continue hypo or try something else?!

[salt creepette]

the fish have been in hyposalinity treatment for the last 28 days. There have been times when Ive seen no ich, but usually there are one or two spots to be found on the fish. Today there are a couple spots on my anthias. being that I have kept the SG at 1.008-1.010 the entire time, verified by a calibrated refractometer, I can deduce that hyposalinity is: NOT WORKING!!!!! (well, not 100%!!!)

I cant keep these fish in hypo forever. and the alloted time for it to be supposedly over is well past. and youre supposed to keep them in it for a month AFTER you see no spots???? at this rate I could be here FOREVER!!!!!

I am so aggravated. so: who votes that I do option A and keep them in hypo longer?

or, who votes that I do option B and go ahead and start raising the specific gravity up .001-.002 points per day, doing a daily scrub and clean of all surfaces and hoping that I am removing any freeswimming or encysting parasites?

if I do B, what if it doesnt work and I get another full fledged outbreak?!

I refuse to do copper, cuz I cant find a reliable test kit which will test seachem's cupramine, and also it'll ruin several of my tanks (which are acting as QT's at the moment). besides, its immunosuppressant and will kill my herbivore's intenstinal fauna. same thing with Rid-Ich by Kordon, which I use in my freshwater tanks and trust more or less because it's been effective.

Please give me your advice! I am at my WIT'S END!


(ps I have been doing the garlic thing in addition to hypo)

(psps I am sure its not air bubbles; its ICH!)

[Geoff]

have you tried cleaner shrimp?

ich is everywhere. you only hope to keep your fish as unstressed as possible in order for them to fight off any ich parasites that try and attach to them.

G~

[salt creepette]

thanks. are any of the additives that are supposed to thicken slime coat any good? or just leave 'em be and feed them well and keep 'em clean?

[512148048]

stress coat helps alot for the fish and have you tried rid ich its expensive but if you dbl or even tripple douse it it works very well

[asmith]

Are the fish eating? You might try soaking their food in garlic oil beofer feeding. That tends to keep the parasites from attacking fish.

Andrew

[Kevin1000]

My .02

You may have a low saline variant of crypo in which case the std hypo rules may not apply.

Not sure if you have heard of the transfer method but its an old standby ich cure that works. The concept is pretty simply - you use two QT tanks - you transfer fish between the tanks every third day for a total of 4 times. Each time you transfer the fish you clean out the old QT wiping out any tomonts in that tank. Since ich generally falls off a fish within 2-7 days more often than not you have wiped out the ich after a couple of transfers.

I would keep your tank(s) at hypo level - fish have adapted to this salinity and transfer method will work fine with hypo water.

Hope this helps.

[salt creepette]

tank transfer method would maybe work. but i dont have any extra tanks (I would have to have something on the order of four extra tanks since I have four QT's running right now, and I dont have the equipment to do this with either)

I decided after much deliberation to go ahead and start raising the salinity back up. I did go ahead and get some of the kent's garlic extreme which is super potent and will feed with that daily in the evening since ich likes to attatch in the evening while lights are out, and by feeding fish at night with garlic itll be the strongest on them. I am also going to be scrubbing the tank down right before the daily water changes to loosen any encysted ichs. (sorry, ich has so many freaking life stages I cant remember which one's the trophont, tomont, theront, etc!!!)

sooooooo. everyone wish me luck. I will need it! thanks for your responses. to answer a couple questions, yes fish are eating like little piggies. and I thought about doing the rid ich thing, but it is immunosuppressant and will kill my herbivores' intestinal fauna, so I would like to hold off on that treatment if possible. but its always an option i guess. of all ich medications, I like rid ich the best. ive never used it on my saltwater fish though!

[salt creepette]

just hypothetically speaking, if I decided I wanted to go ahead with the Rid-Ich (formalin-malachite green medication), would I want to wait until the specific gravity was back up to around 1.020-ish, or could I start it while bringing the SG up? or would I want to leave it where its at (1.013)? thanks.

[Kevin1000]

You can use Rid ich in a hypo state so I suspect your OK.

[tdwyatt]

Formalin and Malachite green -Freshwater info, but much is applicable

Geek info and structure (confirmation of non-copper substance)

fish farming references

cdc toxicology info

dosing rates

some general info on fish dips and quanantine

good vet primer on fish diseases and references

hth

[Spanky]

SC I don't know about Rid-Ich but we use Quick-Cure a lot around here. It's cheaper than mixing our own and works on a lot of things besides just ich. It works a lot better on ich than copper BTW.

Be sure are aerate the water good after you dose it. It's formalin based too.

There are several strains of cryp that won't respond to hypo, actually about half of all the strains known. You have one.

Lucky you.

[salt creepette]

well shoot. I just may have to do the rid ich thing. Ive taken notes on what not to do and what to do: keep the temp down, keep the ph up, aerate well, dont store (the medicine) it in the light, and dont use when skin ulcers are present, and its more toxic in soft acidic water. I will continue to feed garlic and raise salinity for now, holding off on the medication if at all possible, continuing water changes. if it starts to gain a good foothold, I will begin medicating.

lucky me.

[salt creepette]

hey Jerel, should I go ahead with it WHILE I raise salinity (with each water change)? or wait till I get it higher, then go for it (risking it gaining a bigger foothold)?

[512148048]

like spankey said you seem to have a strain that is not affected much by salinaty change so jus tmake the salinaty .022 or .020 to help the fish out a little and then use chenicals

[salt creepette]

well he said i have a hyporesistant strain, but i wasnt sure (and he didnt say) which was more ideal: to leave the salinity low, or raise it to a more normal level. I have emailed the company who makes the product, we will see if they answer back. in the meantime, I am raising the salinity back up slowly (will take a few days). thanks all for your input!