Should I try Hyposalinity to treat marine ich

[kilroy217]

I keep a pretty regimented quarantine system before adding any fish to my display tank, but somehow I now have ich in my reef tank and need to take care of it. Not sure what I did wrong during quarantine, and this is the first time I'm seeing it, so it must have been the last fish that I added. Since I have so many fish and some of them are rather large, I'm in the process of setting up a 75gal hospital tank. Since setting this up is quite expensive, and I don't want to waste all that saltwater for TTM, I was thinking I could use hyposalinity to treat the ich, and then after the fallow period for my reef tank, use TTM on each fish individually as I put them back into the main display one-by-one in a smaller system of two tanks (10gal). Do you think this would work? Are the following fish ok with going hyposaline?

1. Blonde Naso Tang
2. Purple Tang
3. Lyretail Anthias (1x male, 2x female)
4. Potters Angel
5. Clarkii Clown (2x)
6. Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse
7. Flame Fairy Wrasse
8. McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
9. Borbonius Anthias
10. Midas Blenny
11. Starry Blenny

Also, assuming I go ahead with the hyposalinity route, any thoughts on how quickly to drop and later increase the salinity?

Thanks for your help!

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Dropping salinity quickly is no big deal. I have done it plenty of times. However, increasing it should be done gradually. Keep in mind that hypo takes a week or more for you to start seeing improvement but it will still help if you don't want to use copper for faster relief.

 

[kilroy217]

thank you, the canister filter that I bought for this emergency setup has a UV sterilizer built into it. I was hoping that would be enough to help the fish feel a little better while the hyposalinity does its job. Do you think my methodology as described above is sufficient?

thanks!

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Hypo+TTM...it's a very ich proof method. I think they will do fine especially if they are still able to eat right now. I've used hypo for 28-30 days when I first noticed ich symptoms. By then it was already developed but the fishes were still doing ok. I'm also a believer of creating less than ideal water conditions for ich by adding Prazi pro or Maracyn 2 during hypo. I know neither is designed to treat it but hey, if it doesn't hurt the fishes why not make the environment less ideal for the parasite to reproduce.

 

[ThRoewer]

I keep a pretty regimented quarantine system before adding any fish to my display tank, but somehow I now have ich in my reef tank and need to take care of it. Not sure what I did wrong during quarantine, and this is the first time I'm seeing it, so it must have been the last fish that I added. Since I have so many fish and some of them are rather large, I'm in the process of setting up a 75gal hospital tank. Since setting this up is quite expensive, and I don't want to waste all that saltwater for TTM, I was thinking I could use hyposalinity to treat the ich, and then after the fallow period for my reef tank, use TTM on each fish individually as I put them back into the main display one-by-one in a smaller system of two tanks (10gal). Do you think this would work? Are the following fish ok with going hyposaline?

...

Also, assuming I go ahead with the hyposalinity route, any thoughts on how quickly to drop and later increase the salinity?

Thanks for your help!

It's pretty much what I would do if I would decide to rid my system of ich.

As for how ich got into your system - anything wet could have had a cyst on it. It also did not have been the last addition as cysts of some strains can hang out for months.

As for the hyposalinity treatment: it prevents the ripe parasites from encysting, so my procedure is to set up the treatment tank clean (=nothing from the infected system) at hyposaline condition and then transfer the fish in. That way you make sure there are no preexisting ich cysts. The hyposalinity will take care that no new can form. After one week your fish should be ich free and after two weeks you could start ramping up the salinity again. I usually do a tank transfer or sterilization before the ramp up.

 

[kilroy217]

Thanks! I've got the tank set up now and am adding ro/di water now. Should be ready for transfer of fish in the morning... now for catching those little buggers!

 

[kilroy217]

so, in about three hours of trying with both the net and the fish trap, I was able to catch three of my fish today. acclimated them to the new tank, and by the end of the day, two of the three were already dead. no idea how i'm going to get the other fish out of the tank, let alone if I can keep them alive once I do. this is one of the most frustrating things I've had to deal with in this hobby, and i'm afraid i'm going to lose $1,000 worth of fish! Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

so, in about three hours of trying with both the net and the fish trap

That's the problem most likely. Have you ever seen a bully fish chase a weak fish to death? This is similar. IME, wrasses especially are prone to stress related deaths. If you can minimize the time and stress it takes to catch your fishes I think you'll be more successful.

 

[ThRoewer]

The more you chase the fish, the less likely are you to catch them. Once the fish are on alarm and pumped up with adrenaline it will be next to impossible to catch them with a net in a decorated reef tank.
If you are using a net, move it slowly so that the fish don't feel threatened.
Better yet, use a trap, beaker or even a barbless micro hook.
In a last ditch effort you could also drain the tank to nearly empty.

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[ThRoewer]

BTW, are you absolutely positive that your fish have ich?

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