How fast to lower salinity for hyposalinty?

[ILikeFish!]

I’m about to start hyposalinity treatment on my 55-gallon tank. I’d like to know how fast I should lower the salinity and how much water to remove daily to reach the target level. My fish aren’t doing to good so the faster the better.

In case it helps my fish are cleaner wrasse, damsel, royal gramma, and fire goby

Additionally, I have a few questions about using praziquantel during hyposalinity treatment. It’s been about 4 weeks of dosing, so I doubt there’s much left in the water. Should I remove any remaining praziquantel before starting the hyposalinity, or is it safe to proceed with both?

 

[Tamberav]

Should i put saltwater back in

No

What’s in your main display? Inverts? Is there a lot of life like worms in the rock?

My main concern would be die off if there is lots of life forms and ammonia.

 

[Tamberav]

Thank you. i was going to originally going to bring the water down in 6 steps over 36 hours, do i need to bring it down slower since its in my main tank? Also since i was waiting for some help before i did anything I haven’t added any rodi water in like 10-12 hours, is that okay?

Waiting delays treatment, whether it is okay or not depends how sick your fish get during the delay.

You should test pH frequently once you get low salinity. It may dip too low and need to be dosed up.

 

[ILikeFish!]

No

What’s in your main display? Inverts? Is there a lot of life like worms in the rock?

My main concern would be die off if there is lots of life forms and ammonia.

I took out all my inverts, my rock is mostly just bacteria and algae.

 

[ILikeFish!]

Waiting delays treatment, whether it is okay or not depends how sick your fish get during the delay.

You should test pH frequently once you get low salinity. It may dip too low and need to be dosed up.

Do I test ph once i reach hyposalinity or do i test the whole time? I dont have anything to dose PH, is there a way keep it from dropping.

 

[Tamberav]

Do I test ph once i reach hyposalinity or do i test the whole time? I dont have anything to dose PH, is there a way keep it from dropping.

You can test it once you get to hypo or close.

You can bake baking soda in the oven on a sheet at 300 for an hour to dose to raise pH but use small amounts so you don't overshoot. You just want it above 7.5.

it may not drop low enough that you have to worry about it, hence testing.

 

[ILikeFish!]

You can test it once you get to hypo or close.

You can bake baking soda in the oven on a sheet at 300 for an hour to dose to raise pH but use small amounts so you don't overshoot. You just want it above 7.5.

it may not drop low enough that you have to worry about it, hence testing.

Thank you, I appreciate it. Is it okay lower the water 6 times within 36 hours to get to 1.009 in my main tank? I saw on another thread that jay hemdal said if your doing a hypo salinity in your main tank it needs to be over multiple days.

 

[Tamberav]

Thank you, I appreciate it. Is it okay lower the water 6 times within 36 hours to get to 1.009 in my main tank? I saw on another thread that jay hemdal said if your doing a hypo salinity in your main tank it needs to be over multiple days.

Well, I went to 1.009 on my FOWLR in 24 hours :)

If you are treating ONLY flukes you only need to 1.012

1.009 is for flukes AND ich.

 

[OrionN]

As you lower the salinity, all your inverts are going to die. What I am talking about here are the worms in the sand and rocks. Hypo-salinity should be use in a hospital tank set up for it with no inverts, especially the fauna in the rock.

 

[ILikeFish!]

As you lower the salinity, all your inverts are going to die. What I am talking about here are the worms in the sand and rocks. Hypo-salinity should be use in a hospital tank set up for it with no inverts, especially the fauna in the rock.

I removed all the important ones and im hoping i dont have that many worms and stuff, i wish I could set up a quarantine tank but as you can probably tell, im just a kid and i dont have the resources for that so this is my only option. Also tamberav seems to have done it successfully and ive seen other post on it so it seems ok.

 

[Tamberav]

I removed all the important ones and im hoping i dont have that many worms and stuff, i wish I could set up a quarantine tank but as you can probably tell, im just a kid and i dont have the resources for that so this is my only option. Also tamberav seems to have done it successfully and ive seen other post on it so it seems ok.

I am not finished, about 2 days in. I didn't have any microfauna, just algae as I had upgraded tanks about 2 months ago and used all dry rock. Fish don't seem to notice the tank is 1.009

I usually use a QT tank but tank is 150g and ehhhh to that. I was QT some fish separately that had ich and my DT came down with ich after years of no disease... I caught my cat putting his paws into my tanks and playing with the water.. ugh. Bad kitty! Seems he may have transferred water from my QT to my DT.

Are you going for flukes only?

 

[ILikeFish!]

I am not finished, about 2 days in. I didn't have any microfauna, just algae. Fish don't seem to notice the tank is 1.009

I usually use a QT tank but tank is 150g and ehhhh to that. I was QT some fish separately that had ich and my DT came down with ich after years of no disease... I caught my cat putting his paws into my tanks and playing with the water.. ugh. Bad kitty! Seems he may have transferred water from my QT to my DT.

Are you going for flukes only?

Yes, is your live rock still alive? Im hoping i have enough beneficial bacteria to combat the die off.

 

[Tamberav]

Yes, is your live rock still alive? Im hoping i have enough beneficial bacteria to combat the die off.

Live rock was live with bacteria and some algae but that's about it. No cycle as no die off other than green hair algae. Maybe some dead pods.

 

[ILikeFish!]

Live rock was live with bacteria and some algae but that's about it. No cycle as no die off other than green hair algae. Maybe some dead pods.

I still haven’t gone past 1.023 yet because i have no idea what to do and people are telling me different things.

 

[ILikeFish!]

Live rock was live with bacteria and some algae but that's about it. No cycle as no die off other than green hair algae. Maybe some dead pods.

Im honestly just thinking about taking all my fish to the lfs because i don’t know what to do.

 

[Tamberav]

Im honestly just thinking about taking all my fish to the lfs because i don’t know what to do.

You just replace the water with increasing amounts of RODI until you get to your target.

If you have a lot of worms dying off then you may have some issues. I don't know your tank and how full of stuff it is. You could try and siphon them out with each change.

 

[ILikeFish!]

You just replace the water with increasing amounts of RODI until you get to your target.

If you have a lot of worms dying off then you may have some issues. I don't know your tank and how full of stuff it is. You could try and siphon them out with each change.

I know how to do it but im just worried about having lots of die off and not being able to control the ammonia because all I have is a 10 gal bucket.

 

[Tamberav]

You can use a plastic tote as QT even if that is helpful.

 

[fishywishy]

I know how to do it but im just worried about having lots of die off and not being able to control the ammonia because all I have is a 10 gal bucket.

I still haven’t gone past 1.023 yet because i have no idea what to do and people are telling me different things.

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 what do you think about this? Honestly I would just do the hyposalinty, i think you would probably have to have a ton of worms to to cause an ammonia spike, but i don’t know I’ve never dont that before.

 

[fishywishy]

Im honestly just thinking about taking all my fish to the lfs because i don’t know what to do.

You have a better chance of saving your fish than the lfs

 

[OrionN]

@ILikeFish!
Only you know what you have in your tank. How long has the tank been running? Do you have a sand bed?
If no sand bed, consider move all the rock out and put them into a Plastic container with a bubbler or PH and get a few PVC angles and tubes in the tank for the fishes to hide in.
Get a 35 gal trash can at Home Depo and you can put everything you don't want to treat with hypo salinity in it. Don't even have to put a heater in it, just an air pump or PH pointing at the surface.