 3rd week and all is well no itch, salinity holding at 1.009 the ammonia is no longer a problem, and my tangs are feeding well and looking good.Bubble algae is beginning to grow on me it looks pretty cool and I am going to get a foxface to deal with it so thats something to look forward to.
Will be raising the salinity on the 4th week shouldnt be a problem with the refractometer. Hi parks- have you got a refractometer? if not they are worth getting makes it a lot easyer to read the salinity levels.
Now in my 3rd week and all is well no itch, salinity holding at 1.009 the ammonia is no longer a problem, and my tangs are feeding well and looking good.Bubble algae is beginning to grow on me it looks pretty cool and I am going to get a foxface to deal with it so thats something to look forward to.
Will be raising the salinity on the 4th week shouldnt be a problem with the refractometer. Hi parks- have you got a refractometer? if not they are worth getting makes it a lot easyer to read the salinity levels.
Triggerfish,
Let's try that calculation again.
I suggest you do the following (despite what the directions say!)
Put in the number of gallons of your water (make the actual number, not the size of the tank).
For the current salinity, use ppt (not sp. gr.) I think you're running at 12? Put in 12
For the target salinity, use ppt (not sp. gr.) I think you want about 34 ppt. Put in 34
The next blank tells the calculator how fast you want to go. I suggest putting in 1.500 (use the zeros).
The last blank, leave blank. That is what the calculator will determine.
Then see what you get. I think the numbers will be an improvement for you?
Make each of those changes twice per day or about 12 hours apart.
Let us know!
Let's try that calculation again.
I suggest you do the following (despite what the directions say!)
Put in the number of gallons of your water (make the actual number, not the size of the tank).
For the current salinity, use ppt (not sp. gr.) I think you're running at 12? Put in 12
For the target salinity, use ppt (not sp. gr.) I think you want about 34 ppt. Put in 34
The next blank tells the calculator how fast you want to go. I suggest putting in 1.500 (use the zeros).
The last blank, leave blank. That is what the calculator will determine.
Then see what you get. I think the numbers will be an improvement for you?
Make each of those changes twice per day or about 12 hours apart.
Let us know!
tjay,
You got it okay?
Fill in the number of gallons of water in your quarantine tank with the low salinity (not the size of the tank, but the number of gallons of actual water in the system).
Put in the current ppt. That should be 12
Put in the target salinity in ppt. That should be 34
The next blank tells the calculator in what increments you want to raise the salinity. I suggest you use: 1.500 (include the zeros).
Leave the last blank, blank.
Click on the calculate button and below will appear the table to follow. You will take out the number of gallons indicated, add salt mix to that to raise it to the salinity indicated, then return that water to your quarantine tank. I'd suggest making one adjustment every 12 hours.
Does this make sense? Does it work?
Give it a try. Good luck!
You got it okay?
Fill in the number of gallons of water in your quarantine tank with the low salinity (not the size of the tank, but the number of gallons of actual water in the system).
Put in the current ppt. That should be 12
Put in the target salinity in ppt. That should be 34
The next blank tells the calculator in what increments you want to raise the salinity. I suggest you use: 1.500 (include the zeros).
Leave the last blank, blank.
Click on the calculate button and below will appear the table to follow. You will take out the number of gallons indicated, add salt mix to that to raise it to the salinity indicated, then return that water to your quarantine tank. I'd suggest making one adjustment every 12 hours.
Does this make sense? Does it work?
Give it a try. Good luck!
tjay
Premium Member
Tank Sal. (BEFORE) Gallons Salinity Tank Sal. (AFTER)
1 1.009 sg / 12 ppt 2 1.037 sg / 48.75 ppt 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt
2 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt 2 1.038 sg / 50.25 ppt 1.011 sg / 15 ppt
3 1.011 sg / 15 ppt 2 1.039 sg / 51.75 ppt 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt
4 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt 2 1.04 sg / 53.25 ppt 1.014 sg / 18 ppt
5 1.014 sg / 18 ppt 2 1.041 sg / 54.75 ppt 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt
6 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt 2 1.043 sg / 56.25 ppt 1.016 sg / 21 ppt
7 1.016 sg / 21 ppt 2 1.044 sg / 57.75 ppt 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt
8 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt 2 1.045 sg / 59.25 ppt 1.018 sg / 24 ppt
9 1.018 sg / 24 ppt 2 1.046 sg / 60.75 ppt 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt
10 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt 2 1.047 sg / 62.25 ppt 1.02 sg / 27 ppt
11 1.02 sg / 27 ppt 2 1.048 sg / 63.75 ppt 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt
12 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt 2 1.05 sg / 65.25 ppt 1.023 sg / 30 ppt
13 1.023 sg / 30 ppt 2 1.051 sg / 66.75 ppt 1.024 sg / 31.5 ppt
14 1.024 sg / 31.5 ppt 2 1.052 sg / 68.25 ppt 1.025 sg / 33 ppt
15 1.025 sg / 33 ppt 2 1.044 sg / 57.5 ppt 1.026 sg / 34 ppt
That worked better, wow that should be easy.
1 1.009 sg / 12 ppt 2 1.037 sg / 48.75 ppt 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt
2 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt 2 1.038 sg / 50.25 ppt 1.011 sg / 15 ppt
3 1.011 sg / 15 ppt 2 1.039 sg / 51.75 ppt 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt
4 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt 2 1.04 sg / 53.25 ppt 1.014 sg / 18 ppt
5 1.014 sg / 18 ppt 2 1.041 sg / 54.75 ppt 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt
6 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt 2 1.043 sg / 56.25 ppt 1.016 sg / 21 ppt
7 1.016 sg / 21 ppt 2 1.044 sg / 57.75 ppt 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt
8 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt 2 1.045 sg / 59.25 ppt 1.018 sg / 24 ppt
9 1.018 sg / 24 ppt 2 1.046 sg / 60.75 ppt 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt
10 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt 2 1.047 sg / 62.25 ppt 1.02 sg / 27 ppt
11 1.02 sg / 27 ppt 2 1.048 sg / 63.75 ppt 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt
12 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt 2 1.05 sg / 65.25 ppt 1.023 sg / 30 ppt
13 1.023 sg / 30 ppt 2 1.051 sg / 66.75 ppt 1.024 sg / 31.5 ppt
14 1.024 sg / 31.5 ppt 2 1.052 sg / 68.25 ppt 1.025 sg / 33 ppt
15 1.025 sg / 33 ppt 2 1.044 sg / 57.5 ppt 1.026 sg / 34 ppt
That worked better, wow that should be easy.
Triggerfish
Active member
well must have inputted the wrong figures..
here is what it looks like now..this will be a bit more realistic..hehe. 2g changes..
This plan calls for 12 water changes
Tank Sal. (BEFORE) Gallons Salinity Tank Sal. (AFTER)
1 1.009 sg / 12 ppt 2 1.037 sg / 49.5 ppt 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt
2 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt 2 1.039 sg / 51 ppt 1.011 sg / 15 ppt
3 1.011 sg / 15 ppt 2 1.04 sg / 52.5 ppt 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt
4 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt 2 1.041 sg / 54 ppt 1.014 sg / 18 ppt
5 1.014 sg / 18 ppt 2 1.042 sg / 55.5 ppt 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt
6 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt 2 1.043 sg / 57 ppt 1.016 sg / 21 ppt
7 1.016 sg / 21 ppt 2 1.044 sg / 58.5 ppt 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt
8 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt 2 1.045 sg / 60 ppt 1.018 sg / 24 ppt
9 1.018 sg / 24 ppt 2 1.047 sg / 61.5 ppt 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt
10 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt 2 1.048 sg / 63 ppt 1.02 sg / 27 ppt
11 1.02 sg / 27 ppt 2 1.049 sg / 64.5 ppt 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt
12 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt 2 1.05 sg / 66 ppt 1.023 sg / 30 ppt
i went with 30ppt to end as the final will be when they are plopped back in main tank.
ok, every 12 hours sounds good.
Mark -- so you're doing hypo for 4 full weeks, then monitoring for 2 more weeks or what?
i think i may follow the link here that prefers 6 weeks,,but indicates a min of 4.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
here is what it looks like now..this will be a bit more realistic..hehe. 2g changes..
This plan calls for 12 water changes
Tank Sal. (BEFORE) Gallons Salinity Tank Sal. (AFTER)
1 1.009 sg / 12 ppt 2 1.037 sg / 49.5 ppt 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt
2 1.01 sg / 13.5 ppt 2 1.039 sg / 51 ppt 1.011 sg / 15 ppt
3 1.011 sg / 15 ppt 2 1.04 sg / 52.5 ppt 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt
4 1.012 sg / 16.5 ppt 2 1.041 sg / 54 ppt 1.014 sg / 18 ppt
5 1.014 sg / 18 ppt 2 1.042 sg / 55.5 ppt 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt
6 1.015 sg / 19.5 ppt 2 1.043 sg / 57 ppt 1.016 sg / 21 ppt
7 1.016 sg / 21 ppt 2 1.044 sg / 58.5 ppt 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt
8 1.017 sg / 22.5 ppt 2 1.045 sg / 60 ppt 1.018 sg / 24 ppt
9 1.018 sg / 24 ppt 2 1.047 sg / 61.5 ppt 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt
10 1.019 sg / 25.5 ppt 2 1.048 sg / 63 ppt 1.02 sg / 27 ppt
11 1.02 sg / 27 ppt 2 1.049 sg / 64.5 ppt 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt
12 1.021 sg / 28.5 ppt 2 1.05 sg / 66 ppt 1.023 sg / 30 ppt
i went with 30ppt to end as the final will be when they are plopped back in main tank.
ok, every 12 hours sounds good.
Mark -- so you're doing hypo for 4 full weeks, then monitoring for 2 more weeks or what?
i think i may follow the link here that prefers 6 weeks,,but indicates a min of 4.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
tjay
Premium Member
Im going to be closer to 8 than 6 by the time I am all done. But hey better safe than sorry. I just read another thread where I guy was in 5 years before getting stung with ich.
I can see how you can get sucked in to thinking "it wont happen to me"
I hate that it happened but now was the best time for me to learn the cold hard truth. No QT means no peace.
I can see how you can get sucked in to thinking "it wont happen to me"
I hate that it happened but now was the best time for me to learn the cold hard truth. No QT means no peace.
markcasto
New member
Trigger- going hypo for 4 weeks then slowly raising the salinity for the last 2 weeks. So 6 weeks total QT time for the fish and the tank being fallow.I want to see some fish back in my tank this is getting to me now,and my flame angel is not eating very much at all in the QT tank.
Triggerfish
Active member
UPDATE
UPDATE
ok,,it appears this is going to drag out a bit with a couple of my fish. 1 spot has shown up on my niger and puffer two days ago.
i thought they may have been air bubbles, but have since ruled that out.
my maroon has looked good since he has been in the QT 3.5 weeks ago..i will plan on moving him to a separate tank to raise the sg next week. it appears he remains on target to go back after 6 weeks.
Angel has looked good for almost 2 weeks now. he was the one that was hosting most of the parasites, so i figured he was going to be the target fish to watch for eradication,,that has since proven to be false.
each fish will need to be quarantined for 6 weeks after the last spot has been noticed. so basically i am starting over with 2 of the fish.
i figured since i only got the refractometer a week ago, the sg may not have been correctly maintained at 1.009 or lower, and in fact i do not believe it was. so as a result, it has allowed from appearance, a very small c. irritan population to survive. also any evaporation needs to be topped off quickly as to not allow sg to rise. due to this occurance, i will plan on maintaining sg at 1.008 to allow for small flucuations.
SUMMARY
> lower sg to 1.008
> move maroon to 10g QT on 6/25 and begin to raise sg - continue to monitor separately for 2 weeks.. move back to main tank on 7/9 if still ich free. 6 total weeks.
UPDATE
ok,,it appears this is going to drag out a bit with a couple of my fish. 1 spot has shown up on my niger and puffer two days ago.
i thought they may have been air bubbles, but have since ruled that out.
my maroon has looked good since he has been in the QT 3.5 weeks ago..i will plan on moving him to a separate tank to raise the sg next week. it appears he remains on target to go back after 6 weeks.
Angel has looked good for almost 2 weeks now. he was the one that was hosting most of the parasites, so i figured he was going to be the target fish to watch for eradication,,that has since proven to be false.
each fish will need to be quarantined for 6 weeks after the last spot has been noticed. so basically i am starting over with 2 of the fish.
i figured since i only got the refractometer a week ago, the sg may not have been correctly maintained at 1.009 or lower, and in fact i do not believe it was. so as a result, it has allowed from appearance, a very small c. irritan population to survive. also any evaporation needs to be topped off quickly as to not allow sg to rise. due to this occurance, i will plan on maintaining sg at 1.008 to allow for small flucuations.
SUMMARY
> lower sg to 1.008
> move maroon to 10g QT on 6/25 and begin to raise sg - continue to monitor separately for 2 weeks.. move back to main tank on 7/9 if still ich free. 6 total weeks.
markcasto
New member
Ohh I am so fed up this morning all the fish in my refuguim were dead! I lost my lovely yellow tang 2 cardinals and my little madarin something died in the tank a worm thing and they all died within 4 hours.I was outside while the guy was laying the flooring in our living room if he had the common sense to tell me they were in trouble I could have saved them so so so fed up with all this.
Triggerfish
Active member
man that blows.. the fuge is not plumbed into the main?
how the heck big was the worm to cause that much of an issue.
did you measure the NH3 level in there to determine if that was the likely cause?
how the heck big was the worm to cause that much of an issue.
did you measure the NH3 level in there to determine if that was the likely cause?
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