Hyposalinity help

danielmanlee · 09/11/2007, 04:06 PM

Hi Everyone... I have started this hobby 4 months ago and now I run into my first major problem.. I got " ICH" in the main tank..couple of my fish have die and now I only have a coral beauty , blue tang and a TP clown...

Here is my question...

Can I treat the main tank with Hyposanility?? My tank is FOWLR, so there are no coral..
Do Hyposanility kill off Bateria that are on the live rock? I ask the LFS and they told me I can treat the main tank since I don't have inverts... its that true?

Pls help

bertoni · 09/11/2007, 04:30 PM

Hyposalinity would kill invertebrates in the rock, which might cause a large ammonia spike. I wouldn't do it, but it might work.

danielmanlee · 09/11/2007, 04:33 PM

Thx Bertoni for the response.. now I do understand that I will need to monitor for ammonia spike.. but will my live rock still maintain the bateria that are needed to to convert the nitrogen cycle? that is my main concern?

bertoni · 09/11/2007, 04:35 PM

The bacteria seem to take a big hit from hyposalinity, which is another issue. The other issue is the volume of dead animals in the rock, which is often very large.

stevenw56 · 09/11/2007, 05:15 PM

I've done Hyposalinity on a FOWLR in the past. The only inverts I had were astrea snails and 2 hermit crabs. I removed the snails knowing they wouldn't live. The hermit crabs seemed unaffected. I kept hypo conditions for 6 weeks. Fish seemed unaffected also except my flame hawkfish. After the 4th week he seemed to be much less active and ate less. When I returned the tank to normal conditions he was fine.

I had no ammonia spike at all. Although I had more biological filtration in 2 canister filters. IMO the nitrifying bacteria was not affected at all.

BTW I returned my tank to normal salinity within a 36 hour period with no problem. I am not recommending this, just my own experience.

bertoni · 09/11/2007, 06:24 PM

Hyposalinity needs to be maintained for 6-8 weeks to deal with marine ich.

Aquarist007 · 09/11/2007, 06:46 PM

It might be a good idea to set up another tank--not as a qt tank---but put new sand in it except for one cup of live sand from your other tank to seed it with. Remove most of the live rock and put it in the second tank.
Now treat the first tank with the fish with hyposalination. Don't worry about the live sand---you can bring it back by reversing the procedure after 4-6 weeks.
Your skimmer will pick up the slack in the meantime but monitor closely and be prepared for a quick water change or number of consecutive ones

Both tanks are going to have to stay this way for 4-6 weeks to ensure that they are both ich free.

Aquarist007 · 09/11/2007, 06:49 PM

..in the mean time there is some excellent articles you can read on ich----understanding it is treating it.

---darn--left the links on my laptop-----maybe Jonathan or the other guys can post?

danielmanlee · 09/12/2007, 12:17 PM

thx for the info

09/11/2007, 04:06 PM	#1
danielmanlee Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Francisco Posts: 183	Hyposanility help Hi Everyone... I have started this hobby 4 months ago and now I run into my first major problem.. I got " ICH" in the main tank..couple of my fish have die and now I only have a coral beauty , blue tang and a TP clown... Here is my question... Can I treat the main tank with Hyposanility?? My tank is FOWLR, so there are no coral.. Do Hyposanility kill off Bateria that are on the live rock? I ask the LFS and they told me I can treat the main tank since I don't have inverts... its that true? Pls help

09/11/2007, 04:30 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Hyposalinity would kill invertebrates in the rock, which might cause a large ammonia spike. I wouldn't do it, but it might work. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/11/2007, 04:35 PM	#4
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	The bacteria seem to take a big hit from hyposalinity, which is another issue. The other issue is the volume of dead animals in the rock, which is often very large. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/11/2007, 06:24 PM	#6
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Hyposalinity needs to be maintained for 6-8 weeks to deal with marine ich. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

09/11/2007, 06:46 PM	#7
Aquarist007 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hamilton, Canada Posts: 28,240 Blog Entries: 1	It might be a good idea to set up another tank--not as a qt tank---but put new sand in it except for one cup of live sand from your other tank to seed it with. Remove most of the live rock and put it in the second tank. Now treat the first tank with the fish with hyposalination. Don't worry about the live sand---you can bring it back by reversing the procedure after 4-6 weeks. Your skimmer will pick up the slack in the meantime but monitor closely and be prepared for a quick water change or number of consecutive ones Both tanks are going to have to stay this way for 4-6 weeks to ensure that they are both ich free. __________________ I prefer my substrates stirred but not shaken Current Tank Info: 150gal long mixed reef, 90gal sump, 60 gal refugium with 200 lbs live rock

09/11/2007, 04:33 PM	#3
danielmanlee Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Francisco Posts: 183	Thx Bertoni for the response.. now I do understand that I will need to monitor for ammonia spike.. but will my live rock still maintain the bateria that are needed to to convert the nitrogen cycle? that is my main concern?

09/11/2007, 05:15 PM	#5
stevenw56 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Port Orange, Fl Posts: 72	I've done Hyposalinity on a FOWLR in the past. The only inverts I had were astrea snails and 2 hermit crabs. I removed the snails knowing they wouldn't live. The hermit crabs seemed unaffected. I kept hypo conditions for 6 weeks. Fish seemed unaffected also except my flame hawkfish. After the 4th week he seemed to be much less active and ate less. When I returned the tank to normal conditions he was fine. I had no ammonia spike at all. Although I had more biological filtration in 2 canister filters. IMO the nitrifying bacteria was not affected at all. BTW I returned my tank to normal salinity within a 36 hour period with no problem. I am not recommending this, just my own experience.

09/11/2007, 06:49 PM	#8
Aquarist007 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Hamilton, Canada Posts: 28,240 Blog Entries: 1	..in the mean time there is some excellent articles you can read on ich----understanding it is treating it. ---darn--left the links on my laptop-----maybe Jonathan or the other guys can post? __________________ I prefer my substrates stirred but not shaken Current Tank Info: 150gal long mixed reef, 90gal sump, 60 gal refugium with 200 lbs live rock

09/12/2007, 12:17 PM	#9
danielmanlee Registered Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: San Francisco Posts: 183	thx for the info