Experiance with hyposalinity at 11ppt

[guyguerra]

I have just completed my first week of hyposalinity at 11ppt. I am trying to completely remove Ich from my system and avoid it in my tanks from now on. My plan is to complete 6 weeks of this treatment. The types of fish are Buitterfly's, Rabbitfish, Tangs, Clowns, Hawkfish and Royal Gramma's. Every fish is acting and eating normally. My bio has been perfect and alkalinity and ph are stable. I do not see a difference in their activity with the reduced salinity. I would like to hear from others that have done this. I'd like to know how long they did it, how effective it was at eradicating Cryptocaryon, how the fish recovered during the process of increasing salinity to normal levels and any other experiences. Also, is it possible that four weeks will do the job?

[anthworks]

4 weeks is good. In the case of my "Newly purchased" Tang the lower Salinity brought on some stress and I believe a case of HLLE. Ich was eradicated from the fish.

[guyguerra]

anthworks, Thanks. To be clear for this thread I can go 6 weeks with no problem, so if the results are more conclusive with the longer duration I'll do it. On the other hand, if it's tough on the fish and 4 weeks does just as good a job, I'd do that. Any one experienced with the 4 and 6 week process and the success rate differences?

[anthworks]

I think lower salinity in general the fish act normal (eating, swimming Etc.) I noticed colors fade and the fish is more nervous? If that makes sense. I think that PH is tough to keep up and that in turn stresses the fish more. I have always had a good experience with HS.

[SteveN]

I do 4 weeks with all my fish. I have never had a fish show ich symptoms since i started this practice.

[guyguerra]

I'm just finishing week two and no signs of Ich. I believe I wont see any more of it, but I worry that if I stop at four weeks, there might be some parasites still around in the tank somewhere. On the other hand, I'd love to get the tank back to normal, it's not a very pretty site in my living room right now. I'm trying to understand if I would still have a risk of reoccurrence if I stop at four. Hummm......

[Fredfish]

jhardman, who breeds a lot of clowns, does hyposalinity treatments on all his new arrivals. You might try posting in the breeding forum or sending him a pm.

Fred

[john f]

4 weeks is plenty of time at normal reef temps (80+).

If you keep your tank abnormally cool you might want to go 6 weeks IMO.

Watch the ALK and pH every day........it can drop really fast IME.


John