Ich surviving through Hypo???

[jnc914]

I have been in Hypo 5 weeks tomorrow. After the third week I thought all the ich was gone. However over the weekend three of my angels had ich covering their entire body!!!! I have meticulously tested the water 2-3 times a day and have kept it at 1.009 the entire time. Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon? How long can I keep my tank in Hypo? (I have nothing live in my tank except the fish). I am starting to loose my patience.......

 

[alprazo]

I did hypo at 1.009 for 6 weeks and the fish were clear for the last 3 of them. As I raised the salinity, it came back - I went to cupramine.

It was my only experience with hypo - for now on I will use copper. People swear by the hypo though. I'm not so sure about it.

As for your question - I have often collected "saltwater" fish in upper brackish bays including juvenile butterflies and filefish. I would say that they can probably tolerate 1.0012 - 1.0015 for a good length of time if not indefinite. Though I'd be interest to hear what others say who have more experience it.

 

[jnc914]

There are others on this site that have had the same experience when they begin to raise the salinity of their tank water. I did not think there were strains of ich that could survive hypo. From what I have read there has never been proof that there is such a strain, but I am starting to think otherwise.

 

[davidryder]

Fish are typically immune to ich and it isn't abnormal to be present in a tank which have fish that are showing no symptoms of ich. The hypo is good for treating fish in a tank with inverts but it won't necessarily destroy all the ich in the tank.

A healthy fish should be able to resist ich. The best thing to do probably is to QT the infected fish and treat with copper. The best preventative measure is to QT fish before introducing them.. but even that doesn't ensure 100% the prevention of the introduction of ich to your tank.

 

[jnc914]

Whats funny is that I have an Achilles in a 40 Gallon Breeder QT for the last three weeks. It showed ich after the first two days i had it. I lowered to hypo and it has been clean of ich since and is actually gaining some weight and looks pretty healthy. The most fragile of my fish is now the healthiest.

 

[LargeAngels]

Are you sure it is ich and not velvet? Velvet cannot be treated with Hypo.

Do a FW dip. If it is velvet they will fall off. If it is ich they won't.

 

[chrissreef]

is your refractometer calibrated?

 

[Neptune777]

Not uncommon... I had this happen twice with fish in QT. Ich vanished when hypo was being used...then as the SG went back up after 4 weeks the Ich came back very quickly. Either the 4 weeks was not enough...or the Ich was resistant to Hypo. I think the first scenario was the most likely cause....6-8 weeks would most likely have killed it for good. I think this is most likely the root cause for you...3 weeks is not enough to break the cycle.
That being said I now use Cupramine exclusively to kill Ich while my fish are in QT. Works fast...efficiently...and the fish show extremely little stress (as in no signs from what I could see). Just be sure to have a good test kit on hand to get the correct dosage, and don't stop regular water changes (adding Cupramine to the new water each time).

 

[Neptune777]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12869932#post12869932 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
Fish are typically immune to ich and it isn't abnormal to be present in a tank which have fish that are showing no symptoms of ich. The hypo is good for treating fish in a tank with inverts but it won't necessarily destroy all the ich in the tank.

A healthy fish should be able to resist ich. The best thing to do probably is to QT the infected fish and treat with copper. The best preventative measure is to QT fish before introducing them.. but even that doesn't ensure 100% the prevention of the introduction of ich to your tank.

I have to respectfully disagree with most of this post.

1) Fish are not typically immune to Ich....very few are resistant to this parasite.
2) Hypo should never be used in a tank with inverts. It will kill them along with the Ich because they cannot osmoregulate any better than the Ich parasite.
3) Hypo does work very well (if done correctly) at killing Ich.
4) Healthy fish will not necessarily be able to fight off ich. Because of the life cycle of this parasite it's numbers grow exponentially in an enclosed system such as our aquariums. It will reach levels that even the healthiest of fish will not be able to deal with.
5) Copper Does work very well, I agree with this point and is what I prefer to use.
6) I also agree that QT is a must for all fish, coral and inverts.
7) QT can and does 100% prevent introduction of Ich to an established aquarium.

Just passing along what is considered to be the most up to date info concerning Ich treatment...

 

[kevin2000]

Hypo resistant ich does exist .. but its not common.

When in doubt slowly raise the salinity and switch to copper.

 

[alprazo]

Any additional thoughts on how long can our ornamental marine fish live / flourish in hypo-saline conditions?

 

[nandan]

hi

hi

I had the a same problem with my regal tang I added a UV lamp for a month and the ich just went off.. it has been 2 years now and the fish is still healthy...

 

[discusone]

LargeAngels,i cant find the post where you gave your treatment rundown,but i printed it off,as it was an excellent prevenitive procedure!.As you use Cupramine,what copper test kit do you use?.I assume it is the kit by Seachem,no?.

 

[wayne in norway]

Googling low salinity cryptocaryon will give you references to scientific papers describing these variants. I've seen it.
The papers will show very well how 'flexible' a parasite Crypt is, and how it's physical appearance and behaviour changes rapidly with new srains. This is a partial explanation for why people have such varying experiences with ich in the main display, and leaving it to go away by itself.

 

[LargeAngels]

discusone: For years I didn't use their (Seachem) test kit as it had "issues." Now they have gone back to a previous version, which works, and that is what I am using now.