hyposalinity

[treesprite]

I'm afraid of having this QT water too low so I've had it at like 1.014, but I have a feeling that's too high to be effective. What do each of you do who have actually done it?

[gastone]

1.009

 

 

Higher won't be effective.

[Brian Ward]

Most guides show it in terms of salinity rather than sg. The salinity must remain below 16ppt (typically for 6 weeks) in order to be effective. 14ppt is a good target number since it gives you some relief of accuracy above and below. This is an excellent series of articles on hyposalinity. It can get a little biologically technical but really gives a lot of good information on not only how, but why it works. And that is one of the most important things when you're the doctor.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fish

[traveller7]

I'm afraid of having this QT water too low so I've had it at like 1.014, but I have a feeling that's too high to be effective. What do each of you do who have actually done it?

It really depends on the purpose of the hypo, if the intent is to treat for ich, 1.014 is high.

 

fwiw: I have followed this procedure for most fish:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j...posalinity.html

 

A bit more detail:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j...ityeffects.html

[NRehman]

If you are treating ich. From the articles I have read and successful treatment of ich, 1.010 to 1.012 works. I had 15 fish all being treated at the same time with positive effect. Ich will not "dissapear". It will keep recurring, but less and less until it stops coming back. Notes: In the beginning, I used Seachem's Paraguard to give the fish some instant relief. You can drop salinity pretty rapidly, I use a couple of days with using airline pipe as a slow flow a couple of times a day. However, you should not raise salinity by more than 0.002 p/day (per the books and I chose not to experiment). Good luck.

Edited January 8, 2008 by NRehman

[treesprite]

thanks, I will lower it. I thought at first that the fish had ich one day last week because it was rubbing against the rock, but that was the only day it happened and I have seen no white dots or anything else unusual. The fish eats a lot and appears very healthy, but I'm afraid he will get stressed out and then get sick.

 

I'm really afraid to put the fish in my tank no matter how long it's in the qt not getting sick. How on earth do you people add new fish without constantly worrying about it?

[NRehman]

Read and follow the numerous articles, follow QT procedures...and that will lower the probability of transferring parasites, bacteria, and viruses to your main tank.

 

On ich, it's not like the parasites will "poof" be there massively one day. Parasites attach, drops off, multiplies by 250 or so, then re-attach in greater numbers.

Edited January 8, 2008 by NRehman