UV Sterlizers?

[tuwhada]

I have a tang that seems to have reoccuring parasite problem. I started thinking about getting a uv sterlizer and then one of my coworks convinced me to buy the last one the store add (I can always return it if it is no good). But I was wondering what peoples opinions were on this one.
Do you guys recommend it, not recommend it experience with it, suggestion anything. I am mostly doing for hte parasite problem, and yes I have dipped him and done some various other things I do not have a qt tank setup (yes I know I am bad) but noone else in the tank seems to be having probs I think it is just him.
I got the corallife turbo twist 9 watt (I got for $80) which from what it looks like is pretty good. I got a 350 gph mag drive pump that I am going to attach a control valve on to keep the flow lower.

Any thoughts would be great.
Thanks
Christina

PS I am still searching for a protien skimmer too, any more opinions would be great!

 

[reefrunner69]

It will probably be fine, just remember the slower the flow, the higher the kill rate.

 

[Guest]

On a 9 watt, if you can keep the flow around 100gph, depending on the size of the tank, you will get a pretty good kill rate... Keep in mind that it will only kill what passes through the UV. A UV will not affect the parasites already attached to the fish. If you can get a handle on the ICH attached to the fish, then the UV will "help" combat free floating parasites.

 

[Atari]

When you dipped him did you try hyposalinity aswell as freshwater or just freshwater? I've been told that the most effective dip is a sg. somewhere around 1.010 or just under.. apparently the freshwater doesn't do such a great job of penetrating the slime layer to catch the deeper parasites.

 

[tuwhada]

Last time I dipped this guy he did fine for a while and they just seem to have come back recently. SO I am hoping that if I dip him that will eliminate the ones on him and then the uv strelizer will prevent them from coming back. Does that make sense?

Also about the flow rate I have a 90 gallon tank, so If I have the 350 gph pump with a valve on it that should be good or should I try to get the smaller pump?

Thanks
Christina

 

[Atari]

Sorry, I don't think I made my point very clearly.. What I was trying to say is that if you used a freshwater dip then that could be the reason the ich came back because only the surface parasites were removed. The deeper ones probably remained, invisibly ofcourse, and once they multiplied it looked like another infection.

As already mentioned the UV will hopefully keep your water clean but if all the parasites aren't removed from the fish itself then this may be a recurring problem. I'm not sure if it really is more effective to use a little salt rather than freshwater, but it's probably worth a try.

Ofcourse if you're using a net to move him around then there probably won't be much of a slime layer to speak of

 

[tuwhada]

I am sorry I guess that I did not understand what you had a said. I actually dipped him today with freshwater. I will now run the uv sterlizer so that hopefully it will get rid of them from the water column. I have been using garlic aswell so I am really hoping that this will help.

Thanks, so basically the uv sterilzer is a good idea I read that I should only run it a couple of hours a day or should I run it 24/7 for a while and then cut it back and increase again if I see a problem. Would that be a good method.

Thanks
Christina

 

[kwan]

I normally leave my UV running 24/7. The problem with this is if the flow rate is too low, you water will heat up and if it is too fast, the UV will not be effective enough. I believe what Tim said on 100gph is about right.

UV is sometime not effective against ich. I recently had ich whilst my 8W UV ran 24/7. I gave my fish a fresh water dip but that would only remove the parasite on its body. The parasite is still in the tank and going through its life cycle. The parasite can only be killed if it is carried off with the water into the UV, but if the parasite encyst on the substrate or LR, then the UV will not be able to kill it.

I had to eventually move all fish into QT and apply hyposalinity. The main tank must also leave to fallow for more than 5 weeks. I have recently upgraded my UV to 16W. This should improve its effectiveness, but is still no guarantee IMO.