Hyposalinity

[spuri87]

I created a thread not that long ago talking about my struggles with white spots on fish which I initially thought were mucus cones and thought will subside once the stressor goes away.. There were a few members here who correctly escalated the problem but it wasnt until I lost my PBT to it, that the urgency went to the next level.. The day I lost the powder blue, I saw Blue tang in the same location, right in front of the wavemaker, where PBT was hanging around in its last few days.. I saw white spots on my clowns too and that's when I decided to take action (should have done in sooner in hindsight).. I moved the Blue tang and Clowns to a separate 15g tank and treated them with Copper at 2.25 until I saw no spots on any of these fish.. meanwhile, all other fish in my DT looked happy and healthy.. I moved the 3 fish back to DT after 21 days as suggested by few folks on different forums and everything looked good!

A few days later, I saw clowns, cardinals and blue tang with few spots, bubble eyes and very lethargic, yet again! At this point, tired after managing copper in QT, changing water with life going full throttle in parallel, I felt like this will keep going in circles unless I remove ich from my tank, for which the recommendation is to go fallow for over 2 months.. OR try Hypo!

I read and watched a lot of videos on hypo-salinity and decided to try that in my DT. I have no inverts and a very few corals that I moved to a separate 5g tank, so the decision was a little easier than to move all the fish and treat them together in another tank.

I replaced saltwater in my 230g tank with RODI water slowly, over a period of 3 days, to bring down the salinity from 1.025--> 1.019--> 1.014--> 1.009. Each time I had to replace around 30-35g water.

I am creating this thread as a journal, since I am at day 1 of Hyposalinity in DT. Also, would like a 2nd eye from the experienced folks in this group to keep things in check. Also attaching a few pics of how my fish looked like (at different stages of ich)..

I really hope that all this effort doesnt go in vain.. Will update the thread daily #needgoodvibes

 

[Turkeysammich]

Hypo salinity is an old school method. I’ve done it years and years ago. Let me see what I can remember off the top of my head. The way you want to use it is not great. Here is why.
It will kill all of your inverts , crabs, cuc, etc. since you already into hypo. Let’s talk about how you should go about it. If you had a good cuc and they died. Your aquarium will cycle. Keep an eye on ammonia. To be successful in irradiation of ick velvet flukes. You’ll need to go 4-6-8 weeks. The cyst are not effected by hypo. Thus the long amount of time. In that time you need to be in hypo constantly. If you fall out of hypo. It technically resets itself. You need a calibrated salinity checker. What ever that might be. It’s gotta be spot on. If you are gonna do that. You should have just gone fallow for 76 days.
Your fish have a bad case of ick. If you’re gonna do copper power. Go up and down slowly. Once you get to 1.75 you’re technically in the therapeutic zone. 2.5 is max. You’ll need to be in the therapeutic zone for 14-30 days. Watch your ammonia in qt. It can kill your fish if it moves up too high. Some fish don’t do well at all with copper and it can kill them. Check humble.fish.

 

[spuri87]

Thanks @Turkeysammich.. I dont have any inverts and very few corals that I moved to another smaller tank which is easier than moving all the fish and going fallow for more than 2 months..

I have no inverts and a very few corals that I moved to a separate 5g tank, so the decision was a little easier than to move all the fish and treat them together in another tank.

yes, constantly checking ammonia and salinity, pH also reduces coz RODI water has lower pH than saltwater, but thats not necessarily a bad thing as that reduces harmful ammonia.. so keeping it around 7.6-7.8.. I believe keeping salinity at 1.009 with ATO should not be challenging, its the same way as we keep the salinity at 1.026 constantly (unless I am missing something pretty basic).. I have hanna and a refractometer calibrated with Accurasea.. ich should fall off in 3-7 days from today (fingers crossed) and then flukes may need another 25-30 days.. Increasing Salinity has to be slower than decreasing as I read, but thats for later.. I am fully committed to this method right now, and after trying Copper and managing that in another Smaller tank, I feel this might be easier to manage, but only time will tell

 

[Turkeysammich]

You said copper. You do know there’s different kinds of copper right ? When I talk copper. I’m talking about copper power.
When I say cuc. I’m talking about everything. Bristle worms, chitons, etc. they will all die.

 

[spuri87]

yes, I tried Copper Power at 2.25 in a Hospital tank for 21 days on Blue tang and 2 clowns and then moved them back to DT, but a couple of days later white spots reappeared implying ich has to be eliminated from DT basically, hence trying Hypo in DT now.. also getting UV which may help long term

 

[MichaelB]

yes, I tried Copper Power at 2.25 in a Hospital tank for 21 days on Blue tang and 2 clowns and then moved them back to DT, but a couple of days later white spots reappeared implying ich has to be eliminated from DT basically, hence trying Hypo in DT now.. also getting UV which may help long term

You would have had to treat all fish not just a few, and have the display fallow for 72 days. After treating a fish they are weak and easily reinfected. The goal isn't just to get fish where you won't see ich, but totally eradicate it all.

Some people just mange the ich meaning it's always in their system. Meaning any new fish could be susceptible to it, while existing fish may become more restiant to it,. Random future outbreaks without apparent causes are always possible when ut comes to management route verse eradication.

From the little reading I did about this method what @Turkeysammich mentioned about salinity being perfectly maintained, I would not trust something this important to a hanna salinity checker. [[You keep salinity at .009 for 2 months drift up to .010 even once and it restarts the clock, you may never even know it happen]]( the Hannah salinity checker is mainly what I use on all my tanks) to me if kept calibrated it's good enough for day to day to prevent swings during water changes. It's totally not good enough for what your intended use. Maybe consider a tropic marin hydrometer something considered by many here to be the most accurate method to a home hobbyist beyond scientific type laboratory equipment.

*I actually have one you could borrow it long term if of intrest. Otherwise they are fairly cheap $34 avg right now with black Friday sales if you wanna plan to pick up your own.*
(They are bigger than you would expect glass and something you really wouldn't wanna drop yet I've heard extremely accurate and never need calibration)

I personally got it just to have a legitimate method to verify my salinity testing methods should the need ever arise.

 

[spuri87]

thanks much for the offer @MichaelB.. I do have 2 salinity meters, but guess another check wont hurt just to be sure.. I read about TM hydrometer being the most accurate.. I will sync up with you offline to pick that up for a month or 2 (bringing up salinity is going to be another challenging task later on, as it has to be super slow.. fish do better when salinity goes down, but not so well when going back up, so it has to be super slow.. may just top off with high salinity water, but thats for later)

 

[Slingfox]

I echo @MichaelB that you should not rely on a Hanna salinity checker. It is not reliably accurate (I have been through three of them and still have one sitting in the cabinet beneath my tank). The TM Hydrometer is widely cited as gold standard. I personally use a VeeGee Refractometer most often. It is not cheap but worth every penny. It is consistent with my periodic ICPs.

 

[MichaelB]

thanks much for the offer @MichaelB.. I do have 2 salinity meters, but guess another check wont hurt just to be sure.. I read about TM hydrometer being the most accurate.. I will sync up with you offline to pick that up for a month or 2 (bringing up salinity is going to be another challenging task later on, as it has to be super slow.. fish do better when salinity goes down, but not so well when going back up, so it has to be super slow.. may just top off with high salinity water, but thats for later)

Be sure to review & follow the hypo method on humble fish site it's the article I briefly read through, this guy knows his stuff. I would doubt other sources personally without a serious track record as lots of folks make crap up or say things someone else said without any experience or legitimate knowledge on subject. Like believing something posted on social media - not a smart idea.