Identifying Osmotic Shock vs Disease

kesh

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  1. A month ago, i bought two clowns and put them in QT. The next day, one clown started head twitching. Its condition was same and it died a week later after i decided to dip him in paraguard. The other clown is fine and has graduated to the DT. Today i visited the LFS i bought from and I asked him. he seemed defensive that his clown was healthy cz it had been there for 2 weeks and kinda blamed it on my acclimation procedure. I had always matched the salinity, temp and then releasing it. This was my 1st experience with a hypo QT and looking back, i should have approached hypo differently.. Basically, the clowns were introduced from SG at LFS at 1.020 to 1.009 in QT immediately after temperature matching.
  2. I understand this may lead to osmotic shock. Hence, i would like to know if head twitching is a symptom of osmotic shock or disease?
  3. What are the symptoms unique to osmotic shock?
  4. Also, if i would like to do hypo on qt, how much can its safe to drop over a day. The following is from Humblefish Hyposalinity thread -"Over a period of 48 hours, gradually lower the SG down to 1.009" . Does it mean over the Next 48 hours or after few days?
Thank you
 

justinm

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Fish may lose color, may appear lethargic or hyperactive and may have rapid breathing during osmotic shock.

He means bring the salinity down over 2 days, not wait two days then drop in one shot. Fish tend do much better dropping than coming back up. I have dropped the salinity .06 in one shot with no adverse effects.

Did you happen to test your pH while in hypo? What were you measuring your SG with, a refractometer of swing arm hydrometer?
 
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kesh

kesh

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Fish may lose color, may appear lethargic or hyperactive and may have rapid breathing during osmotic shock.

He means bring the salinity down over 2 days, not wait two days then drop in one shot. Fish tend do much better dropping than coming back up. I have dropped the salinity .06 in one shot with no adverse effects.

Did you happen to test your pH while in hypo? What were you measuring your SG with, a refractometer of swing arm hydrometer?

Yup. I get he meant bring it down over 48 periods. I meant like do you need to wait certain time before doing that or you start gradually reducing from day 1.

The fish did not exhibit any of the said symptoms except head twitching.

I measure using refractometer
 

Humblefish

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I would say like with everything, if the fish appears to be healthy and eating , then start.

^^ Agree; its always best to make changes slow & gradual with marine life. I personally wouldn't lower the SG by .001 every 2-3 hours, although many fish can tolerate a much more rapid descent.

Head twitching is usually a symptom of flukes: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

Although any irritant in the gills (parasite, Lympho nodule, ammonia burn, etc.) can cause that symptom.
 

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