Hyposalinity for Ich in Display

[Max93]

So, I guess my hippo tang was hiding ich for almost 11 months and he got stressed out and got ich. Then it has now spread to other tank mates.

so, I got a 55g quarantine to house 15 fish. But before doing this, I was reading on the humble fish website (thank you for what you do) about hyposalinity to treat ich.

good stuff I have going:

I only have a couple zoas and acans in my display, that’s it. I don’t have a ton of corals or anything. I have an established smaller quarantine tank already going.

can I just treat my fish in my display, using hyposalinity and then just bring the corals back in when I’m done with the treatment? This would be significantly easier than netting all the fish out and treating them with copper.

 

[SlugSnorter]

so, if you don't have QT you can use a reef safe treatment, it may be a bit disconcerting but it usually works, use Ruby Reef Kick Ich and Metroplex w Focus or a similar FOOD BONDED ich treatment, it has to be both

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So, I guess my hippo tang was hiding ich for almost 11 months and he got stressed out and got ich. Then it has now spread to other tank mates.

so, I got a 55g quarantine to house 15 fish. But before doing this, I was reading on the humble fish website (thank you for what you do) about hyposalinity to treat ich.

good stuff I have going:

I only have a couple zoas and acans in my display, that’s it. I don’t have a ton of corals or anything. I have an established smaller quarantine tank already going.

can I just treat my fish in my display, using hyposalinity and then just bring the corals back in when I’m done with the treatment? This would be significantly easier than netting all the fish out and treating them with copper.

You can move all invertebrates out during a hyposalinity treatment but they have the potential of bringing the disease back in with them afterwards. Keeping them out for 75 days is safe.
If your fish have a moderate case of ich, you’ll need to get hypo started pretty quick, take the specific gravity down in steps over 48 hours to 1.009 Then, hold the fish there for 30 days and then bring them back up in salinity over 5 days.
Jay

 

[angelsandtangs]

You can move all invertebrates out during a hyposalinity treatment but they have the potential of bringing the disease back in with them afterwards. Keeping them out for 75 days is safe.
If your fish have a moderate case of ich, you’ll need to get hypo started pretty quick, take the specific gravity down in steps over 48 hours to 1.009 Then, hold the fish there for 30 days and then bring them back up in salinity over 5 days.
Jay

So I’ve been wanting to ask this question if you go buy coral frags colonies or add rock etc and janitors why don’t you have to qt them for 75 days also instead of a few weeks like most recommend to prevent ick or velvet ? Who here QT’s corals and such for 75 days I’m curious ?

 

[Max93]

Thank you.

this is the plan, let me know if I am missing anything even though I just read your post:

remove all inverts and corals to separate quarantine. Leave them there for 76 days.

Treat display with hypo at 1.008-1.009 (I’ll do 1.008 so I have a .001 margin of error) for 30 days.

I’d say my ich case right now is mild but the hippo tang is the one currently heavily afflicted.

hypo for 30 days in display will get rid of all ich in display correct?

 

[SlugSnorter]

So I’ve been wanting to ask this question if you go buy coral frags colonies or add rock etc and janitors why don’t you have to qt them for 75 days also instead of a few weeks like most recommend to prevent ick or velvet ? Who here QT’s corals and such for 75 days I’m curious ?

People QT corals and use coral dips on them.

If you have a coral QT, can you explain your procedure?

In regards to myself, I have not QT'd corals. They are purchased, transported, clipped off the old plug, dipped in Bayer, remounted, and go straight into my display tank. 90% of what I have are acros. I'm at a loss to understand how people would properly and successfully quarantine their new...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[SlugSnorter]

Thank you.

this is the plan, let me know if I am missing anything even though I just read your post:

remove all inverts and corals to separate quarantine. Leave them there for 76 days.

Treat display with hypo at 1.008-1.009 (I’ll do 1.008 so I have a .001 margin of error) for 30 days.

I’d say my ich case right now is mild but the hippo tang is the one currently heavily afflicted.

hypo for 30 days in display will get rid of all ich in display correct?

better to move fish instead and use copper w hypo

inverts can be in tank during fallow

 

[Max93]

I quarantine my corals, snails and even hermits. I have a separate 10g quarantine and I leave a goby in there or any other fish and I wait for it to show symptoms. If it doesn’t show symptoms of ich/velvet I deem the inverts and corals safe to put in the display. Even doing all this I still got ich. Lol

 

[Max93]

Right but I feel that it is more stressful for the fish and me to move them all to a 55g from a 220 gallon for 76 days. I think I have the ability to just do hypo since my tank basically only has fish.
This would require breaking down the entire tank as well.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Right but I feel that it is more stressful for the fish and me to move them all to a 55g from a 220 gallon for 76 days. I think I have the ability to just do hypo since my tank basically only has fish.
This would require breaking down the entire tank as well.

alright, reef safe stuff isnt as effective (if you decide to use meds) but its worth a shot too, I wish you luck

 

[Max93]

@Humblefish do you think I’m on the right track with this? Sorry for summoning you, I appreciate your help!

slowly bring salinity down to 1.008 over 48 hours in display after removing inverts and corals.

start 30 day countdown and monitor SG daily to ensure it doesn’t go above 1.009.

slowly raise it back to 1.026 over 5 days.

leave corals/inverts/snails in fallow quarantine for 76 days.

ich be gone. Am I missing anything? Should I do water changes during hypo with water at 1.008 salinity?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I’ve been wanting to ask this question if you go buy coral frags colonies or add rock etc and janitors why don’t you have to qt them for 75 days also instead of a few weeks like most recommend to prevent ick or velvet ? Who here QT’s corals and such for 75 days I’m curious ?

In many cases, not doing that is exactly how diseases get into your tank (both coral and fish diseases). I hold all new corals for a minimum of 45 days in a fishless holding system.

Here is a link to an article I wrote in August regarding some of these issues:

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Max93]

Thanks Jay.
Crazy thing is that Bayer doesn’t kill ich, it is really something extraordinary.

 

[Max93]

Now before I do this, I am going to share some pictures of my hippo tang and my Kole tang. The wrasses tend to only show the white sugar like spots at night.
The blue hippo “scratches” aggressively on the rocks at night and also has black spots and some discoloration - maybe black ich mixed in there?

the Kole tang “twitches” his fins and skin kind of like when a cow has mosquitos on it.

before I proceed, please advise on my diagnosis to confirm it is ich.

 

[Max93]

Here’s some more photos. Taking these photos I feel like it’s not ich, but then at night it definitely looks like it but it makes me feel so confused. Should I wait another week before doing this just to be 1000% sure?

 

[alain Bouchard]

edit-never mind

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Here’s some more photos. Taking these photos I feel like it’s not ich, but then at night it definitely looks like it but it makes me feel so confused. Should I wait another week before doing this just to be 1000% sure?

The diffuse cloudiness around the white spots tends to lead me away from ich as a diagnosis, but visual IDs are always tough, especially with just photos.

If it is flukes, hyposalinity would still work....

Jay

 

[DrZoidburg]

Bayer coral dips would likely not kill ich, its not ment for that. Chances are some substrates could bring it in but others it has been shown it cant. 15 days qt maybe generally good but extreme cases 72 days

 

[polyppal]

I have had great success with Hyposalinity and H2O2 dips. If you just have a few corals/inverts in there you could setup the other tank essentially as a frag tank to house them for the next 2 mos.

 

[Max93]

Pictures are super hard to capture. Attached is a few more, much clearer. What do you think?