Did I overreact?

[hunterallen40]

Hyposalinity seems a bit scary to me as a novice.
Is there a chance I'll hurt the other fish more than it'll do good for the powerbrown?

There's definitely a chance, but it's not applicable anyway if you have any inverts in the system.

I would encourage you to pull the fish and do a copper treatment and fallow period. That seems like the best path to success here.

 

[ErikVR]

There's definitely a chance, but it's not applicable anyway if you have any inverts in the system.

I would encourage you to pull the fish and do a copper treatment and fallow period. That seems like the best path to success here.

I have fish only and like 3 free frags that I'll happily move to the QT.

The problem with copper is that those meds don't seem to exist over here.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have fish only and like 3 free frags that I'll happily move to the QT.

The problem with copper is that those meds don't seem to exist over here.

If you remove all of your invertebrates, hyposalinity is a good option. Here is a write-up on that:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[ErikVR]

If you remove all of your invertebrates, hyposalinity is a good option. Here is a write-up on that:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Thanks. Been reading up on it and I feel fairly comfortable doing it. I already had my rodi setup running and have enough to drop the salinity to 1.009. I'll be doing that in 6 steps over the next 48 hours.

I'm so grateful for all these awesome resources on here!

 

[Icryhard]

I'm still trying to find the meds you referred to but they don't seem to exist here. Maybe the substances are banned from entering the water supply... I don't know. Fish stores don't seem to know either.

If he doesn't make it I might go for a fallow period of 70+ days. I have the spare tanks and not many fish yet. So take everything I'm still learning and start fresh. It's funny, when I started I thought I was going to do everything right. Started slowly but when everyone was going fine I got too optimistic and added two fish that were prone to ich. In hindsight I should have waited a year or so... Because of this I am learning about the PROPER quarantine protocols. I guess some learn their lessons the hard way.

What I find difficult is finding the right medications. Reefing is very uncommon over here. Everything in stores is aimed towards fresh water and the stuff available in the US doesn't exist here.

You’re from the Netherlands. What are you looking for? Unless you have no shrimps etc and no corals you can always use Colombo cobrasal. They have a copper variant for itch management and you can buy this everywhere. You could even go to coralandfish in Breda or Frits Kuiper in Groningen and many other places. You can also order from coralandfish. If you do have corals and such I recommend polylab aquamedic. Avoid femsal. This one is honestly crap imo.

 

[ErikVR]

You’re from the Netherlands. What are you looking for? Unless you have no shrimps etc and no corals you can always use Colombo cobrasal. They have a copper variant for itch management and you can buy this everywhere. You could even go to coralandfish in Breda or Frits Kuiper in Groningen and many other places. You can also order from coralandfish. If you do have corals and such I recommend polylab aquamedic. Avoid femsal. This one is honestly crap imo.

Do you mean this one?

Colombo Marine Cobrasal 500ml | Coralandfishstore.nl

Colombo Marine Cobrasal 500ml kopen? ✔ Bestel eenvoudig online ✔ Snel in huis ✔ Laagste prijs ✔ Klanten geven ons een 9/10 ✔ Zeeaquarium specialist ✔ Grote klanttevredenheid

coralandfishstore.nl

 

[Icryhard]

Do you mean this one?

Colombo Marine Cobrasal 500ml | Coralandfishstore.nl

Colombo Marine Cobrasal 500ml kopen? ✔ Bestel eenvoudig online ✔ Snel in huis ✔ Laagste prijs ✔ Klanten geven ons een 9/10 ✔ Zeeaquarium specialist ✔ Grote klanttevredenheid

coralandfishstore.nl

Yes. It is based on copper. Do not use it if you have corals or stuff like shrimps etc. Again, if you do have any of those, do not buy colombo femsal. That one kind of sucks and still (imo) irritates corals pretty badly. Doesn't kill them, but you do see them react in a negative way. Polylab aquamedic would be your best bet then. You can buy it from https://zeeaquarium-winkel.nl/d-amp-d-polyplab-medic-30ml

But since you said you had QT'd it, go ahead and buy colombo cobrasal.

Veel succes met de behandeling en geef vooral niet op

 

[ErikVR]

Yes. It is based on copper. Do not use it if you have corals or stuff like shrimps etc. Again, if you do have any of those, do not buy colombo femsal. That one kind of sucks and still (imo) irritates corals pretty badly. Doesn't kill them, but you do see them react in a negative way. Polylab aquamedic would be your best bet then. You can buy it from https://zeeaquarium-winkel.nl/d-amp-d-polyplab-medic-30ml

But since you said you had QT'd it, go ahead and buy colombo cobrasal.

Veel succes met de behandeling en geef vooral niet op

Bedankt!

 

[ErikVR]

UV has been running for a while. The salinity is stable at 1.009 for 48 hours. The blue has been spot free for a week or so and now for the first time I don't see any dots on the powerbrown. Both still eating a lot.

The only issue I've been having since dropping the salinity is my Royal Gramma looking a bit rough. No white spots but just looking pretty rough and no longer holding his ground in the rocks. Instead he's hanging out in a weird way next to the overflow box. Could that be a bad reaction to the drop in salinity? He was one of the most healthy looking fish.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

UV has been running for a while. The salinity is stable at 1.009 for 48 hours. The blue has been spot free for a week or so and now for the first time I don't see any dots on the powerbrown. Both still eating a lot.

The only issue I've been having since dropping the salinity is my Royal Gramma looking a bit rough. No white spots but just looking pretty rough and no longer holding his ground in the rocks. Instead he's hanging out in a weird way next to the overflow box. Could that be a bad reaction to the drop in salinity? He was one of the most healthy looking fish.

I’ve run grammas through hypo with no obvious issues, but there is always some variability in fish.
Is it still eating?
Jay

 

[ErikVR]

I’ve run grammas through hypo with no obvious issues, but there is always some variability in fish.
Is it still eating?
Jay

Yes he's still eating just fine. Hard to get a decent picture because he's hiding in the back.

Guess I'll have to keep a close eye on him. There's no chance of taking him out to QT or anything. Not unless I take the rock work out and that's not happening

 

[ErikVR]

Just a quick question about hyposalinity that I can't seem to find the answer to.. Is it an alternative to a fallow period? Does it kill all the ich in the tank or do I still need to go fishless for 70+ days to completely get rid of it?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Just a quick question about hyposalinity that I can't seem to find the answer to.. Is it an alternative to a fallow period? Does it kill all the ich in the tank or do I still need to go fishless for 70+ days to completely get rid of it?

That’s a good question. Properly done, it will take the place of the fallow period. However, if you moved invertebrates out of the tank prior to the hypo, you should not move them back to the tank until they have been kept in a fishless tank for at least 60 days.
Jay

 

[ErikVR]

That’s a good question. Properly done, it will take the place of the fallow period. However, if you moved invertebrates out of the tank prior to the hypo, you should not move them back to the tank until they have been kept in a fishless tank for at least 60 days.
Jay

Understood. And by properly you mean keep everything steady? There's not more to it then never letting the salinity rise above 1.009 sg at 26c, right?

Got myself a hanna digital tester that reads exactly 1.009 throughout the day and and the red sea ato+ should keep the water level in the return chamber within a range of 1-3mm at all times. It springs into action every couple of hours.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Understood. And by properly you mean keep everything steady? There's not more to it then never letting the salinity rise above 1.009 sg at 26c, right?

Got myself a hanna digital tester that reads exactly 1.009 throughout the day and and the red sea ato+ should keep the water level in the return chamber within a range of 1-3mm at all times. It springs into action every couple of hours.

Correct - hold at 1.009 for a minimum of 30 days. I've just run into problems where people say they ran hypo for "30 days" but they started the 30 day count when the begin to drop the salinity, and then end the count once they get back up to full, and that often means only 20 to 25 days at full hypo, and that isn't long enough.

Jay

 

[ErikVR]

The Gramma now looks like he's in serious trouble while everyone else is looking great. He is eating but looks terrible. It almost looks like he's getting beaten up but there is no aggression in the tank whatsoever.

Video

 

[Icryhard]

The Gramma now looks like he's in serious trouble while everyone else is looking great. He is eating but looks terrible. It almost looks like he's getting beaten up but there is no aggression in the tank whatsoever.

Video

Kind of breathing heavy it seems. How much surface agitation do you have?

 

[ErikVR]

Kind of breathing heavy it seems. How much surface agitation do you have?

Lots. Return nozzles are slightly aimed at the surface. Two wave makers also cause plenty surface movement. And there's a skimmer running in the sump.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Lots. Return nozzles are slightly aimed at the surface. Two wave makers also cause plenty surface movement. And there's a skimmer running in the sump.

The gramma is breathing heavy, but it is missing scales and has some fin damage. The latter can be from tankmate aggression, but the heavy breathing is another issue.
Are ANY other fish breathing faster than normal? Are the other fish still eating well? One drawback to hypo is that it does not control Amyloodinium/velvet, and we need to try and rule that out.

Jay

 

[ErikVR]

The gramma is breathing heavy, but it is missing scales and has some fin damage. The latter can be from tankmate aggression, but the heavy breathing is another issue.
Are ANY other fish breathing faster than normal? Are the other fish still eating well? One drawback to hypo is that it does not control Amyloodinium/velvet, and we need to try and rule that out.

Jay

No abnormal breathing on any other fish. All fish are eating well, including the Gramma. He does look beaten up but I've never seen any aggression in the tank. I'm used to keeping Malawi cichlids so I've seen my share of aggression over the years