hyposalinity...when should the ich spots go away?

[srgetz]

Help! I have a new fish in qt with the salinity at 13ppt for about 4 days now. This is measured with a calibrated refractometer. He had 3-4 white spots when I started lowering the salinity, now he has many more. Also the itching is worse. When should I expect his symptoms to go away and is there anything I can do to relieve him? I rather not use copper, and I'm afraid fw dips would be too stressful or ineffective. Any suggestions?

 

[Terry B]

Hypo does not kill the parasite while it is on the fish. The parasites have to mature and fall off first. It usually takes a week or so for the spots to leave. Check your pH daily.

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[luntiz]

He states that his fish got reinfected...my fish are showing the exact same thing, after salinity was dropped to 1.009, they eventually got more spots, except a lot smaller.

 

[srgetz]

, after salinity was dropped to 1.009, they eventually got more spots

Are you using a refractometer? My hydrometer reads .005 low, so it read 1.009 but it was really 1.014! Anyway I guess we have to wait for them to detach from the fish to be killed.

 

[luntiz]

Yep, using a refractometer, wouldn't do hypo w/o one.

 

[SquishyFish]

I would highly suggest that anyone that is keeping a reef tank read the article on Ich by Steven Pro. Its on our site, but I will post the link in a moment. The ph has no more to do with the infestation than it would with a clean healthy tank. The key factor in fighting ich is the life cycle. It will go through several phases..one of which is resistant to medication.

http://www.reef-aquarium.net/resources/disease/ich.html

This is one of the most informative, easy to read, comprehensive article on the subject that you will find. It deals with everything from the life cycle to effective and ineffective treatments.

 

[steve-s]

The ph has no more to do with the infestation than it would with a clean healthy tank.

No one implied that it did. When performing hyposalinity, the pH and alkalinity of the water both have a tendancey to fall off and must be buffered to correct the issue less it causes hemoraging.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Terry B]

luntiz

I don't see that he stated that the fish go reinfected at all. It takes a few days after the parasites attach to the fish before you can see the spots. The parasites were probably already on the fish but hadn't yet grown large enough to see. Hypo usually takes more than three or four days to start working. It usually takes a week or so.

If you have spots that came back after a couple of weeks then there are several possible reasons. You may not have correctly diagnosed the infection. Ich is not the only thing that can cause white spots. If you did not use a highly accurate hydrometer or refractometer then the salinity may not have been low enough. If the salinity was allowed to rise for one day during treatment then its probably not going to work. It is not common, but thier is a low salinity variant of ich. If your fish got this unusual strain then you are going to have to treat another way. I would post a link to a series of articles that would help you but it seems that most of the time when I post a link it gets deleted.

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[steve-s]

I would post a link to a series of articles that would help you but it seems that most of the time when I post a link it gets deleted.

Posting links to other sites for the purpose of helping members will always be permitted, only posts of a commercial nature are deleted/moved. If anything in past has been removed I would hope it was by mistake.

If these are not the articles you meant to link to, please feel free post them:

News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans Part One of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans Part Two of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans Part Three of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans Part Four of Five
News from the Warfront with Cryptocaryon irritans Part Five of Five

Cheers
Steve

 

[srgetz]

Thanks all, he is doing well and the spots appear to be clearing up now...

 

[Terry B]

Thanks Steve,

Actually, I was going to suggest that they go to http://www.MarineAquariumAdvice.com to find the articles in the library there. There are several other helpful articles on fish diseases and other subjects there including a series of articles on HLLE and one on how to use formalin dips.

Cheers,
Terry B

 

[saberry]

oops, wrong thread.