Hyposalinity specification

[Dirk Diggler]

I read from one of the articles on this forum that if you use the hyposalinity method to cure ich, then you should have your salinity dropped to 1.009 for about 4-6 weeks. This is what im doing as of right now but in another article it said to drop it down to 1.013. Which is correct. Can someone please clarify this for me. Thanks. By the way, I gradually reduced my salinity to 1.009 in a matter of 4 days.

[leebca]

Welcome to RC Dirk.

1.009 is the sp. gr. you seek. More accurate is measuring salinity.

Marine aquariums (and I) use 1.007 to 1.008 sp gr. I like at least 8 weeks when I know the fish are infected, and use 6 weeks when it is unknown.

Slowly reducing the sp. gr. isn't as important as slowly increasing it. Fish are more tolerant of a lowering. When you go to raise it, then you want to do that very slowly for sure.

Good luck! :rollface:

[Dirk Diggler]

thanks leebca! just wanted to make sure with everything. wish me luck!

[foob]

When lowering, I've tried like a drop from 1.020 to 1.009 in an hour, and haven't seen any ill effects.

[SAT]

Since the save & effective range is fairly narrow and hydrometers are very difficult to interpret accurately, I believe it's better to use a refractometer and salinity measurements (e.g., 13ppt) rather than specific gravity. Here are some references that may be helpful:

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/specificgravity.html
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2004/short.htm