Hypo treatment?

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sango

Aquarium Advice Freak
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Jan 18, 2005
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Will hypo kill the ich or not? I have heard that it will not. If it wont what is the point on using this method of treatment?
 
It will if it's done for a long enough time. I am currently doing this now, too, along with raising my temp to 86 or 87 degrees. The ich cannot live under these conditoins....only problem is that you have to do that for decent amount of time and inverts cannot take it, so it only works with FOWLR. I'm sure I'll get bashed for these comments, but it's worked for me.
 
The best way to perform hypo is to quarantine the effected fish. A refractometer will also be necessary (hydrometers are not nearly accurate enough). Use the water from the main tank. Every 12 hours, do a 20% water change and replace with freshwater until the specific gravity is at 1.009. Maintain this specific gravity for 4-6 weeks. Keep an eye on your water quality (water changes will probably have to be performed daily). After the 4-6 weeks, raise the specific gravity slowly (.001-.002 per day) until it matches that of the display. HTH
 
C. irritans actually does best at temps around 86 degrees F.

Their lifecycle is sped up. Since they are being eradicated by the hypo they would... in theory... be eradicated faster by the increased temperature. Not sure that's the best course of action for the fish though. I'm doing hypo. My fish is responding well to it, but I've kept the temp at 80, which is where I keep my main. I anxiously await the day that I can begin returning him to a normal salinity.
 
Phyl said:
Not sure that's the best course of action for the fish though.
It's not. While it may speed up the life cycle of the parasite it does nothing to kill it. Increased temps adversely affect the fish reducing it's immune response. It can leave an otherwise already unhealthy fish defenseless against a miriad of baterial and secondary infections.

Cheers
Steve
 
Yes, but do the full six weeks. There's a LOT of different opinion out there, but 6 weeks or two weeks after the spots fall off, whichever is longer, is what I've been reading from a multitude of sources.
 
Hmmm... I'm doing 4w from last spot and THEN I'll start raising the salinity back up slowly (3-7d). Sunday actually marks 4 weeks. I'm almost afraid to start the shift upwards (and even more afraid to dump him into my main, lol)! He looks so good now!

My information stems from PetForum's advice on how to run Hypo.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/hyposalinity.html
 
SOme of the info I've been reading lately recommends using the water from your display tank to slowly raise the SG. This way, the fish will also be exposed to the chemical and planktonic elements of your tank, including the bacteria, in a slow, gradual way.
 
Thats a good idea. This may be a stupid question, but does the parasite live on snails and cleaner shrimp?
 
It doesn't "live" on them as a parasite, but it is theoretically possible that inverts can carry the cysts, which will then hatch into your tank. If possible, buy inverts from tanks without fish.

No guarantee, but hey, what is?
 
hmmm, i just put my angel in the qt to treat for ich, but i do have cleaner shrimp and snails in the main system. So if they do then i would have to remove them and do the hypo on them also
 
Invertebrates will not survive hyposalinity treatments.

Cheers
Steve
 
It's not necessary to hypo inverts. And like Steve said, they wouldn't survive. You will be leaving your tank fallow for 4-6 weeks while your fish is in QT hypo treatment, in that time, since the parasite can't feed off the inverts, they should die out.
 
I knew the inverts would die, I just hope this damn parasite will die in this time. Im sooooo sick of this thing..LOL
 
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