Does Hypo kill nitrifying bacteria?

[iwishtofish]

I am going to set up a tank for Hypo treatment, and I'd like to know if I can rely on biological filtration throughout the process.

Does low salinity kill the nitrifying bacteria?

[tmz]

I believe it does.

[Amoore311]

What will kill the bacteria is large swings in Specific Gravity.

I used to keep Green Spotted Puffers. These fish begin their life in Freshwater and end up Full Marine at adult hood. It is common practice to raise their salinity gradually.

Any more than .02 per week and you run the risk of killing off your Nitrifying Bacteria.

If you start the tank and cycle it and always keep it at hypo salinity, then you will be fine (in regards to the bacteria)

[tmz]

Originally posted by Amoore311
What will kill the bacteria is large swings in Specific Gravity.

I used to keep Green Spotted Puffers. These fish begin their life in Freshwater and end up Full Marine at adult hood. It is common practice to raise their salinity gradually.

Any more than .02 per week and you run the risk of killing off your Nitrifying Bacteria.

If you start the tank and cycle it and always keep it at hypo salinity, then you will be fine (in regards to the bacteria)

Great explaination. Thanks

[Hypo]

yea I do

[luke33]

It DOES NOT kill the bacteria. If you do it in your QT you'll be fine, if you did it with LR and what not it would cause amm spikes and h2o parameter probs. But it will not kill your bacteria, even if you dropped it in a day.

[tmz]

Originally posted by luke33
It DOES NOT kill the bacteria. If you do it in your QT you'll be fine, if you did it with LR and what not it would cause amm spikes and h2o parameter probs. But it will not kill your bacteria, even if you dropped it in a day.

If you are doing a barren qt tank it will not kill bacteria except those in the water,since their won't be any others to kill.

[m2434]

There are a number of species, many can live in a very wide range of salinity (or even lack of). Never hurts to decrease the level slowly.

[reef2]

no it doesnt kill the bacteria. my fish got ich and i cant get them out of my dt but i could get the corals and what not out. its in hypo right now and no problems.

[iwishtofish]

Thanks for the response! I was planning on using a floss filter (now colonizing bacteria in my sump) in an HOB on my new hypo tank. The goal is to start at normal salinity and then slowly decrease it in order to cure my fish of ich.

I just want to be sure I have some bacteria left to deal with waste products once I drop the salinity!

[tmz]

The problem with your aprroach is that if the fish already have ich, you are risking an infestation which is usually much worse than the original while you slowly drop the sg to to 1.009. You may either use a bare tank with pvc for hiding places and such and treat with copper for 14 days or go quickly to hypo 1.009. You will have to rely on water changes to insure against ammonia or you may choose to use an ammonia detoxifier such as ammo lock. Nitrate and nitrite are not a concern without corals and inverts. I use copper and denitrify with some crushed coral seeded in another tank which I place in the filter bags of the over the side filter on the qt tank. When I'm done with it I dispose of it since it does absorb some copper which must not be leached back into the reef. Good Luck

[luke33]

Originally posted by tmz
The problem with your aprroach is that if the fish already have ich, you are risking an infestation which is usually much worse than the original while you slowly drop the sg to to 1.009. You may either use a bare tank with pvc for hiding places and such and treat with copper for 14 days or go quickly to hypo 1.009. You will have to rely on water changes to insure against ammonia or you may choose to use an ammonia detoxifier such as ammo lock. Nitrate and nitrite are not a concern without corals and inverts. I use copper and denitrify with some crushed coral seeded in another tank which I place in the filter bags of the over the side filter on the qt tank. When I'm done with it I dispose of it since it does absorb some copper which must not be leached back into the reef. Good Luck

Nitrite is a big problem and will kill the fish. If you detect nitrite water changes are your friend. I've hypo'd fish as fast as 24hrs from regular sg, 48hrs, 72hrs, done in my qt with a bare bottom, ssb, in my display with all lr and corals removed, i've never had an amm spike because of hypo. If you use copper you will have an ammonia spike as it will kill your bacteria. I've even had coppersafe nuke my bacteria, its not safe imo. Water changes every day suck. Check out the great ick posts in the fish disease forum.

[tmz]

Nitrite does not kill saltwater fish as it does fresh water fish. The chlorides in salt water significantly lessen it's effect. Read a few articles on it in the Reef Chemistry Forum-see Randy Holmes Farley's atricle. Copper does not nuke bacteria.Copper is a well accepted and effective treatment for ich. Hypo salinity is also. Do your homework before gioving advice,please.

[luke33]

WOW, i'd advise you to look around bud. I hate when people stear newbie's in a very wrong direction.

[tmz]

Exactly my point. I'm willing to learn and benefit from cogent discussion
and I am very careful in communicating fact and distingusihing my personal opinion from it so the discussion benefits the hobby. In my opinion ,you are more interested in having everyone do it your way regarless of what the facts are.

[luke33]

Facts are hypo and copper work. Copper is rough on some species of fish and will destroy the bacteria colum. Hypo is relatively safe for fish unless long durations are exceeded >3mths. Causes lymph for angels sometimes. Will not harm bacteria, even in LR. Atleast we agree on the treatments ; ) I just want people to do it the right way instead of losing money over the wrong way. This hobby is a 100% turnover ratio hobby. I'm always looking out for beginners who are not yet invested in the hobby. I find ways to cut corners effictively and make this a doable money wise hobby. I've been housing fish for 20+yrs, i know what works and there are many many different ways to do this game, unfortunately in this situation only two that work, and one is much easier. Not trying to have a peeing match but, but voicing my opinion. HTH, i'll be done now.

[tmz]

Don't necessarily disagree. But Sea Cure copper treatment is really cheap.
I have been considering modifying my protocols to try hypo and do wan't to hear about experiences of others and it just doesn't seem easier to me. I don't think one can not say with certainty that one is better than the other. I do believe folks who ask should be given a broad view of treatment options.
Facts are facts ,however.
First, copper does not kill the denitrifying bacteria.It will make any rock or substrate exposed to it unusable in a reef because of absorbtion and leechback.
Second,it would take at least 20x if not 50x the nitrite in saltwater to do the same damage as 1 in freshwater. This nitrite issue is something I recently learned. It is important because many folks have difficulty managing nitrite in in newly established uncycled qt
tanks.,which most of them are, and a lot of effort goes into it making qt management more frustrating and more likely to be abandoned.Thankyou for the discussion and Happy Reefing.