Hyposalinity for Ich in Display

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay,

so with what I’m doing, do you suggest running hypo for 60 days and raise the temperature to 81 degrees as well? Or just go ahead and run hypo for 76 days?

I don’t mind either way I just want to make sure that I never have ich ever again in my display.

all fish are alive as of today and we are dropping the Sg to 1.009 over the course of today.

No - go 35 days hypo, then raise the SG back up to the DT's level and hold the fish in the QT until the full fallow period is over, then move the fish. If the hypo fails, the fish will still be in a position where you can treat them again. 60 days of hypo can be rough on some species of fish.

Jay

 

[Max93]

No - go 35 days hypo, then raise the SG back up to the DT's level and hold the fish in the QT until the full fallow period is over, then move the fish. If the hypo fails, the fish will still be in a position where you can treat them again. 60 days of hypo can be rough on some species of fish.

Jay

Hey Jay,

I don’t think we are on the same page. Keep in mind that I am using my display as the QT.
I removed all inverts/corals out of display and started getting to hypo levels within the display. All there is in my display is fish, rock, and sand. This is easier for me because I don’t have the ability to remove 15 fish out of my display into a temporary holding 55+ gallon tank. I figured it was easier to remove the corals/inverts out of the display into their own 10 gallon quarantine tank.

I will continue forward and start counting down 35 days once I reach 1.009 in the display.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey Jay,

I don’t think we are on the same page. Keep in mind that I am using my display as the QT.
I removed all inverts/corals out of display and started getting to hypo levels within the display. All there is in my display is fish, rock, and sand. This is easier for me because I don’t have the ability to remove 15 fish out of my display into a temporary holding 55+ gallon tank. I figured it was easier to remove the corals/inverts out of the display into their own 10 gallon quarantine tank.

I will continue forward and start counting down 35 days once I reach 1.009 in the display.

Sure thing - then it just works in reverse - the corals you pulled need to go through the fallow period. Because lots of nooks and crannies in your DT will now no longer be hiding spots for ich tomonts, your overall risk is going to be reduced to some degree. The tomonts can only survive on the bases of the corals you pulled, and that is going to be a substantially smaller surface area.

Jay

 

[Max93]

Sure thing - then it just works in reverse - the corals you pulled need to go through the fallow period. Because lots of nooks and crannies in your DT will now no longer be hiding spots for ich tomonts, your overall risk is going to be reduced to some degree. The tomonts can only survive on the bases of the corals you pulled, and that is going to be a substantially smaller surface area.

Jay

Perfect thank you for clarifying! I’ll keep updating as I go.

 

[Max93]

Hi Jay,

if this was velvet, all the fish would have symptoms by now right?
I wasn’t able to get SG to 1.009 last night because I ran out of RO/DI but I should get there today.
All fish are eating. I think I’m just thinking it looks like velvet because of all the scars/white dots on the hippo. The other tangs don’t show as many as the hippo. In fact only the Kole tang and hippo tang are showing weight loss. They still eat and graze though.

 

[Max93]

December 20, 2021

left heaters unplugged by mistake, of course. Removed 10g “quarantine tank” and left a part unplugged… woke up to water at 73 degrees.

salinity is now down to 1.011 and I am completely out of RO water. Completely unprepared for this, but I have been running my RO unit nonstop.

with .002 to go, we should enter hypo tonight!
All fish are eating like pigs still, however blue hippo does have a ton of salt sprinkles all over him. I could count them if he stood still, at least 80 of them. Ich has progressed to dangerous levels on the hippo tang but I feel like the slow drop in SG has kept my ammonia at zero. I have been testing twice a day.

Kole tang looked ROUGH this morning but I think it had to do with the temperature swing, low salinity, and ich attacking.

after we reach 1.009 tonight, we will monitor physical symptoms and wait 7 days before officially beginning the 35 day countdown in the display tank.

fish are being fed a huge variety of foods, all soaked in selcon. Primarily hikari spirulina brine shrimp as that is what they go after the most.

fairy wrasses are all showing 2-3 ich dots.

 

[ThePlummer]

I suspect your hippo is the worst off of all your fish, simply because I think they have a thinner slime coat, much like powder brown/blues do. I think of my blue as 'The canary in the coal mine', as it is always the first fish to show me that there is an issue.

In fact, many people refuse to have a thin slime coat fish in their DT because they falsely believe the fish itself brings in parasites, like ick and velvet.

But, if properly executed parasite ERADICATION, not management, you can have a delicate fish without fear of parasitical diseased fish.

 

[Max93]

I suspect your hippo is the worst off of all your fish, simply because I think they have a thinner slime coat, much like powder brown/blues do. I think of my blue as 'The canary in the coal mine', as it is always the first fish to show me that there is an issue.

In fact, many people refuse to have a thin slime coat fish in their DT because they falsely believe the fish itself brings in parasites, like ick and velvet.

But, if properly executed parasite ERADICATION, not management, you can have a delicate fish without fear of parasitical diseased fish.

Exactly right! I still don’t understand how some believe ich appears magically. We’re getting somewhere though, the 1.011 seems to be helping and the temp is back up. Working it down to 1.009

 

[Max93]

Getting here was some serious work.
It is tough to bring down salinity in a large reef.
I really am hoping the effort was worth it!!

December 21, 2021 12:02am

salinity has finally reached 1.009.
Ammonia - undetectable
Running the skimmer slightly wetter.

have microbacter7 on hand just in case and ammonia blocker. Have not used either.

all fish are happy, eating, swimming and even chasing each other in the tank. I can still say that this is ich, as the spots on the tang have not increased/decreased. I imagine his skin will start healing soon.

attached are two good images of what we are dealing with.

I have seen ALL fish scratch on rocks except the Gobies and dartfish.

I questioned earlier if this was possibly velvet because the Kole tang has stopped getting white dots but he has like smaller white specs that don’t look like sugar. Maybe it is scar tissue? He has lost weight, five grams at least. But still continues to eat.

another reason for not having velvet is that typically velvet wipes out a tank FAST. It’s been over 2 weeks since I started seeing symptoms and I have not had a single fish fatality.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Getting here was some serious work.
It is tough to bring down salinity in a large reef.
I really am hoping the effort was worth it!!

December 21, 2021 12:02am

salinity has finally reached 1.009.
Ammonia - undetectable
Running the skimmer slightly wetter.

have microbacter7 on hand just in case and ammonia blocker. Have not used either.

all fish are happy, eating, swimming and even chasing each other in the tank. I can still say that this is ich, as the spots on the tang have not increased/decreased. I imagine his skin will start healing soon.

attached are two good images of what we are dealing with.

I have seen ALL fish scratch on rocks except the Gobies and dartfish.

I questioned earlier if this was possibly velvet because the Kole tang has stopped getting white dots but he has like smaller white specs that don’t look like sugar. Maybe it is scar tissue? He has lost weight, five grams at least. But still continues to eat.

another reason for not having velvet is that typically velvet wipes out a tank FAST. It’s been over 2 weeks since I started seeing symptoms and I have not had a single fish fatality.

Tough to see under blue light, but that does look like ich. Velvet causes rapid breathing and then is fatal pretty quickly after that, many people never see any spots on their fish at all.

Hypo is pretty slow to work - it doesn't kill the trophonts on the fish, you have to wait for those to fall off.

Jay

 

[Max93]

Tough to see under blue light, but that does look like ich. Velvet causes rapid breathing and then is fatal pretty quickly after that, many people never see any spots on their fish at all.

Hypo is pretty slow to work - it doesn't kill the trophonts on the fish, you have to wait for those to fall off.

Jay

makes sense, he is eating which is fantastic. Motivated too, comes up to me when I remove the cover.

for the pictures, believe it or not it was under T5s only haha. My iPhone picks up blue and I have no idea how to get a better picture. The second shot there if you zoom in you can see the bumps on the skin pretty detailed but still not the perfect picture.

 

[Max93]

Here is a couple more, messed with the camera. What do you think Jay? Number of white dots has not increased. Little easier to see on the wrasse too.

 

[Max93]

I have given up on catching pics of the hippo tang. Here is the wrasse. I cleaned the glass too just to see if I could get anything clearer.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I have given up on catching pics of the hippo tang. Here is the wrasse. I cleaned the glass too just to see if I could get anything clearer.

I can see ich pretty clearly on the hepatus tang. The spots on the wrasse are a bit large to be ich, but I've been fooled before - camera shake can make the spots seem larger than they really are.

What's the history behind the dorsal fin on the wrasse? Did something chew on it? I can't tell if the fin is cloudy and missing some parts, or if it is just nubs from the elongate filaments growing in, it looks different in each photo.

Jay

 

[Max93]

I can see ich pretty clearly on the hepatus tang. The spots on the wrasse are a bit large to be ich, but I've been fooled before - camera shake can make the spots seem larger than they really are.

What's the history behind the dorsal fin on the wrasse? Did something chew on it? I can't tell if the fin is cloudy and missing some parts, or if it is just nubs from the elongate filaments growing in, it looks different in each photo.

Jay

I think it’s the filaments growing in, he was so tiny when I first got him.
In addition, there’s 3 more wrasses in there with him and the lyretails chase him from time to time.

 

[Max93]

The hippo tang is scratching aggressively on rocks and sand now. All the other fish are fine.
He’s eating but he’s really trying to kick something off. Anything I can do to help him? Maybe lights off?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The hippo tang is scratching aggressively on rocks and sand now. All the other fish are fine.
He’s eating but he’s really trying to kick something off. Anything I can do to help him? Maybe lights off?

With the hepatus in hypo now, ich and flukes are going to be controlled as well as they can be, I'd just ride it out. Certainly the tang will scratch less wiht lights out, but you want to get the lights on enough during the day so it has time to feed.

Jay

 

[Max93]

:O!
The white dots disappeared from the hippo tang! He’s still scratching so I am assuming he still has some on him but they’re getting off.

 

[Max93]

With the hepatus in hypo now, ich and flukes are going to be controlled as well as they can be, I'd just ride it out. Certainly the tang will scratch less wiht lights out, but you want to get the lights on enough during the day so it has time to feed.

Jay

I did turn off the T5s and left blues only. Saves me some bulbs. Thank you again Jay!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

:O!
The white dots disappeared from the hippo tang! He’s still scratching so I am assuming he still has some on him but they’re getting off.

Now don't be worried if the spots return and then go away again, I've seen that happen during hypo treatments. As long as the spots don't grow massively in numbers, the treatment will eventually work.

Jay