Started Hyposalinty to fight ich..any advice?

[Streetmagus]

I had my DT tank running fine for a few months. Added a Coral Banded Shrimp, and made the mistake of not quarantining him. Well, per LFS advice, I should just dump him in the tank.. I had concerns with their water and he said the tanks the inverts were in are free of meds, water was good and should be fine. He said I shouldn't net him, since that might cause him to lose his claws. So he recommended I just acclimate and dump him straight from the bag. My mistake..

Fast forward 2 weeks later, regal tang(1.25inch) showed a few spots. I've delt with freshwater ich, so I was familiar with what they might look like. Those 3 spots went away. About a week later, showed a lot more ich spots, the flame angel (1 inch) also developed a few on his tail. I also have 2 clownfish(1-1.5inch) and a benggai cardinalfish (1 inch) which are not showing any visible ich.

Did a lot of research, apparently marine ich is a lot more of a nuisance than freshwater ich, also harder to treat...went back to LFS to buy heaters for QTs. I've just spent 2 hours carefully remodeling the rockwork in order to net all the fish out. They're all in 20gallon QTs. Each fish is in their own QT, except for the pair of clowns. Per LFS advice, and a lot of online sources, they recommended hyposalinity as the safest and best way to approach this..

But I'm not sure what to do at this point. Right now, all the QTs SG are at 1.025, using a refractometer that I calibrated with RO/DI. I understand I need to be at 1.009 in order to kill the ich?

A couple of questions: I've read different forum posts regarding lowering the salinity, some say lower it in 48 hours, some say 3-4 days. What are your experiences in lowering SG? What's best? Currently I have the tanks half filled...I plan to slowly add RO/DI water over the next few days to lower salinity. Is this a safe approach?

Also, the tanks are bare. Only thing in them at the moment are heaters and a thermometer. Do I need a mechanical filter? I've read the article where they recommended a filter and replacing the filter everyday. What's the purpose of the mechanical filtration, since the DT doesn't require it?

Also, one employee recommended copper or Kordon's Rid-Ich (supposedly treats marine ich as well). I've never dealt with copper, but had success with Rid-Ich on freshwater ich. Would anyone advise against these products, if so, why?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

[Meanmike]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991470

 

[Streetmagus]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1991470

I read that, although not the whole entire thread. Others have also questioned the filter media. He also says 48 hours, and on other forums, people say that is too fast. Wondering what other's have experienced here.

 

[Deinonych]

Hyposalinity, while the safest (in terms of stress on fish) route for treating cryptocaryon, is also the most prone to error. You must keep the SG of the water at 1.009 and no higher or you risk the parasite surviving and reinfecting the fish. There have been numerous anecdotes from users on this forum of hypo failing due to the difficulty maintaining a SG of 1.009. I personally prefer using medication to eliminate parasites - chloroquine phosphate @ 60mg/gal or Cupramine at 0.35-0.40mg/l for 4 weeks.

 

[Streetmagus]

Hyposalinity, while the safest (in terms of stress on fish) route for treating cryptocaryon, is also the most prone to error. You must keep the SG of the water at 1.009 and no higher or you risk the parasite surviving and reinfecting the fish. There have been numerous anecdotes from users on this forum of hypo failing due to the difficulty maintaining a SG of 1.009. I personally prefer using medication to eliminate parasites - chloroquine phosphate @ 60mg/gal or Cupramine at 0.35-0.40mg/l for 4 weeks.

Yeah, although I've been good at maintaining SG at 1.025-1.026, there are times when after a WC I've had the SG slightly +/- 0.001..this was usually due to the fact that I "eyeball" the 10% water to extract. I would usually correct the SG with the next WC. 8 weeks of 1.009 is tough, I'd admit. Especially since the tanks are smaller, no skimmer, WC is a must, and thats when the SG fluctuates for me. Topping off would be no problem, I'm just worried about the WC's (i.e if I'm doing 5 gallon WC, I might accidentally take out more than 5 gallon, etc.)


The fish are really "healthy" at the moment, they're very active and eating like pigs. I've read so much mixed reviews with meds, maintaining the correct levels of meds is just as hard as maintaining the hypo SG? With freshwater ich, it was easy for me since the meds only lasted a week...but meds at 4 weeks I would imagine the fish would really be stressed, and the error in maintaining correct med levels would be more deadly than screwing up the SG hypo right? i.e if in hypo you would just have to extend the time by another 4 weeks if SG went aboved 1.009, where'as it would be deadly if meds levels were critical..

I have no problem waiting the 8 weeks for the DT to clear of ich, I'm just worried about the fish in QT bringing it back to the DT.

 

[Deinonych]

That's the nice thing about chloroquine phosphate - it's a "one and done" medication. Just measure the correct amount and dose it once (plus adding the appropriate amount with water changes). Biggest downside is that it is hard to find.