ohaverd June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 (edited) So I thought I’d share with everyone my latest (I’m bored so I thought I’d try this out) adventure. This is following closely on the heels of the “I’m bored: acrylic tank building”, and the less popular but just as relevant “I’m bored: Learning how to make a quilt” adventures; I’ve had several different “experts” tell me in the past that Ich is ALWAYS PRESENT in our systems, and to just make sure water quality is pristine and to keep the fish well fed and the ich will not be a problem. Most of you well know there is a lot of research out on the interwebz that refute these claims like this post http://wamas.org/forums/topic/41558-ichy-battle/ on the greatest forum the world has ever known EVER. So I’m bored and I decided I want to try and rid my system of this son of a gun of a parasite. I’m going to go through step by step what I have done so far. This way first time hypo’ers can see exactly what NOT to do. First, I’d like to point out that I am and always have been a big believer in QT. But mostly I used it as a stress reliever and feeding trainer than anything else. My goal is to be able to A: rid the fish I currently have of Ich, and B: allow my DT to go without fish for 8 weeks to kill any parasites in it. If I go through this long process that will take around 10 weeks, and my fish still pop ich, I will yell and scream like a little girl, and then go back to not caring about ich and just stuffing my fish full of Jan’s food and join the ranks of the “ich is always present in our systems” zombies. What I done Firstly: A fisher of… Fish. Why didn’t anyone tell me what a pain in the butt getting your fish out of the display tank is? Holy crap that was absolutely a terrible experience and anyone that asks me about hypo-ing the fish they all ready have… ima say “don’t do it just let them swim around with big ol crusty friggin salt looking pebbles all over their butts, because getting them out is a huge PITA! So after a few minutes of trying to get the buggers out, I decided to research “fish traps”. There is one trap that looked like it would work (think it’s called “the cage” or “the box” or something like that), but I didn’t think it was big enough. So I did what anyone else would do… Built one myself right!? So I used some scrap 1/8” acrylic and made basically a box with a rubber band powered trap door. The trick however was to leave it in the display for a few days and feed ALL FOODS directly inside the trap. Also, go for the hard to get fish first… For me it was the sixline wrasse… what a little A-hole he is. It took him 3 days before he would go in it for food. But once he did I pulled the fishing line and trapped the little booger; I must tell you all… A more glories victory cry has never been echoed throughout the history of mankind, I assure you. The other fish like my chromis and tangs were very, very stupid and continued going in and out of the trap even after they saw their friends gathered by the hands of their all mighty overlord (that’s me). So… I have currently one 5” foxface Lo, one 4” powder blue tang, one 2” scopas tang, two .5” chromis, two 1” Oce clowns, and one 1” 6line wrasse (that I am thinking of feeding to my cat). That equates to around 15” of fishes. So I decided to go with a 30gal frag tank I made out of scrap acrylic. What I done secondly: THE AMMONIAGEDDON!!! So at this point my new quarantine tank has been sitting with DT water and a HOB filter for 3 weeks. I am using the HOB filter that has a carbon and bio bag in it, an air stone, and a heater. So why didn’t anyone tell me that taking all of my fish and plopping them into an aquarium that doesn’t have enough room for them would cause a huge ammonia spike! I thought I was going to just put the fish in, drop the salinity and call it a month… Not really but ya, I knew I was going to try to control ammonia with frequent water changes. So for one week I was doing two 25% water changes a day, one in the morning before work, and one after work when I got home. Words cannot describe the lack of patience that I have, so doing this was like pure friggin torture. Week two was a little better with the ammonia spikes, but I still couldn’t get it all the way to 0 for very long, so I decided to add Amquel plus to the daily dosage. Of course I didn’t research what this would do during the hypo salinity treatment because I’m a big ol dipstick, so watch what happens next… Nextly: PH, what the H-E-double hockey sticks is that? So after two weeks, it was time to do the DEED! I mixed up some salt water using my handy dandy hydrometer thing, but what in the crap man! Why won’t this stupid plastic arm stop moving up and down? What the heck bro? Why didn’t anyone tell me I needed a refractometer for this? Oh wait, just about every hyposalinity guide in the history of Al Gore’s interwebz has said you need a refractometer, I am ashamed once more… So now I’ve got my new tool in hand and I successfully get my salt down to 1.009. We are in business, the fish look like they are doing well, the ammonia looks good, nitrites are good, nitrates undetectable, PH looks… it looks… what in the crap… I’ve never seen orange in my PH test tube before. Must have been something in the tube, let me try that again… Nope it’s friggin ORANGE. Holy crap! My fish are going to die of PH shock! Quickly, to the google machine! Ah, I find THE ANSWER! Apparently if I’d done my research before, I would have realized that adding Amquel Plus to Hyposalinity will make your PH drop like a (insert prostitute joke). So Mr Google… what is the answer to this PH Conundrum? Ah ha! I’ve found it! I am such a great google’r! Apparently the answer lies with an arm and a hammer! So I went to the garage and picked up the hammer… (And ok; now we are getting a little lame). So I went and got the ol trusty half part of the 2 part solution that is BAKING SODA… So I had to deal with the weird looks from my wife as I spread her baking soda on a cooky sheet and inserted in the oven at 350 degrees… Apparently baking soda is not only used to bring PH up in our reef systems, but it can also be used for baking... thats good to know... So now: (Deep breath) So now I’ve got a slow drip baking soda to keep the PH up that the Amquel Plus is driving down because the salt level is too low but is keeping the ammonia down that is up because I have too many fish in a small space because I’m an idiot. Got it? My fish have 3 weeks left of their (4 weeks after the last white spot has been seen), and I think I will take this time to write hate mail to anyone on the world wide web that said Hyposalinity is EASY. I shall update ya’ll in the not too distant future. If anyone actually took the time to read all of this nonsense, I leave you with these words of wisdom. "Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does." (mic drop) I'm out... Edited June 25, 2013 by ohaverd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Rhoads June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 This made my day. LMAO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yauger June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 Sweet post. Laughing in the office Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4 Beta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 Great information, very funnny!! I have my whole 600g display in hypo right now, on week three. I have not seen any ammonia issues so far. Since the skimmer doesn't work well at low SG my nitrate has climbed because of the nutrients the skimmer would normally removes are being biologically taken care of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd June 25, 2013 Author Share June 25, 2013 Great information, very funnny!! I have my whole 600g display in hypo right now, on week three. I have not seen any ammonia issues so far. Since the skimmer doesn't work well at low SG my nitrate has climbed because of the nutrients the skimmer would normally removes are being biologically taken care of. what is your PH ranging in that low gravity? I also think I need to add a light to the QT to help keep my PH up... It may stress the fish, but probably less then the huge PH swings I'm getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 Ridiculous. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 Absolute riot!!!!! Eagerly awaiting chapter 2 CH- how in the world are you doing hypo in your tank lol??? I'm scared just reading that...it must have taken forever to get it to the right salinity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 what is your PH ranging in that low gravity? I also think I need to add a light to the QT to help keep my PH up... It may stress the fish, but probably less then the huge PH swings I'm getting. I have not had any pH issues. During the lowering of the SG the dilution caused the alk levels to drop so I added some buffer. Since adding the buffer it has stayed stable at 8.1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 June 25, 2013 Share June 25, 2013 A post of the BEST kind. Informational AND entertaining! Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd July 9, 2013 Author Share July 9, 2013 Weeks 3 and 4: I hated that fish anyways… So the hypo has been going well I guess, I’ve got the water change down to a science now. I know that I just need to change 3 full popcorn buckets (the ones from target that are apparently also used for popcorn) full of water changes, two caps of amquel plus and 1 spoon full of baking soda in a 1 gal drip container. I do this every morning before work. For a while all of the fish seemed like they were doing well. The only one I was worrying about was the sixline wrasse, I don’t remember where I read it, but I believe I’ve read that they do not do well in hypo, so I was keeping an eye on him. He was eating just fine up until the 3rd week of hypo, and all of a sudden things went south for him really quickly. He just stopped eating and laid around on the bottom of the tank. My guess is that he didn’t have any more pods to eat because you can’t have live rock in hypo treatment. In hindsight I guess I should have researched a different food for him? I don’t know… But like I always tell myself after I lose a fish. I hated that fish anyways… sniff sniff. It’s really going to suck when my daughter looks for her favorite fish and looks up at me with those big brown eyes, and says “where’s Pinky Pie?” “She went to the big ocean in the sky sweetheart… the big ocean in the sky…” Anyone else have trouble with wrasses in hypo? starting next week! The slow climb up to 1.025! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef July 9, 2013 Share July 9, 2013 Weeks 3 and 4: I hated that fish anyways… So the hypo has been going well I guess, I’ve got the water change down to a science now. I know that I just need to change 3 full popcorn buckets (the ones from target that are apparently also used for popcorn) full of water changes, two caps of amquel plus and 1 spoon full of baking soda in a 1 gal drip container. I do this every morning before work. For a while all of the fish seemed like they were doing well. The only one I was worrying about was the sixline wrasse, I don’t remember where I read it, but I believe I’ve read that they do not do well in hypo, so I was keeping an eye on him. He was eating just fine up until the 3rd week of hypo, and all of a sudden things went south for him really quickly. He just stopped eating and laid around on the bottom of the tank. My guess is that he didn’t have any more pods to eat because you can’t have live rock in hypo treatment. In hindsight I guess I should have researched a different food for him? I don’t know… But like I always tell myself after I lose a fish. I hated that fish anyways… sniff sniff. It’s really going to suck when my daughter looks for her favorite fish and looks up at me with those big brown eyes, and says “where’s Pinky Pie?” “She went to the big ocean in the sky sweetheart… the big ocean in the sky…” Anyone else have trouble with wrasses in hypo? starting next week! The slow climb up to 1.025! never admit the fish die...get another one before cindy Lou who notices! That's what I do lol...works on spouses too...new fish...not replacement parents ha ha Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd July 9, 2013 Author Share July 9, 2013 never admit the fish die...get another one before cindy Lou who notices! That's what I do lol...works on spouses too...new fish...not replacement parents ha ha Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2 I was thinking of doing that... They are a fairly cheap fish anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef July 9, 2013 Share July 9, 2013 yea they never know....but they DO notice new things...my daughter dimed me out the other day with a new coral...my husband was looking at the tank and never noticed it and that eagle eyed little thing on tippy toes yells! Wow a new coral....sigh....hubby did a U turn and came back and I had to do some explaining...LOL... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkfish01 July 10, 2013 Share July 10, 2013 Sounds like my mom when i get a new frag my bro notices first.. The words outta her mouth are when and how much??8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd July 15, 2013 Author Share July 15, 2013 Weeks 5 and 6: Where the heck did that fish go? Week 5 was more of the same, just doing water changes and making sure the fish looked happy and healthy. Finally, when week 6 came around it was time to start going back up to 1.025. I did about .20 to .30 increases a day for 4 days, and got the salinity up to 1.022ish. From there, at the end of week 6 I drip acclimated them as if they were new fish to the DT. All of the fish made the move without a hitch, except one… For some reason, I seem to have lost a Chromis. I know that I netted him, and (attempted) to drop him into the DT, but I haven’t seen him since. He could have bolted strait into the waiting arms of crab or something, or I guess it is possible that I missed and dropped him into an overflow, which in turn would eventually turn him into skimmer paste. Or maybe I should check my net when I get home… There might be a dried carcass just waiting there for me. All the other fish seem to be doing well after a few days in their big tanks. I’ll keep you informed on whether or not this whole (how did my wife put it?) Hyposa-what-idy? Worked or not. Below are my lessons learned: Hypo-salinity is not for the ADHD inflicted Do not stick all of your live stock into a container that is too small for them, like I did… It makes you have to do WAY too much maintenance to keep the toxins out of the water. Research fish that have a special diet like wrasses who eat pods, or fish that require zooplankton before hand, see if there is a history of them not doing well in hypo. An alternate QT may be better for them like the tank swapping method. Be prepared for low PH, the low salinity makes it hard to maintain a high PH. Have baking soda (bake it on a cookie sheet at 350 for 30 minutes) ready to go. Make sure you have a refractometer, the swing arm hydrometer and float hydros are garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef July 15, 2013 Share July 15, 2013 Congrats!!!!! Wow has 6 weeks really already gone by...time does truly fly as it seems I was just laughing at the first post just a couple of weeks ago.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd July 15, 2013 Author Share July 15, 2013 Congrats!!!!! Wow has 6 weeks really already gone by...time does truly fly as it seems I was just laughing at the first post just a couple of weeks ago.... ya I made the first post at around the end of week 3... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachabballi reef July 15, 2013 Share July 15, 2013 OK that's better lol for us its only been 3 weeks then....phew! Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd August 26, 2013 Author Share August 26, 2013 I saw the ich post in the beginners forum, and it reminded me that I no longer have ich! I guess this hypo thing worked... Now I just need to make sure everything goes through 4 weeks of medicated QT before it enters my system. It is hard to do when you have a wife and daughter who are constantly hounding you about adding your new fish to the "big" tank. I have to keep reminding them about the fish we lost do to ich last year. I still don't know if it was worth the pain in the A that this was... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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