fish have ich and hyposalinity is not working

[orioncivic]

Hi, I need help! Ok so the main issues are I have a red stripe angel fish and a arc eyed hawkfih that are not doing so well with ick and hyposalinity. I lowered the sg to 1.010 over a week and everyone seemed fine. After hitting 1.010 mark a few hours later i noticed the angel was swimming oddly. Then this morn. she was at the bottom trying to just stay up. I mixed up water at sg of 1.020 from a combination of display and quarintine. I went to get her and she was on her side, I put her in the mix and now she is upright on the bottom but not swimming. breathing is fast but stable, as of a week ago when i started this the parameters were sg 1.025, temp 79, amon.0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, ph 8.2, phosphate 5, calcium 500. Im gonna test again later. Im assuming i need to raise the salinity for awhile. oh the hawkfish is swimming fine but not eating today but i notice the scales look swollen or raised along his dorsal fins on either side. thinking he doesnt like the sg, but he is a lot harder to catch even in a fairly bare tank. anyone have this problem before or any sugestions would be great. I know my qt is not ideal but i was in a pinch when the angel got sick. also i have 2 adult engineer gobies 2 zebra dartfish 1 adult 1 spot dasel 1 sm green chromis and the angel and hawk. I know im forgeting something

 

[orioncivic]

update

Ok so I guess I misunderstood my fish guy. I needed to bring the tank to 1.015 not to 1.010. So that is why the hawk and angel were so upset, tank is on the way up to the right sg lvl. Bad news is the angel didnt make it.

 

[Hondatek]

Hyposalinity will not work at 1.010. It's needs to stay at 1.008 to 1.009. 1.010 and higher the ich can survive. It also takes about 6 weeks in hypo to cure the fish .it doesn't happen overnight.

 

[orioncivic]

well either way im gonna have to find another solution, my engineer gobies are hating life as well as the hawkfish. Hawk is getting better, gobies appear to have patches of slime caot sloughing off. sg is at 1.016 ill see how everyone is over a few days at that lvl. Ive read that the fish dont mind going from 1.025 to 1.010 but going back up they dont like. Is this true? I slowly lowered my tank and was planing to raise it slowly just in case..... was kinda wondering if that maybe why the bad reaction.

 

[Hondatek]

Fish will tolerate going from normal salinity to full hypo 1.008 in an hour or even faster . Going up it is .001 .002 per day. Going up too fast will dehydrate your fish and is very dangerous. Remember the fish will appear to get worse the first week or so in hypo but it actualy is working making all the parasites rise to the surface and explode. What are you using to test salinity ? A refractometer is needed it cannot be done correctly with a hydrometer.

 

[orioncivic]

Yeah I have a refract, ok i didnt know that it need to increase that slowly. My arc eyed hawkfish was looking swollen along his dorsal fins and scales were sticking out like if you where to drag a edge backwards against them hes also not eating anymore and sits at a perch not moving.My engineer gobies are looking very hagard and not eating..... is this normal for hyposalinity? I've never done this before, always have treated fowlr tanks with medicine for ick. Thought id try doing things more natural and use qt tank like everyone recommends.

 

[Hondatek]

They might not eat for a few days in hypo. Hypo lowers the pressure on the outside of the fish allowing them to breathe easier. This mellows the fish out and they do not use as much energy which slows down their feeding. Usually by day 3 or 4 they will start eating again .

 

[orioncivic]

I'm going to leave it at 1.016 for a few days see what happens. I'm also going to take a few pics so you all can see what i'm talking about with the gobies and hawk.

 

[SWAddict]

Going through (sort of) the same thing

I am also going through my first hypo treatment process. I have a firefish, royal gramma, coral beauty, and neon goby. It's been about 24 hours at 1.009. My pH and alkalinity are at 8.6 & 3.6. (normal readings for me are pH 8.1 & alk 2.0)
The RG's skin seems "wrinkly", like his mucous coating has been sloughed off. He's breathing fine, but he is less active, and hanging in his sleeping area. He's eating, but minimally. He's still doing some scraping.
The firefish is acting perfectly normal, w/minimal scraping & normal appetite.
The CB looks good, eating fine, minimal scraping, and still a frequent visitor of the neon goby, who throughout the whole infestation seems to be the only one completely unaffected.
I guess even after all the research, I was under the impression that hypo would immediately kill off any ich on the exterior of the fish and in their gills and that the rest of the treatment period was for the tomites, etc. to get killed off. That is, until I read the post above. I also didn't know that fish might not eat for a couple of days, & could be less active.
Is there anything else that is "common knowledge" that happens throughout this process that would be helpful for us? Most reading material is on "how" to do it, but not really the "experience" that the fish go through.
Anyway, thoughts on the royal gramma? If I add some vinegar to stabilize the ph, (I read that 1 ml/gal = 0.3 Reduction of pH), how fast can/should I add it

 

[SWAddict]

Ty. Good to know.