When I read the threads about hyposalinity with resistant strains threads I would have told you (until today) that those people did something wrong, wrong salinity, contamination, not enough time etc. I now have changed my tune in that Hypo doesn't work. :sad1:
Here is what I did for those of you considering hypo. I have a 400 gallon with sump. Purple, Naso (11"), mustard, Kole, Achilles Tangs, Scribble angel (died), crosshatch pair (male died last week - stopped eating), 4 cleaner wrasse, yellow head gobie, Golden, Pakistan butterfly.
The main tank has a great skimmer, great circulation, and a 40 gallon sump with filter bags, and a UV light. 96 long 42 high 24 deep. Normally a ton of live rock
60 gallon qt tank - I put some of the inverts (snails, urchins, shrimp) in here with no fish, started the 72 day wait.
125 tank - Usually dry saved for emergencies. I put all the live rock in here, and the rest of the inverts (7 sea stars, shrimp, etc). HOB filter, filled it with the rock and water from the display tank. The live rock filled this tank to 2/3 level. Started the 72 day wait.
360 - took out all the live rock in the display, all the LR in the sump and transferred to the 125. Took out almost all of the sand. Filled with a lot of PVC. Lowered salinity to 1.008 over a week. I used 5 different salinity monitors (2 refractometers, 2 swing arm - reference only, and a Neptune systems salinity probe). I calibrated all of them. I also did the math with exact calculations during the reduction in salinity. The math and the salinity matched my calculations on the way down. The tank is easy to calculate as 1" of height = 10 gallons. It also has a top off to keep the salinity level. I use only RO water preheated from the tank in the basement. It is pumped directly from the holding tank to the display. Originally had a bit of a spike in ammonia on day 4 of 1.008 salinity, but used Amquel and did water changed and it eventually settled down. I also cut feedings in half for the fish and feed lots of nori daily.
All signs of ick stopped in about 5-7 days of 1.008. Achilles tang had it the worst, and was now clean! I thought I nailed this. 5 weeks in of 1.008 male trigger stopped eating and died 1 week later. Not sure why he died. Fast forward to week 6 of hypo- started to raise up to 1.025 over 2 weeks. I was not in a rush, didn't want to shock fish. Friday I noticed the Achilles rubbing on the pvc, thought Hmmmm. This morning the Pakistani butterfly has a few white salt-like sprinkles. This is now about 9 weeks after starting hypo.
The fish are too big to do TTM. I am going copper next week in the display -.04% for 4 weeks. I guess this is the way to go as I have no corals, and the rocks are in the 125 right now so copper here I come.
Please consider this thread if you go hypo. I thought I nailed it but did not. I really tried to do everything right, and thought the people who failed before me did something wrong. I don't thing I did anything wrong except assuming hypo would kill all the ich. The next step would be to make the fish tank into a china cabinet. This hobby can be very frustrating. And I thought racing was expensive. :headwally:
Frustrated,
Chris
Here is what I did for those of you considering hypo. I have a 400 gallon with sump. Purple, Naso (11"), mustard, Kole, Achilles Tangs, Scribble angel (died), crosshatch pair (male died last week - stopped eating), 4 cleaner wrasse, yellow head gobie, Golden, Pakistan butterfly.
The main tank has a great skimmer, great circulation, and a 40 gallon sump with filter bags, and a UV light. 96 long 42 high 24 deep. Normally a ton of live rock
60 gallon qt tank - I put some of the inverts (snails, urchins, shrimp) in here with no fish, started the 72 day wait.
125 tank - Usually dry saved for emergencies. I put all the live rock in here, and the rest of the inverts (7 sea stars, shrimp, etc). HOB filter, filled it with the rock and water from the display tank. The live rock filled this tank to 2/3 level. Started the 72 day wait.
360 - took out all the live rock in the display, all the LR in the sump and transferred to the 125. Took out almost all of the sand. Filled with a lot of PVC. Lowered salinity to 1.008 over a week. I used 5 different salinity monitors (2 refractometers, 2 swing arm - reference only, and a Neptune systems salinity probe). I calibrated all of them. I also did the math with exact calculations during the reduction in salinity. The math and the salinity matched my calculations on the way down. The tank is easy to calculate as 1" of height = 10 gallons. It also has a top off to keep the salinity level. I use only RO water preheated from the tank in the basement. It is pumped directly from the holding tank to the display. Originally had a bit of a spike in ammonia on day 4 of 1.008 salinity, but used Amquel and did water changed and it eventually settled down. I also cut feedings in half for the fish and feed lots of nori daily.
All signs of ick stopped in about 5-7 days of 1.008. Achilles tang had it the worst, and was now clean! I thought I nailed this. 5 weeks in of 1.008 male trigger stopped eating and died 1 week later. Not sure why he died. Fast forward to week 6 of hypo- started to raise up to 1.025 over 2 weeks. I was not in a rush, didn't want to shock fish. Friday I noticed the Achilles rubbing on the pvc, thought Hmmmm. This morning the Pakistani butterfly has a few white salt-like sprinkles. This is now about 9 weeks after starting hypo.
The fish are too big to do TTM. I am going copper next week in the display -.04% for 4 weeks. I guess this is the way to go as I have no corals, and the rocks are in the 125 right now so copper here I come.
Please consider this thread if you go hypo. I thought I nailed it but did not. I really tried to do everything right, and thought the people who failed before me did something wrong. I don't thing I did anything wrong except assuming hypo would kill all the ich. The next step would be to make the fish tank into a china cabinet. This hobby can be very frustrating. And I thought racing was expensive. :headwally:
Frustrated,
Chris
