qt with Hypo salinity for ick

[cwill78295]

So 2 days ago I noticed my flame angel had white spots all over it. This is a new tank, only 60 to 90 days old. so all of my fish are new to me. I am also new to saltwater, i raised africans for many years, so i never quarantined the fish, figuring that they all came from a reputable place, blah blah blah blah. So, tonight I removed all of the fish from my 180, and put them all in my 55g quarantine. I then added fresh water to the tank and made the salinity 1.016. my plan is to add more freshwater to the tank tomorrow to lower the salinity to 1.009. which I will keep there for 30 days. I will then raise the salinity back up slowly by the end of my 72 day fallow in the 180. Is ,my plan correct?

Tank inhabitants,

1 Naso tang
1 flame angel
6 Chromis
2 clowns
1 Lemon peel

 

[MatnNatsReef]

You got it. Just lower it slowly and monitor PH.

 

[DOGGIE750]

I heard WC daily would be necessary.

 

[cwill78295]

only if you have 0 substrate at the bottom of the tank which will not buffer ph and things like that

 

[DOGGIE750]

Just make sure it's Ich that ur dealing with. I thought mine was Ich then it was the Killer Velvet attacked my tank. GL and may the Fish force be with us.

 

[snorvich]

Please read here. Hypo is the most difficult to properly execute and often fails because it is not long enough, accurately maintained, or runs into a strain that is hyposaline immune.

 

[ThRoewer]

Please read here. Hypo is the most difficult to properly execute and often fails because it is not long enough, accurately maintained, or runs into a strain that is hyposaline immune.

I disagree on the difficulty maintaining a low salinity - it is actually quite easy as evaporation has a 3 times lesser influence at 1.008 than at 1,024.

But in my experience hyposalinity has some other drawbacks that need to be considered:
- certain bacteria prefer lower salinity and are likely too bloom. Frequent water changes or a UV lamp are required to control this.
- it takes about a week to get fish out of hyposalinity which may present a problem in case you need to switch treatments quickly.
- it only treats ich and there are some ich strains that can handle salinities as low as 1.005 (reef fish can't handle that)
- protein skimming will not work properly
- most medication dosages for saltwater are calculated for 1.024, so when using them at 1.008 you may over or under dose. Also some may be toxic in that salinity range.

 

[cwill78295]

hmmmm so do you think its better to just treat with copper? how long does that take?

 

[lespaul339]

Treat with Tank Transfer Method. Angels can be pretty sensitive to copper.

 

[ThRoewer]

hmmmm so do you think its better to just treat with copper? how long does that take?

No, copper is even worse in its side effects.

If you chose to treat with hyposalinity you just need to be aware of the problems you face and prepared to deal with them.

If this is for treating an active ich infection of multiple fish, hypo can be the best option as it actually prevents ich from forming a cyst after leaving the fish.
You just need to do a transfer of the fish straight into the treatment tank at target hyposalinity to ensure there are no pre-established cysts in the treatment tank.
Then you leave the fish at hyposalinity for a minimum of 2 weeks, better 4.
After that time you do another transfer to clean tank to slowly raise the salinity.

I've done it and it worked for me to clean the sick fish up.

If you still see white spots after 7 days in hypo you may have a low salinity ich strain. In that case I would switch to TTM at hyposaline condition.

 

[cwill78295]

well my flame angel was the only one with white spots, However I removed all of the fish from the DT. I now have the water at .016. Today was my plan to move it to .009. I actually dont see the spots on the fish anymore. I just think its better to be cautious and keep going

 

[ThRoewer]

I would only use hyposalinity if too many fish need to be treated and only if they have visible symptoms (white spots) as that is the only way to see if the treatment is effective.
If only one fish is sick TTM would be the better choice. You may still want to treat all fish, but there is no urgency to do them all at once. I would set up a clean (= ich free) holding tank and then transfer the fish one by one or in small batches to that tank via TTM.
For the holding tank and TTM you could leave the salinity at 1.016.

 

[SNAKEMANVET]

+1 with TheRoewer.

 

[33yrplus]

Your plan sounds good but a few suggestions might help it be more effective:
1. If your Flame Angel is covered in Ick then 100% likelihood that your other fish have it but the ick has not yet encysted so you can't see it.
2. When you bring the salinity down you need to add buffer to keep the alkalinity constant.
3. Ime hyposalinity rapidly loses effectiveness at 1.010 and higher. My recommendation is make sure your refractometer is calibrated and then set the salinity in the QT tank to 1.008.
4. Hyposalinity is good against Ick as it's a larger protozoan and more susceptible. Hypo does nothing to Velvet. Hypo also gets rid of skin, gill and eye flukes.
5. You may want to get a UV sterilizer for the QT to guard against velvet. The UV can also be employed on the DT and it will greatly reduce the likelihood of having an outbreak of ick or velvet in the future.
6. Marinefish are not as sensitive to salinity fluctuations as most people believe. Heniochus and Green Chromis have been know to swim up freshwater rivers, then there are spawning salmon that go from full strength seawater to freshwater in under 24hrs.

 

[ThRoewer]

...make sure your refractometer is calibrated ...

Key here is to calibrate the 0 point (1.000 kg/L) of the refractometer with distilled water. You want to be precise near 0 salinity and not at nominal ocean salinity.

6. Marinefish are not as sensitive to salinity fluctuations as most people believe. Heniochus and Green Chromis have been know to swim up freshwater rivers, then there are spawning salmon that go from full strength seawater to freshwater in under 24hrs.

While I generally agree I would still be careful when raising the salinity after the fish have been at low salinity for weeks.
It is quite a difference if a fish swims up into a river and back a few hours or maybe even days later or if it stays there for a couple of weeks so that its kidneys adapt to extremely low salinity.
Also, salmon are somewhat a bad example as it is basically a one way trip for them.

 

[33yrplus]

Key here is to calibrate the 0 point (1.000 kg/L) of the refractometer with distilled water. You want to be precise near 0 salinity and not at nominal ocean salinity.

Yes, good point.

While I generally agree I would still be careful when raising the salinity after the fish have been at low salinity for weeks.
It is quite a difference if a fish swims up into a river and back a few hours or maybe even days later or if it stays there for a couple of weeks so that its kidneys adapt to extremely low salinity.
Also, salmon are somewhat a bad example as it is basically a one way trip for them.

I agree it's always better to be safe/careful and take it slow then to rush it and potentially cause the fish harm. I don't think science knows how fast fish can osmo-regulate. I suspect it's as they swim through the water otherwise they would suffer cellular damage very quickly. Salmon were a quick reference and I agree they may not be the best. I think Steelhead Trout might be better as some have been known to go into rivers and spawn and then go back out to sea several times in their lifetime.