quarantine & hyposalintiy

[dabbler@nycap]

I am new at this so please bear with me on this one. In that most of marine fish are wild caught is it a better idea to quarantine with hyposalinity right from the introduction of the fish which you are putting in quarantine. Start with salintiy at 1.025, add the fish or fishes (after acclimation) and slowly lower the salinity to 1.009. Treat at 1.009 for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks begin to bring salinity up to the level of the main tank which they are to be finally placed? My question is, instead of waiting for ich to appear, why not treat it as if it was there from the beginning. Does this seem locical?

[Cearbhaill]

Many differing thoughts on this one, and yes- lots of folks do exactly what you describe.

I do not do hyposalinity unless I need to- lots of fish never get ich. If it is a tang- then I might, but generally I do not.

If I have a fish in quarantine that eats well and shows no problems I may decide to move him into the display after only four weeks.
Different people do it differently.

[Reefmedic79]

Some people do treat all thier fish and some don't, I agree with Cearbhaill.

Proper Hypo treatment is for a total of 6 weeks, the SG only needs to be at 1.009 for a maximum of 2 weeks. If you decide to do this which there is nothing wrong with doing. Raising SG slowly is more important than the dropping of the SG.
Fish are more senstive to the increase than they are the decrease of SG.