Ich and hyposalinity

[B-ridge]

Doing research they say there are 3 true ways of getting rid of ich. Copper. Tank transfer. Hyposalinity.
My fish caught ich somehow eventhough I did qt. Looks as if I didn't qt properly or long enough. I decided to go with hyposalinity. In the course of a week I lowered my salinity to 1.08-1.09. This being checked with calibrated refractometer and lab grade apex salinity probe.
My question and issue or maybe just don't understand is if I'm correct ich can't survive/live in low salinity therefore bursting the ich cause of the low salinity. If that's the case how can I see more ich on fish that didn't show signs of having ich on them? And more ich on fish that already have ich if hyposalinity is supposed to kill the ich?
It's only been 2-3 days so I may be looking for something to happen quicker than normal. Reading the threads they say keep hypo at 1.08-1.09 for 3 weeks and temp at 81 so I defintely have some time to go. Just don't understand how I can see more ich when I thought hypo should do the opposite

 

[saltyphish]

In some strains hypo is not as effective. I dont even recommend it for treating ich due to the low success rate I have had with it. Tank transfer is very labor intensive but seems like a plausible way if you commit to doing it right. Copper is my go to method but be prepared to treat all fish infected in a seperate QT tank and leave the DT fallow for 72 days or longer. Good luck. Humblefish has wrote many great articles discussing this in detail.

 

[melypr1985]

+1 ^^^

I dislike Hypo because there are strains out there that it just doesn't effect. Not to mention how difficult it is to execute properly. Copper, CP and TTM are all three better options with TTM being my favorite.

 

[Humblefish]

The study which first discovered hypo resistant strains of ich can be found here: http://www.int-res.com/articles/dao2003/54/d054p147.pdf

The relevant part of that study was nicely paraphrased here (quote below): http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa164

More recently, studies have demonstrated different salinity tolerances among strains of Cryptocaryon. Yambot (2003) described one Taiwanese outbreak occurring in sea bream Sparus sarba at a salinity of 5 g/L, and another outbreak in sea perch Lates calcarifer occurring at a salinity of 10 g/L. These two strains were successfully propagated in the laboratory at 7 and 10 g/L, respectively, and are well below previously documented preferred salinities.

 

[B-ridge]

Of course just my luck I would encounter a strain resistant to hypo
How common is this strain?

 

[Humblefish]

How common is this strain?

Two strains have been discovered so far; no telling how commonly encountered they are. o_O

 

[saltyphish]

Of course just my luck I would encounter a strain resistant to hypo
How common is this strain?

Its not always the strain either. Sometimes its how the hypo was carried out you have to keep it at a certain level and can not allow it to ever rise or it is wasted time.

 

[Humblefish]

Its not always the strain either. Sometimes its how the hypo was carried out you have to keep it at a certain level and can not allow it to ever rise or it is wasted time.

^^ True. I recommend using an ATO to keep the SG exactly at 1.009. Some fish cannot tolerate any lower than that, and if the salinity creeps up even slightly you risk hypo failure. Also, this goes without saying, but you should only use a perfectly calibrated refractometer when doing hypo. Daily testing for and buffering pH as needed is also important.

 

[B-ridge]

wow. Ok. So let's say salinity is at 1.08 but went up to 1.085 or 1.09 because of temp going up. Does that make hypo useless and have to start all over or does a person continue but try to keep it stable?

 

[Humblefish]

wow. Ok. So let's say salinity is at 1.08 but went up to 1.085 or 1.09 because of temp going up. Does that make hypo useless and have to start all over or does a person continue but try to keep it stable?

So long as it doesn't inch up over 1.009, you are technically good. Assuming you haven't encountered a hypo resistant strain of ich, that is. ;)