Thoughts on hyposalinity for QT

[IslandCrow]

I've always been a big fan of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory, but after losing my last GSM within 72 hours of bringing it home, I've come to realize that sometimes disease hits these fish so fast, it's important to be one step ahead.

So, I'm wondering what people's thoughts are on pretreating with hyposalinity. I'm leary on doing freshwater or formalin dips, since I've done these both in the past on sick fish, and they both seem to be potentially very stressful treatments. Hyposalinity seems to be a good alternative as something that's not too stressful to the fish (I'm hoping) and a good way to kill off most paracites (again, I hope).

My plan is to drop the salinity to 15 ppt (1.011 SG) over the next 2-3 days and keep it there for 2-3 weeks before slowly raising it back up to 35 ppt and introducing the fish to the main tank. Thoughts?

 

[Freed]

If you want to pretreat for ich then you need to drop the salinity down to 1.009 but you must use a calibrated refractometer. Any lower and you run the risk of not only killing the ich but the fish as well. Ich can live at 1.011 so 1.009 is very important. After you see the very last spot of ich, if you do see any at all which is possible even after a few days of hypo, you need to continue 1.009 for at least another 4-6 weeks.

 

[Steven Pro]

Hyposalinity is only effective against Marine Ich.

If GSM stands for Gold Stripe Maroon clownfish, the most common killer of them (particularly wild-caught specimens) is Brooklynella, which is best treated with formalin baths.

 

[IslandCrow]

OK, I thought FW dips were good for multiple types of parasites. I think I'll continue with the hypo since I've started and just keep an eye out for any signs of brook. I have some formalin onhand. I'll also go ahead and bring the salinity down to 1.009. As I understand it, you don't run into trouble until you start dipping below 1.008. I do have a refractometer which I just calibrated this morning at 0 and 35 ppt, so I should be good there. Thanks for the additional info. I'm of course still open to anyone else's comments.

By the way, so far, so good. The little guy's swimming around actively and just munched on a little cyclopeeze and Formula 2 this morning. He was in the tank at the LFS for 2-3 weeks before I got him, so he's probably fine. He is WC, though, so I want to play it really safe.

 

[Steven Pro]

Freshwater dips are different than hyposalinity.

 

[LargeAngels]

Some good readings

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/treatments.html

 

[IslandCrow]

Thanks. I've actually read that article, but it's been awhile, so it was a good review. Sorry about crossing the streams with FW Dips and Hypo. I actually meant the latter since that's what I'm doing. I want to avoid the stress of a dip. As I understood it, though, the theory is really the same (though the procedure is obviously different), to put the parasites in an environment where they can't survive. I guess what I'm confused on is what parasites can be removed with either hypo or a freshwater dip. I know freshwater dips are a possible remidy for Brooklynella (though a formalin bath seems to be the preferred method). Is the Brook parasite (I forget its exact name) more resistant to hypo than C. irritans (itch parasite)?

 

[Steven Pro]

Hyposalinity does not work against the Cryptocaryon parasites on the body of the fish. It is only effective against the various reproductive stages when the parasites drops off the fish.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no proof hyposalinity is effective against any parasite other than Cryptocaryon.

 

[IslandCrow]

Good to know. Thanks for the info. I had another thought recently. At the end of the hypo treatment, should I do a 100% water change before bringing the salinity up? More specifically, I'd remove the fish, completely empty and clean out the tank, refill it with new water of equal salinity and put the fish back in (after acclimating to temp/PH of course). My thoughts here are that it sounds like the hypo doesn't really kill the parasites, but simply make them fall off the fish. They're still floating around in their tomont (?) stage.

 

[Philwd]

No. Hypo is effective and kills the parasite while in its free swimming phase.

I don't see why you would want to do a 100% WC. Small WC are good and take the opportunity to siphon out the bottom of your QT at the same time to help eliminate any parasites that have fallen off but not hatched.