Hyposalinity and Ich

[ekudl]

Help.......after loosing 3 fish, CBB, Maroon Clown, and a Coral Beauty Angel to the dreaded Ich I decided to scratch the meds and setup a quarentine / hospital tank. I'm using hyposalinity of 1.009 in it and after it cycles wil move my remaining fish, Maroon Clown, Yellow Tang, Filefish into it. I tried Hexamit and Kent RxP to no avail. I even can see the Ich on the glass, is that possible?

Anyways I have a few questions as follows:

1) How long does a fish have to be quarentined in the hospital tank of hypo for both when first buying them and treating them now ?

2) In my display tank it has inverts and soon no fish, how long before all of the Ich dies off without having hosts available, in other words when can I move my fish back into the display tank ?

3) I've learned a valuable lesson to never not use a quarentine tank, which I will from now on. Do I keep it running at hypo levels of 1.009 with one or two damsels in it for ever ?

4) In the quarentine tank, should there be any substrate or anything or just plain water ?

Thanks in advance for any help to these questions. Oh yeah by the way now I have a 75 Gl display tank with a 10 Gl quarentine / hospital tank.

 

[mountainbiker619]

1. and 2. no less than 30 days..longer the better though

 

[fishfanatic2]

In addition to the hyposalinity, i would raise the temperature to about 90 degrees F. This makes the ich reproduce very fast, but the hyposalinity blocks them and prohibits reproduction until the parasites die off. I know it sounds iffy, but I tried it and it worked great . It might be a good idea to put some substrate on the bottom of the quarantine tank just so the fish don't get too stressed. A quarantine time of 4-6 weeks is usually recommended, but I know it is hard to wait that long!!! Good Luck!!!

 

[Len]

C.irritans has a cycle of 6-8 weeks, so that's how long you should aim for before you stick something back in the main tank. Elevating the tank temp, like fishfanatic said, will speed up the process. Just make sure your inhabitants (corals etc.) can handle it. 90 degrees is on the extreme side IMO. 85 degrees is more hospitiable. Hyposalinity clinically works, but is also a bit stressful. If you haven't tried already, i would give garlic and ginger a shot first since they're non-"invasive" and easy to procure and administer.

 

[Anonymous]

Hyposalinity is proven, garlic and ginger are not (excepting some internal parasites w/garlic). In my own opinion, it is more stressful for the fish to remain with a parasitic infection rather than a bit of hyposalinity.

Utilization of quarantine is pretty much my mantra. As mb said, 30 days minimum is normal protocol. I think those who don't make use of q/t are running risks that I am not willing to take, myself. Raising the tank temp does speed up the lifecycle of the Cryptocaryons irritans and Amyloodinium parasites, but 90F is too big a risk for inverts.

Keep the q/t tank bare-bottomed, use pieces of (easily sterilized) PVC for some "structure" to reduce stress.

However! What no one has addressed is the issue of husbandry. You should not be having such trouble, and it speaks to problems such as water quality and overall stress, and I also think nutrition plays a part in this. You must address your husbandry techniques and methodologies to best avoid this problem in the future. Again, my honest opinion.

 

[ekudl]

Thanks all for your kind advice. And Seamainden I agree with you to get my husbandry up to snuff. Although I have had a 20 Gl Nano reef set up for nearly a year with great success I am new to having a bigger FOWLR tank, about 2 months new. Like any newbie I made 2 mistakes that I read here and other forums is 1) Never add fish to a display tank without quaranting them first for at least 2 weeks and 2) Don't add in too many fish at once. I didn't use a Q Tank and I added in 4 good size fish in 2 days after only one month of the tank being setup. Although my tank was done cycling it was still too new to be adding in that many fish. Well I have "Lived and Learned" ....... and lost alot of money, nobody said that this hobby was cheap.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear you had to learn the lessons the hard way. Just a reminder, 2 weeks q/t is insufficient. Stick to the 30 day protocol and it won't take long til you agree it's worth it.

I'd agree that adding the fish so quickly to a new system could easily be the root of the problem, but since you've already kept nano (definitely requires a bit of skill), you should have no problem sorting things out in the big tank. Good luck!

 

[jethro]

I will add my two cents.

Years ago I read a book that said Ich does not survive in the free swimming stage if the temp is over 86 degrees. The book said the temp needs to be at 86 degrees for at least 10 days. I don't remember specifically but out of those 10 days the parasite is in the free swimming stage for a few days.

This has always worked for me.

 

[AllenF]

If three fish have already expired you should be prepared for the worse. The most effective qt and tx (quarantine and treatment) is also dependant upon taking action the very minute you spot sxs (signs and symptoms).

It may be too late for your remaining fish.

Dont want to be a downer, I just want you to be prepared here....

 

[john f]

Hyposalinity actually REDUCES the stress on the fish, not increases it.

As for the fate of the remaining fish, I would not worry too much. You may want to have an antibiotic ready in case of secondary infections. I like nitrofurazone for this use.

Also the life cycle of cryptocaryon at 85 degrees is more like 7-14 days.
If you keep the tank fallow( fishless ) for a month at 85 degrees the Ich will be gone.
In that same 30 days at 14ppt ( ~1.008-9) the fish will be completely free of cryptocaryon as well.
Just make sure to watch the pH of the QT as it tends to drop quickly in hyposalinity. I use Fritz pH 8.2 tabs to maintain my pH in the QT and they work great. Any other buffer would probably work well also.

You have done the right thing, and the smart thing.



John

 

[ekudl]

Thanks all, and again its a valuable lesson but now I am just a little bit smarter.

 

[Terry B]

jethro,
Yes freshwater ick can be cured with a temperature of 86F. However, this is not true of saltwater ich. 86F is actually the optimal temperature for ich to reproduce so it certainly won't kill it. There is some validity to the idea if there are no fish present in the aquarium.
Terry B