Tank crash...2.0

[mdrobc13]

What you’re describing, sounds like, and could be velvet. Flukes will not kill that fast. If I’m reading your post correctly your gold rim died pretty fast. I do not know of flukes killing that fast.

Were the fish flashing? Or just riding the current for oxygen?

With flukes Fish can become lethargic, swim near the water surface, develop clamped fins, hide in the corner of the aquarium or behind rocks, lose appetite, shake the head, flash, or scratch. They may exhibit yawning, cloudy eyes.

One extra thing to look for is swollen gills.

But to got from eating one day to dead the next it would take a crazy amount of flukes and at one point you would see the issue with the fish way before it dies.

Didn't see swollen gills don't think its velvet but not sure what it is now....

I could only get the first video to play - the one with the purple tang posturing at the yellow (that may not end well). From what I can see, this is gill flukes. I find that 30 days of hyposalinity at 1.012 works well for this - but of course, no invertebrates in the tank.

Okay let me try this again...this is Sohal video. He's in QT so far doing ok. Its treated with Coppersafe. I think QT salinity is currently at 1.018 right now in QT. How quickly to drop it down and best way to do so? Keep it at 30 days in QT? Do I need to Prazi pro too

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/
So what about DT? Have removed ALL rock and CUC now from the main tank other than what may be in the sand. Will remove all sand next and have moved all fish to QT other than the 2 Stipies and the maroon tang as they were the original survivors...any chance they could be carriers for whatever this is? SO they are still in the bare DT....are they ok to go to QT also? One fish did not survive transfer....the PT. went upside down in 1 min of freshwater dip and then did not recover in bath a nor bath b of the Blue Lock Line...while all others did....strange.

Hypo works for a majority of marine flukes yes? And I’m curious how fast it starts working once the fish is at the level of 1.012.

Assume have to get both DT and QT down to 1.012 then. How so do you do it? Mass water change and keep it down there until ready to restock no?

It’s pretty quick to kill adult flukes, in a few hours. The 30 days is needed because hypo doesn’t kill fluke eggs, it just keeps them from hatching, and they then, they can’t hatch after about 21 days, so they die of “old age”.

So tank is now rock-less and almost fish less. I did remove all rocks [covered in algae also...outside bleaching in sun and will powerwash and start again] and my few corals and placed them in a new 10 gal tank with fresh salt water, a sponge filter, and light. They were dipped with Coral dip and there is 4 emerald crabs and 1 star fish transferred. So is that tank now "infected to" or can I treat it with prazi pro AND hyposalinity?

Remaining fish are now in QT and copper again. Salinity is 1.018. Best way to lower it and what next? Never done this before....only copper treatments. Planniing on removing all sand to ensure I get any CUC remaining in the beds...nassarius snails and such and then should I just drain the main tank and scrub it down and start again? Or drop the salinity down below 1.012 and wait 30 days or do I need to go 60 days fallow again. Seems like multiple pathways here at this point so yes appreciate de-confusing me on options available now. :)

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Didn't see swollen gills don't think its velvet but not sure what it is now....


Okay let me try this again...this is Sohal video. He's in QT so far doing ok. Its treated with Coppersafe. I think QT salinity is currently at 1.018 right now in QT. How quickly to drop it down and best way to do so? Keep it at 30 days in QT? Do I need to Prazi pro too

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/
So what about DT? Have removed ALL rock and CUC now from the main tank other than what may be in the sand. Will remove all sand next and have moved all fish to QT other than the 2 Stipies and the maroon tang as they were the original survivors...any chance they could be carriers for whatever this is? SO they are still in the bare DT....are they ok to go to QT also? One fish did not survive transfer....the PT. went upside down in 1 min of freshwater dip and then did not recover in bath a nor bath b of the Blue Lock Line...while all others did....strange.

Assume have to get both DT and QT down to 1.012 then. How so do you do it? Mass water change and keep it down there until ready to restock no?

So tank is now rock-less and almost fish less. I did remove all rocks [covered in algae also...outside bleaching in sun and will powerwash and start again] and my few corals and placed them in a new 10 gal tank with fresh salt water, a sponge filter, and light. They were dipped with Coral dip and there is 4 emerald crabs and 1 star fish transferred. So is that tank now "infected to" or can I treat it with prazi pro AND hyposalinity?

Remaining fish are now in QT and copper again. Salinity is 1.018. Best way to lower it and what next? Never done this before....only copper treatments. Planniing on removing all sand to ensure I get any CUC remaining in the beds...nassarius snails and such and then should I just drain the main tank and scrub it down and start again? Or drop the salinity down below 1.012 and wait 30 days or do I need to go 60 days fallow again. Seems like multiple pathways here at this point so yes appreciate de-confusing me on options available now. :)

I couldn’t get this video to play either - not sure why.

At this point, I’ve lost track of the thread - that happens when a thread reaches multiple pages, with multiple people weighing in, and when I am juggling dozens of other active problems.

In skimming back through this, you may have multiple issues in play here, but did all the fish die by Christmas?

To try and keep up with the current issue - you can reduce the salinity from 1.018 to 1.012 in 24 hours, if you do it in 4 steps. Then, hold it there for 30 days, and then take five days to gradually return to full salinity (fish handle salinity drops much better than they do rises). I wouldn’t dose prazi at the same time. No need for that and both hypo and prazi can stress the fish, so you want to avoid combining stress issue if not needed.

 

[mdrobc13]

I couldn’t get this video to play either - not sure why.

At this point, I’ve lost track of the thread - that happens when a thread reaches multiple pages, with multiple people weighing in, and when I am juggling dozens of other active problems.

In skimming back through this, you may have multiple issues in play here, but did all the fish die by Christmas?

To try and keep up with the current issue - you can reduce the salinity from 1.018 to 1.012 in 24 hours, if you do it in 4 steps. Then, hold it there for 30 days, and then take five days to gradually return to full salinity (fish handle salinity drops much better than they do rises). I wouldn’t dose prazi at the same time. No need for that and both hypo and prazi can stress the fish, so you want to avoid combining stress issue if not needed.

Hmm...no problem. Okay. Well understand. Yes all fish died by Xmas other than the 3 that I was able to remove in early Jan and put in QT. They survived in QT with Coopersafe and does of Prazi and were reintroduced to the DT and are the only fish left in tank now. Should they also go to QT? Could they be carriers of this disease? Otherwise as before the three of them (Maroon + 2 Stripies) seem to be happy as clams! Eating and swimming without any distress.

I have removed ALL other fish that I had begun my restocking of the DT after the recent deaths and those fish are NOW back in QT at 1.018 sp gravity. Current tank is now free or rock and I am going to remove all sand later to ensure I get ALL of the CUC that I had added and anything that may be alive in the sand bed.

Then sounds like I should drop the DT to 1.012 and keep both the DT and QT there for 30 days before returning it to 1.018-1.020. Assume that I can re-add my rock after 30 days in the sun and fresh air outside too as that should kill everything. I will buy new sand just to be sure I think when I rebuild the aquarium.

Then will keep all fish in DT with Copper and tank transfer into my empty 10 gal tank I have with Prazi for a few days before they each go back into the DT when the above is done in say 45 days from now. Does this sounds like a feasible plan?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hmm...no problem. Okay. Well understand. Yes all fish died by Xmas other than the 3 that I was able to remove in early Jan and put in QT. They survived in QT with Coopersafe and does of Prazi and were reintroduced to the DT and are the only fish left in tank now. Should they also go to QT? Could they be carriers of this disease? Otherwise as before the three of them (Maroon + 2 Stripies) seem to be happy as clams! Eating and swimming without any distress.

I have removed ALL other fish that I had begun my restocking of the DT after the recent deaths and those fish are NOW back in QT at 1.018 sp gravity. Current tank is now free or rock and I am going to remove all sand later to ensure I get ALL of the CUC that I had added and anything that may be alive in the sand bed.

Then sounds like I should drop the DT to 1.012 and keep both the DT and QT there for 30 days before returning it to 1.018-1.020. Assume that I can re-add my rock after 30 days in the sun and fresh air outside too as that should kill everything. I will buy new sand just to be sure I think when I rebuild the aquarium.

Then will keep all fish in DT with Copper and tank transfer into my empty 10 gal tank I have with Prazi for a few days before they each go back into the DT when the above is done in say 45 days from now. Does this sounds like a feasible plan?

Since flukes can infect some fish asymptomatically, I think you need to have all fish go through hyposalinity at the same time.

 

[mdrobc13]

Since flukes can infect some fish asymptomatically, I think you need to have all fish go through hyposalinity at the same time.

Copy...am at 1.015 now in DT. Moving stripes over tonight as last fish. Does anything live in the sand I need to worry about? How do you clean that of flukes? Replace? What about a small refugium in my sump? Additional suggestions?

 

[Louis Z]

As for cuc being the culprit…. It would not surprise me. I decided to have a fallow tank that I use for corals, inverts and anything else that can possibly have diseases brought into my DT’s.

I too keep CUC and macro algae in qt with tank transfer method but on a much slower scale . It’s not every three days that I transfer . More like every two weeks with a rinse of fresh saltwater in between the transfer . Total of two months or more of QT / TTM , so far so good

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Copy...am at 1.015 now in DT. Moving stripes over tonight as last fish. Does anything live in the sand I need to worry about? How do you clean that of flukes? Replace? What about a small refugium in my sump? Additional suggestions?

Wait, I’m confused - you need to bring the salinity down WHILE the fish are in the water. The way you phrased that, it sounds like you are moving the stripeys into salinity water from full salinity? They are pretty tough fish, but that is pretty stressful.

The refugium / sump shares the same water as the DT, so will be exposed to the same hypo water.

Flukes and there eggs cannot survive 30 days exposure to hyposalinity - so everything in that water, fish, rocks, sand, equipment, will be cleared of flukes in that time. You can then bring the salinity back to normal in small increments over five days.

 

[mdrobc13]

Wait, I’m confused - you need to bring the salinity down WHILE the fish are in the water. The way you phrased that, it sounds like you are moving the stripeys into salinity water from full salinity? They are pretty tough fish, but that is pretty stressful.

The refugium / sump shares the same water as the DT, so will be exposed to the same hypo water.

Flukes and there eggs cannot survive 30 days exposure to hyposalinity - so everything in that water, fish, rocks, sand, equipment, will be cleared of flukes in that time. You can then bring the salinity back to normal in small increments over five days.

Oh okay....yes they are still in the DT at 1.019 which is a bit higher salinity than my QT which is 1.015 still. Am planning on moving them tomorrow over and will wait on dropping QT down further till then. That should avoid any unnecessary stress for the Sripieys then. Will plan to keep them there for 30 day plus.

Copy on exposure ok >30 days at hyosalinity for everyting including the sump too. Any concerns with macroalgae/cheato in the sump? Do the CUC's remaining also need to move over or will they survive the hyosalinity? I did move few corals, a starfish, and snails to my 10 gallon tank with fresh seawater but that is still at regular salinity. Do I need to drop the salinity in that 10 gal tank too? All 3 tanks at hyposalinity? Don't want to do this AGAIN. Would you treat DT with prazi pro after 30 days hyposalinity + fallow?

So far all fish in QT are doing ok and eating. No further deaths or issues to include few fish already in QT since Sun before I started catching and adding fish from my DT.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Oh okay....yes they are still in the DT at 1.019 which is a bit higher salinity than my QT which is 1.015 still. Am planning on moving them tomorrow over and will wait on dropping QT down further till then. That should avoid any unnecessary stress for the Sripieys then. Will plan to keep them there for 30 day plus.

Copy on exposure ok >30 days at hyosalinity for everyting including the sump too. Any concerns with macroalgae/cheato in the sump? Do the CUC's remaining also need to move over or will they survive the hyosalinity? I did move few corals, a starfish, and snails to my 10 gallon tank with fresh seawater but that is still at regular salinity. Do I need to drop the salinity in that 10 gal tank too? All 3 tanks at hyposalinity? Don't want to do this AGAIN. Would you treat DT with prazi pro after 30 days hyposalinity + fallow?

So far all fish in QT are doing ok and eating. No further deaths or issues to include few fish already in QT since Sun before I started catching and adding fish from my DT.

Hyposalinity for flukes needs to be 1.012, for ich it needs to be 1.009

To eliminate flukes, you’ll need to either run every tank that has been exposed through having exposed fish in it with hypo for 30 days, OR held fishless for 30 to 45 days.

 

[mdrobc13]

Hyposalinity for flukes needs to be 1.012, for ich it needs to be 1.009

To eliminate flukes, you’ll need to either run every tank that has been exposed through having exposed fish in it with hypo for 30 days, OR held fishless for 30 to 45 days.

Jay. Hi. Okay thanks. Yes my fish are in QT and salinity has been low using the clear plastic hydrometer that sticks on the glass...around 1.014 ish. Had an amonia spike or somthing after trying to also add Prazi Pro liquid and had to clean DT and add new fresh salt water 15 gals and 10 gals fresh water. Lost a few chromis and my juve hippo during the spike but all other fish are doing very well and eating last 2.5 weeks in QT now. No symptoms and my Sohal has stopped pump surfing once he got into QT and the above actions were taken. Question I have now is what do I do next? Are they okay to start adding back to my DT in say 30 days? Should I treat them with anything as they've had mulitple doses of Copperpower previously and Prazi over the course of this ideal? My buddy says I should do tank transfer when I move them over? Thoughts?

Main DT I removed ALL my rock and then treated with bleach added to the water and allowed to run thru the system for about 5 days....then drained. All sand was removed and allowed tank to air dry over a week. Then wipped down with dilute vinegar and alcohol to remove salt residue and grime and then allowed to dry. Have then wiped inside down and added Carib Sea Black Hawaain sand and replaced my rock after allowing them to air dry outside in my driveway for 2 weeks in sun and then spraying them down with a hose before moving back into the tank. Also wet/dry vacc'd my sump to remove all water and cleaned my skimmer and in sump UV as well and changed my Filter roller also with new filter paper for my ReefMat. DT is now refilled with fresh water (non salt) and system is running (yes all 300+ gallons) with new rock and new sand. Adding Prime and De-Chlorinator and sp gravity is 1.000. Started to add Instant Ocean Salt now...week 2 of refill and am at about 1.005 now. Plan to keep it another 2 weeks below 1.010 and then slowly get to 1.018-1.020 around week 4-5 which would be around mid June at this rate. Then slowly restock. Think this is the best I can do to get my system restarted again but you guys are the experts. Anything I missed or did I go overboard? Thanks

 

[slingfox]

Jay. Hi. Okay thanks. Yes my fish are in QT and salinity has been low using the clear plastic hydrometer that sticks on the glass...around 1.014 ish. Had an amonia spike or somthing after trying to also add Prazi Pro liquid and had to clean DT and add new fresh salt water 15 gals and 10 gals fresh water. Lost a few chromis and my juve hippo during the spike but all other fish are doing very well and eating last 2.5 weeks in QT now. No symptoms and my Sohal has stopped pump surfing once he got into QT and the above actions were taken. Question I have now is what do I do next? Are they okay to start adding back to my DT in say 30 days? Should I treat them with anything as they've had mulitple doses of Copperpower previously and Prazi over the course of this ideal? My buddy says I should do tank transfer when I move them over? Thoughts?

Main DT I removed ALL my rock and then treated with bleach added to the water and allowed to run thru the system for about 5 days....then drained. All sand was removed and allowed tank to air dry over a week. Then wipped down with dilute vinegar and alcohol to remove salt residue and grime and then allowed to dry. Have then wiped inside down and added Carib Sea Black Hawaain sand and replaced my rock after allowing them to air dry outside in my driveway for 2 weeks in sun and then spraying them down with a hose before moving back into the tank. Also wet/dry vacc'd my sump to remove all water and cleaned my skimmer and in sump UV as well and changed my Filter roller also with new filter paper for my ReefMat. DT is now refilled with fresh water (non salt) and system is running (yes all 300+ gallons) with new rock and new sand. Adding Prime and De-Chlorinator and sp gravity is 1.000. Started to add Instant Ocean Salt now...week 2 of refill and am at about 1.005 now. Plan to keep it another 2 weeks below 1.010 and then slowly get to 1.018-1.020 around week 4-5 which would be around mid June at this rate. Then slowly restock. Think this is the best I can do to get my system restarted again but you guys are the experts. Anything I missed or did I go overboard? Thanks

I admire the dedication!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Jay. Hi. Okay thanks. Yes my fish are in QT and salinity has been low using the clear plastic hydrometer that sticks on the glass...around 1.014 ish. Had an amonia spike or somthing after trying to also add Prazi Pro liquid and had to clean DT and add new fresh salt water 15 gals and 10 gals fresh water. Lost a few chromis and my juve hippo during the spike but all other fish are doing very well and eating last 2.5 weeks in QT now. No symptoms and my Sohal has stopped pump surfing once he got into QT and the above actions were taken. Question I have now is what do I do next? Are they okay to start adding back to my DT in say 30 days? Should I treat them with anything as they've had mulitple doses of Copperpower previously and Prazi over the course of this ideal? My buddy says I should do tank transfer when I move them over? Thoughts?

Main DT I removed ALL my rock and then treated with bleach added to the water and allowed to run thru the system for about 5 days....then drained. All sand was removed and allowed tank to air dry over a week. Then wipped down with dilute vinegar and alcohol to remove salt residue and grime and then allowed to dry. Have then wiped inside down and added Carib Sea Black Hawaain sand and replaced my rock after allowing them to air dry outside in my driveway for 2 weeks in sun and then spraying them down with a hose before moving back into the tank. Also wet/dry vacc'd my sump to remove all water and cleaned my skimmer and in sump UV as well and changed my Filter roller also with new filter paper for my ReefMat. DT is now refilled with fresh water (non salt) and system is running (yes all 300+ gallons) with new rock and new sand. Adding Prime and De-Chlorinator and sp gravity is 1.000. Started to add Instant Ocean Salt now...week 2 of refill and am at about 1.005 now. Plan to keep it another 2 weeks below 1.010 and then slowly get to 1.018-1.020 around week 4-5 which would be around mid June at this rate. Then slowly restock. Think this is the best I can do to get my system restarted again but you guys are the experts. Anything I missed or did I go overboard? Thanks

I'm not sure I understand - you've been holding the tank at a specific gravity of 1.014 ? That isn't low enough to eliminate all species of flukes, as I mentioned, you need to reach 1.012 for 30 days. Also, I'm not familiar with a hydrometer that sticks to the glass - are they accurate?

 

[mdrobc13]

I'm not sure I understand - you've been holding the tank at a specific gravity of 1.014 ? That isn't low enough to eliminate all species of flukes, as I mentioned, you need to reach 1.012 for 30 days. Also, I'm not familiar with a hydrometer that sticks to the glass - are they accurate?

Hyposalinity for flukes needs to be 1.012, for ich it needs to be 1.009

To eliminate flukes, you’ll need to either run every tank that has been exposed through having exposed fish in it with hypo for 30 days, OR held fishless for 30 to 45 days.

Copy. Main DT tank has been torn down and restarted at 1.0000 specific gravity and am raising it slowly over next 4-6 weeks. Am on week 2 now. The fish are in another 55gal QT tank...that is the one which is 1.014-1.016 now. The glass hydrometer is this one...
https://a.co/d/0a1UX8oY
but I have a digital one that I got also and a hand held one. The digital one I've been using too which is probably more accurate.

https://a.co/d/0afIgsrI
Treating DT with AMquel and Prime now to help detox/dechem the water and any remaining bleach/chlorine from the system since it was bleached after removal of fish and rock and before sand removal during tear down and then all that water was drained and tank emptied.

I admire the dedication!

Thanks...I am trying. Been at the hobby since 2008...no time to quit now. Patience and following the rules works. When you don't then this happens...and I should have KNOWN better as I've had velvet x3 over the years and ich before so I should KNOW better...but sometimes you get excited/lazy and take a short cut and bam! :(

I'm not sure I understand - you've been holding the tank at a specific gravity of 1.014 ? That isn't low enough to eliminate all species of flukes, as I mentioned, you need to reach 1.012 for 30 days. Also, I'm not familiar with a hydrometer that sticks to the glass - are they accurate?

Yes Jay I got the DT down to 1.012 but had an ammonia spike with a treatment of prazipro after week one as I tried to add that to ensure I was doing as much as I could for the fish. Lost a sailfin and a hippo and 2 cromis before my yellow tang breathing hard at the bottom alerted me to an issue. So I had to do a water change and chose to empty and re-add 20g fresh salt water + 5 gal distilled from LFS as I was going out of town for a week and QT tank is in my garage and no one to watch it (my wife will feed them but that is it). Right now QT is at 1.014 to 1.016. All fish are acting fine and no losses. They did do those 1st week with QT at 2.48 with Coppersafe before the ammonia spike and crash that killed a few fish mentioned above. For example my sohal tang I sent videos of has returned to normal behavior and coloration (no spots) while in the QT since I moved him and tore down the main DT. In the DT he was pump surfing constantly and now moves normally since he's been in the DT for past 3 weeks. No other fish caught from DT and moved now that have survived show ay signs of active infection now. Fish are eating frozen brine and pellets treated with Metroplex, Focus, and Kanaplex too just to help ward off any remaining infections by other means for past 2 weeks while in DT.

Only other thing moved over to my 10gal QT was chaeto and snails and emerald crabs since main 55 gal QT has copper and no bueno for them. Will move the chaeto back to DT and let it go thru the 30 days at 1.000 also this weekend and start adding some salt slowly this weekend. Holding off addition of bio (Dr Fritz, or Brightwell Microbac 7 or Seachem Seed). Plan to start adding that at week 4 although new sand was Carib Sea Hawaiian Black 100lbs added. Tank IS big 300+ gal but going for 1" sand bed this time.

I am thinking remaining eggs or whatever were in tank and carried over in CUC and even though I went fallow for about 30-40 days when I reintroduced fish infection restarted after about 2-3 weeks as I increased amount of fish and bioload back to normal levels...since it was not eradicated in the main tank. In QT as before on 1st go around fish recovered and did well no flashing, fast breathing, or anything. Only when I moved them back to the main DT did I have problems and return of infection and fish loss looking at the timeline. So in this case since I have removed all media from DT, and fish, and CUC is gone and sand is removed and rock dryed out in sunlight and DT tank wiped down and now restarted with new sand and rocks returned after exposure AND by running the DT for 1 mo at 1.000....shouldn't that solve 99% of my problem here? I can't see how I how any parasite or organism will survive and transfer over on this go around. Only thing missing is dropping the QT down below 1.012 but at this point all fish are treated. I can do Prazi Pro to the DT again (55gal with about 25-30 gals filled currently and no rock) to be sure. If so I think you recommend doing that at day 1 and then day 8 and water change correct? Am I missing anything here?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Copy. Main DT tank has been torn down and restarted at 1.0000 specific gravity and am raising it slowly over next 4-6 weeks. Am on week 2 now. The fish are in another 55gal QT tank...that is the one which is 1.014-1.016 now. The glass hydrometer is this one...
https://a.co/d/0a1UX8oY
but I have a digital one that I got also and a hand held one. The digital one I've been using too which is probably more accurate.

https://a.co/d/0afIgsrI
Treating DT with AMquel and Prime now to help detox/dechem the water and any remaining bleach/chlorine from the system since it was bleached after removal of fish and rock and before sand removal during tear down and then all that water was drained and tank emptied.

Thanks...I am trying. Been at the hobby since 2008...no time to quit now. Patience and following the rules works. When you don't then this happens...and I should have KNOWN better as I've had velvet x3 over the years and ich before so I should KNOW better...but sometimes you get excited/lazy and take a short cut and bam! :(


Yes Jay I got the DT down to 1.012 but had an ammonia spike with a treatment of prazipro after week one as I tried to add that to ensure I was doing as much as I could for the fish. Lost a sailfin and a hippo and 2 cromis before my yellow tang breathing hard at the bottom alerted me to an issue. So I had to do a water change and chose to empty and re-add 20g fresh salt water + 5 gal distilled from LFS as I was going out of town for a week and QT tank is in my garage and no one to watch it (my wife will feed them but that is it). Right now QT is at 1.014 to 1.016. All fish are acting fine and no losses. They did do those 1st week with QT at 2.48 with Coppersafe before the ammonia spike and crash that killed a few fish mentioned above. For example my sohal tang I sent videos of has returned to normal behavior and coloration (no spots) while in the QT since I moved him and tore down the main DT. In the DT he was pump surfing constantly and now moves normally since he's been in the DT for past 3 weeks. No other fish caught from DT and moved now that have survived show ay signs of active infection now. Fish are eating frozen brine and pellets treated with Metroplex, Focus, and Kanaplex too just to help ward off any remaining infections by other means for past 2 weeks while in DT.

Only other thing moved over to my 10gal QT was chaeto and snails and emerald crabs since main 55 gal QT has copper and no bueno for them. Will move the chaeto back to DT and let it go thru the 30 days at 1.000 also this weekend and start adding some salt slowly this weekend. Holding off addition of bio (Dr Fritz, or Brightwell Microbac 7 or Seachem Seed). Plan to start adding that at week 4 although new sand was Carib Sea Hawaiian Black 100lbs added. Tank IS big 300+ gal but going for 1" sand bed this time.

I am thinking remaining eggs or whatever were in tank and carried over in CUC and even though I went fallow for about 30-40 days when I reintroduced fish infection restarted after about 2-3 weeks as I increased amount of fish and bioload back to normal levels...since it was not eradicated in the main tank. In QT as before on 1st go around fish recovered and did well no flashing, fast breathing, or anything. Only when I moved them back to the main DT did I have problems and return of infection and fish loss looking at the timeline. So in this case since I have removed all media from DT, and fish, and CUC is gone and sand is removed and rock dryed out in sunlight and DT tank wiped down and now restarted with new sand and rocks returned after exposure AND by running the DT for 1 mo at 1.000....shouldn't that solve 99% of my problem here? I can't see how I how any parasite or organism will survive and transfer over on this go around. Only thing missing is dropping the QT down below 1.012 but at this point all fish are treated. I can do Prazi Pro to the DT again (55gal with about 25-30 gals filled currently and no rock) to be sure. If so I think you recommend doing that at day 1 and then day 8 and water change correct? Am I missing anything here?

I’m familiar with that hydrometer - but you said “it sticks to the glass” and that made my think of one of those ammonia badges that sits inside the tank. These hydrometers can’t be used submerged, they need to be rinsed and dried off between use, as the plastic pointer can get waterlogged.

You don’t need to run the tank for a month in pure freshwater (1.000) fluke eggs die off in a few days, and so does ich. It sounded like you are going to add chaeto to the tank when it is in freshwater? That will kill it.

Ultimately, to control flukes, you just need to ensure that all tanks and all fish have been exposed to 1.012 water for at least 21 days (I use 30 days for added safety).

 

[mdrobc13]

I’m familiar with that hydrometer - but you said “it sticks to the glass” and that made my think of one of those ammonia badges that sits inside the tank. These hydrometers can’t be used submerged, they need to be rinsed and dried off between use, as the plastic pointer can get waterlogged.

You don’t need to run the tank for a month in pure freshwater (1.000) fluke eggs die off in a few days, and so does ich. It sounded like you are going to add chaeto to the tank when it is in freshwater? That will kill it.

Ultimately, to control flukes, you just need to ensure that all tanks and all fish have been exposed to 1.012 water for at least 21 days (I use 30 days for added safety).

Okay wow didn't know that they get waterlogged and non accurate. Maybe why I noted a discrepency between it and the digital one I got. The plastic one reads very low below 1.014 but the digital one reads higher around 1.015-1.016. So will drop the salinity a bit more tomorrow in the QT to mak sure and fish out the plastic one. Why do they put the suction cup on the top of it tho as it makes you think you can stick it on the glass. See mine attached pic. Slightly different model.

Glad to hear I don't need to run pure freshwater for a month. Will start to speed up my salt addition and get it up to 1.018 quicker then in my DT. It HAS been at 1.002-1.005 tho for about 2 weeks now as of tomorrow. SO I assume whatever is in there is DOA if anything made it thru the reset. Chaeto I moved over yesterday into my sump section but will move it back to my QT tomorrow AM. Did NOT KNOW that part and wanted to have it at 1.000 specific gravity just in case while I raised the salinity. Have started my UV in sump sterializer also this week to get it flowing but kept my skimmer off and have not ran my Reef 1200 Filter rolls yet. Was going to wait till I introduce fish to do that.

I think all tanks DT (definately) and QT will have been exposed to 1.012 water for 21 days by the time I plan to re-add fish next month. One question however I think you already anwsered was IF I add any new fish to QT does the 21 day clock now re-start for ALL fish in QT...even the ones who have already been in QT previously and treated to hyposalinity? Added a juvenile false yellow dwarf angel yesterday to the QT to replace my lost dwarf angel from previous tank thus the ask.

Finally for additional theraputic treatment would you also start adding Copper Power also and if so any issues with copper and hyposalinity at the same time? Finally when I get ready to transfer the fish I have heard that a PraziPro Dip/bath can be helpful vs treating the whole QT with Prazi Pro. Given what Ive done and the fish have been thru what would you suggest when that time comes? Thanks again..you've been great source of info.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay wow didn't know that they get waterlogged and non accurate. Maybe why I noted a discrepency between it and the digital one I got. The plastic one reads very low below 1.014 but the digital one reads higher around 1.015-1.016. So will drop the salinity a bit more tomorrow in the QT to mak sure and fish out the plastic one. Why do they put the suction cup on the top of it tho as it makes you think you can stick it on the glass. See mine attached pic. Slightly different model.

Glad to hear I don't need to run pure freshwater for a month. Will start to speed up my salt addition and get it up to 1.018 quicker then in my DT. It HAS been at 1.002-1.005 tho for about 2 weeks now as of tomorrow. SO I assume whatever is in there is DOA if anything made it thru the reset. Chaeto I moved over yesterday into my sump section but will move it back to my QT tomorrow AM. Did NOT KNOW that part and wanted to have it at 1.000 specific gravity just in case while I raised the salinity. Have started my UV in sump sterializer also this week to get it flowing but kept my skimmer off and have not ran my Reef 1200 Filter rolls yet. Was going to wait till I introduce fish to do that.

I think all tanks DT (definately) and QT will have been exposed to 1.012 water for 21 days by the time I plan to re-add fish next month. One question however I think you already anwsered was IF I add any new fish to QT does the 21 day clock now re-start for ALL fish in QT...even the ones who have already been in QT previously and treated to hyposalinity? Added a juvenile false yellow dwarf angel yesterday to the QT to replace my lost dwarf angel from previous tank thus the ask.

Finally for additional theraputic treatment would you also start adding Copper Power also and if so any issues with copper and hyposalinity at the same time? Finally when I get ready to transfer the fish I have heard that a PraziPro Dip/bath can be helpful vs treating the whole QT with Prazi Pro. Given what Ive done and the fish have been thru what would you suggest when that time comes? Thanks again..you've been great source of info.

Yeah - keeping those submerged is a bad idea. I think this is a great example of how manufacturers don’t always know their products very well. They just “borrow” ideas from each other (grin). The original Seatest hydrometer which all of these are based off of says to rinse with FW and dry between use.

I prefer to not use hypo and copper at the same time. You can do that with Coppersafe, but not ionic copper products, but the only thing these two treatments don’t overlap for are flukes and velvet. Copper doesn’t work on flukes and hypo doesn’t work for velvet.

 

[mdrobc13]

Yeah - keeping those submerged is a bad idea. I think this is a great example of how manufacturers don’t always know their products very well. They just “borrow” ideas from each other (grin). The original Seatest hydrometer which all of these are based off of says to rinse with FW and dry between use.

I prefer to not use hypo and copper at the same time. You can do that with Coppersafe, but not ionic copper products, but the only thing these two treatments don’t overlap for are flukes and velvet. Copper doesn’t work on flukes and hypo doesn’t work for velvet.

Okay thanks Jay and reef community…i have a final question I think at this point in the rebuild. QT is now at around 1.016-1.018 so not hyposalinity but treated with copper power consistently for past 3.5 weeks now and all fish in QT are acting normal.

My DT has been fully reset now and gradually raised salinity from 1.000 freshwater to where it currently sits at 1.012 when I tested it yesterday. So could I start transferring or adding fish from my DT to the QT now since it’s at hyposalinity directly slowly? Or is the salinity difference too much for them to handle going from 1.016-1.018 to 1.012? I could then keep them in DT at the lower salinity and raise it slowly to 1.022 or 1.024 over time as I begin to re add corals and clean up crew after adding the fish also.

So what steps would you guys do at this point to do this if reintroduction into the QT is recommended?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay thanks Jay. I have a final question I think at this point in the rebuild. QT is now at around 1.016-1.018 so not hyposalinity but treated with copper power consistently for past 3.5 weeks now and all fish in QT are acting normal.

My DT has been fully reset now and gradually raised salinity from 1.000 freshwater to where it currently sits at 1.012 when I tested it yesterday. So could I start transferring or adding fish from my DT to the QT now since it’s at hyposalinity directly slowly? Or is the salinity difference too much for them to handle going from 1.016-1.018 to 1.012? I could then keep them in QT at the lower salinity and raise it slowly to 1.022 or 1.024 over time as I begin to re add corals and clean up crew.

So what steps would you guys do at this point to do this if reintroduction into the QT is recommended?

IMO, the difference is still too great to just drop the fish over. Fish handle drops in salinity much better than a rise, but thus is too much of a drop at one time. I would drop the fish down to 1.013 in 24 hours (in at least 2 steps) and then just move them over. Then you can drop the DT back to 1.012 if treating for flukes is your intent. Or, just drop the fish to 1.012 in three steps over 36 hours and move them over.

 

[mdrobc13]

IMO, the difference is still too great to just drop the fish over. Fish handle drops in salinity much better than a rise, but thus is too much of a drop at one time. I would drop the fish down to 1.013 in 24 hours (in at least 2 steps) and then just move them over. Then you can drop the DT back to 1.012 if treating for flukes is your intent. Or, just drop the fish to 1.012 in three steps over 36 hours and move them over.

Okay makes sense. Would you freshwater dip or a dip in prazi pro (liquid) before or during any transfer attempts? Any fish I should be wary of with hyposalenity that tolerate either it or a dips poorly? I have mostly tangs, dwarf angels, maroon clown and a melanarus and yellow Corrie wrasse left in QT currently. Thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay makes sense. Would you freshwater dip or a dip in prazi pro (liquid) before or during any transfer attempts? Any fish I should be wary of with hyposalenity that tolerate either it or a dips poorly? I have mostly tangs, dwarf angels, maroon clown and a melanarus and yellow Corrie wrasse left in QT currently. Thanks

Skip dips, they would just add extra stress to this case. The 1.012 SG will handle flukes.

Sharks and rays should not go through hypo. Most other fish are fine. Some deep water reef fish are thought to be less tolerant due to their habitat, but I haven’t seen that myself.