is this possible??

[cmejaf30]

Hello to all. I have a quick question and am wondering if anyone has had any of the same experience. I had a slight ich outbreak in my QT tank when I got three new fish. I know that's a lot of livestock, but I got a flame angel and two percs for $30...hard to pass up. They were in an established reef tank for 1.5 years before this. I know I had a little bit of an ich problem in my QT so I know that's where they got it from. I started a hypo treatment right away and the clowns and everyone else have been doing great; swimming and feeding fine. I'm currently in the third week of hypo right now and i've had a weird phenomenon happen the last two mornings. When I wake up and turn the light on, I notice that the flame has about 5 or 6 spots on his fins and body. Nothing extreme, just enough to make me nervous and scratch my head. The clowns have no signs of ich and all fish are feeding great. Has anyone ever heard of this? Is this just the cycle of generations that had been established on the flame and the reason why a good hypo treatment of another 3 weeks should do the trick? SG is about 1.010-1.012. NH3, NO2, NO3 are all 0. pH is 8.4. Temp is 81F. The flame "sleeps" in the same spot every single night and i've heard that ich can time its life cycle to go through the different stages at night when the fish is in the same spot and there's a greater chance of offspring finding a host. Is this possible? I thought the whole treatment of hypo was that ich can't survive when it is in the free-swimming stage looking for a host. Any advice/experience/wisdom always appreciated. Thank you!!

[Shooter7]

You have to do the hypo correctly. 1.010 - 1.012 won't do it. You have to get down and hold at 1.009 steady. Have you read this article?

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html

[cmejaf30]

yes i've read it. that's where i took the 'recipe' from. although i've read another article that said that ich won't survive a salinity under 1.016. contradicting advice, as always. I'll bring down to 1.009 and see if that works.

[cmejaf30]

n/m...i just checked this "parent" article.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html

data suggests that ich can survive at 1.011. Oops. Does this mean that I'll have to start my six weeks over? I hope not (although I fear I probably will have to).

[Shooter7]

I've always used 1.009, multiple times, and it has worked wonderfully. You have to really stay on it, though, and make sure it stays there. Replace evap water once or twice a day, if you don't have auto topoff on it. Make sure you use it for the full time indicated. Good luck. :cool:


edit to answer the above question - most likely, yes, not worth taking the chance.

[cmejaf30]

damn...i have my new 55 up and running for about three weeks with an established 2" sand bed and nice rock...too bad i won't be able to put anything in it. But doing the 1.009 should do the trick then huh. Have you ever had an instance where hypo didn't work?

[Shooter7]

No, has worked perfectly for me every time. My display has been ich-free since it was started up almost 2 years ago due to rigorous quarantine procedures. It's very worth it in the long run to wait. One way to think of it is what if you put the fish in there too early, then one day you notice they have ich again. You would have to go through the trouble of catching all of your fish in the display and putting them in hypo again, and your display would have to sit fallow for 8 weeks. Do it right the first time.

[jefnalyssa]

Would it be a good idea to hypo all new fish?

[Shooter7]

I have hypo'd pretty much all of my new fish coming in. I would hesitate to say to do it to "all" new fish, because I do not personally know if there are some fish out there that are more sensitive to salinity levels, etc. So, i would say to research your fish for that kind of thing first. Otherwise, like I said, I have done so with all of mine, it didn't do them any harm, they all got fat and happy while in QT, and I have not lost any fish due to disease since I started doing this.

[NirvanaFan]

what about most tangs? Would you always hypo a powder blue or a yellow or a hippo?

[Shooter7]

Again, would have to check up on those particular fish, but I hypo'd my scopas with no problems whatsoever.

[wizzbane15]

most tangs respond well to hypo and since they are such ich magnets, I hypo all of mine. I currently have 2 yellows, 3 blue hippos, 1 sailfin, 1 tomini, and 1 blochii in my 125.