why do LFS always have WAY LOW salinity?

[Jakef150]

As i m a newbie...

Im curious why do LFS always have way too low salinity in their tanks?

I was warned to careful to put a fish in my tank from LFS tank due to huge different # of salinitly.

one LFS that seems neat store...their salinity is 1.018...i was surprised that their fishes are fine..

so i did a SLOWLY add my tank s-water to fish in a small clear bucket before put it in my tank..so far its doing great..

why ? any reason they do this ?
thanks
Jake

 

[njudson]

They do it for the same reason you might run your Quarantine tank at a lower salinity. Ich for example can be killed at this lower sg but the fish will survive.

 

[jflick345]

A few reasons...1. only inverts really need salinity at 1.026ish to thrive, fish do fine in lower salinity generally. 2. It helps cut down on disease is what I've heard. 3. Cost. If you can keep fish at a lower salinity then it doesn't make sense to waste money on the increased salt usage.

 

[thegrun]

Cost, lower salinity equals less salt and lower salinity kills some parasites.

 

[dublo8]

They do it to reduce pests and parasites. Just make sure you QT your livestock and acclimate them to your conditions before placing them in the tank.

 

[Jakef150]

wow....interested....Learn something new everyday

what about corals ?

my tank, always at about 1.025


thanks!

 

[jflick345]

That's fine. Corals and any other invert are best kept in that range. My tank is usually 1.025-1.026

 

[qfrisco]

This is the main reason I always suggest that folks drip acclimate new fish. One of my favorite LFSs keeps his water at 1.015 and I drip acclimate any new fish over several hours. I've done an acclimationg from 1.015 to 1.026 over 8 hours and the fish have done OK.

It's recommended you don't raise the salinity by more than 0.002 per day (for those coming out of hyposalinity treatment, for example), but I don't think it needs to be quite that slow.

 

[DustinB]

I'm sorry but I highly doubt pest elimination has anything to do with it. 1.018 is far from what you would consider hyposalinity. As a couple people have stated, salt is expensive. Most distributors are likely to run this same salinity as well, for the same reason. Therefore the LFS can save money and likely several fish by running the same levels after shipping.

 

[Harry_Y]

I'd think #1 reason is cost

 

[syrinx]

I owned a shop for 10 years- the only reason I did 1.018 or 9 was for parasite control. Money never entered into it.

 

[syrinx]

And another fact, as opposed to guess- All of the wholesalers I delt with used the same sg as the ocean- they can put fish in their system much quicker that way.

 

[Sport507]

I think it about cost too but not just price of salt that’s the add on bonus. I think it is about the appearance of disease free healthy fish but if they have it maybe no one will see it. We know about fresh water dips and hypo SG. It can help relieve the fish and things will drop off under those condition, ich, parasites etc. Now say you are an LPS (chains are the best at it) and you bring in several hundreds of $$$, if not thousands of $$$ worth of fish at the wholesale price but the retail will bring two maybe three times that if you can turn them around quickly. They cannot afford to have people seeing unwanted thing like disease and parasites in the tanks. Not to say that we haven’t all seen those problems in LPS stores but the efforts to keep it at a minimum is there job and leads to there best attempt for profits. JMO Not to say all LFS do it I only use a trusted couple now. Lessons learned the hard way.

 

[Sk8r]

#1 reason is to prevent ich outbreak in the store, which means the minute you get it home and put it into your tank, you may get it in your tank, because it's not been through the 4 weeks of this protocol necessary to assure the parasite dies out.

Read the sticky atop the forum about NEW fISH and quarantine; set up your qt at matching salinity and gradually raise it to tank level: if you get an outbreak drop salinity as per instructions. Read the sticky.

 

[Toddrtrex]

IMO, it is money, and money alone. The SG would need to be at 1.009 to have an effect on ick.

 

[badazztealcobra]

IMO, it is money, and money alone. The SG would need to be at 1.009 to have an effect on ick.

Couldn't agree more. In order to kill crypt you would need your SG at 1.008-1.009 for six weeks. If the store is keeping fish for that long at that hyposalinity then yes, they are doing it for pest control. If they sell fish out of their system as fast as possible it definitely has nothing to do with pest control.

 

[90accord]

IMO, it is money, and money alone. The SG would need to be at 1.009 to have an effect on ick.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ thats all it is.

 

[snorvich]

I'm sorry but I highly doubt pest elimination has anything to do with it. 1.018 is far from what you would consider hyposalinity. As a couple people have stated, salt is expensive. Most distributors are likely to run this same salinity as well, for the same reason. Therefore the LFS can save money and likely several fish by running the same levels after shipping.

Yes indeed, to save money. To affect cryptocaryon irritans (ich) you need 1.009 SG and of course hyposalinity has no effect at all on oodinium.

 

[Sport507]

Sk8r said, it best IMO. It's just to keep from having out breaks, doesn't mean it not there. Low SG not hypo (total hypo) and low temp. But yes it's still about the $$$$ and moving livestock. That's why Sk8r preaches QT QT.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

Im curious why do LFS always have way too low salinity in their tanks?

Mine don't. But I may just have decent LFS here.

Jeff