Hyposalinity or copper

[Saltwada]

Hi everyone!

Thanks to those of you who have been commenting on my threads andhelping me learn more about qt. I am just so lost. i have been hearing so many different opinions. i just want to do a qt tank that i can maintain and not have to stress to much about. i dont have enough money to keep doing all these constant water changes daily. Here is what i have for a qt tank and im just trying to figure out if i should keep the tank cycled. i read that matrix doesnt absorb copper per humblefish. the disease i can clearly see in my tank is ich and brook. i plan on fallowing my tank but i have a 6 line wrass im thinking about trading in if i pursue copper treatment. Here is what i currently have equipment wise:
Aquacler HOB, heater, ten gallon, power head, matrix, prazi, api copper test ki, copper safe. I just want to hear where you guys have been sucessful in losing fish because im tired of losing fish over the years.

 

[bluprntguy]

You can treat brook and ich simultaneously with hyposalinity. I assume you have a refractometer and calibration fluid. If so, that seems like your best bet since you have the wrasse. Given the medications you have, I’d start there. Depending on how they respond, you could add formalin baths to help with the brook.

 

[Saltwada]

You can treat brook and ich simultaneously with hyposalinity. I assume you have a refractometer and calibration fluid. If so, that seems like your best bet since you have the wrasse. Given the medications you have, I’d start there. Depending on how they respond, you could add formalin baths to help with the brook.

so people kep a cycled tank for hyposalinity then huh? Pretty good treatment wise for fish for 30 days? i guess i feel safer doing that over copper and constant water changes

 

[bluprntguy]

so people kep a cycled tank for hyposalinity then huh? Pretty good treatment wise for fish for 30 days? i guess i feel safer doing that over copper and constant water changes

I always do tank transfer for new arrivals and then treat with prazipro. The tank transfer eliminates chances of ich and allows a few weeks of monitoring for other diseases. I usually set up a new quarantine tank for each new fish. A few dollars in salt water is worth it to avoid introducing disease to a tank and all the resulting work to remove fish and treat them.

You could keep a QT tank set up, but you’d want to dose ammonia when it’s not in use. Seems like a pain.

 

[amir basis]

You could keep a QT tank set up, but you’d want to dose ammonia when it’s not in use. Seems like a pain.

[/QUOTE]
or adding a bit of urine (ml) once every few weeks

 

[High ICP]

or adding a bit of urine (ml) once every few weeks

Fresh?

Or do you age it?

 

[w2inc]

or adding a bit of urine (ml) once every few weeks[/QUOTE]
If you are not on any medication!

Hypo worked for me as quarantine. I kept Seahorses and they dont really show cryptocarian Irritants of any kind. Rapid breathing Is a backhanded clue. Hypo = back to normal. I think it is a good call. I had a refractometer and auto topoff so I was not worried about keeping them at .011 indefinitely. I hear you can screw it up really easily at that level, but I have not had trouble and my gauge was off by .ooo5 last time I checked it.

I was told and have dropped them from normal salinity into Hypo with no issues. I have been told and normally do acclimate them back upwards over two days.

Copper is not foolproof. DR. Fishman said that there is a strain of crypto irritants that has developed a resistance to copper due to overuse. Chloroquine phosphate is what he recommends. Hard to get hold of. If you have Brook, it will be too late by the time you get it.

 

[amir basis]

it always makes me laugh to see how people react to something that they deem strange or doesn't make any sense.

as odd as it may seem, urine that is mostly composed of urea, is our body's way to git rid of the Byproduct 'ammonia' without being have to use a lot of water molecules in the process (unlike fish for example how live in aquatic environment and have abundant of water at their disposal, thats why they do
secrete ammonia directly via their gills and kidneys).
most nitrifying bacteria do have the ability to utilise ammonia in the form of urea from their environment, as well as other bacteria and fungi(and yeast) that are naturally found the water.the reaction is as described below:

therefore, and from my experience as well, using urine to cycle a tank or for maintaining an existing empty one is very much plausible, as long as no urinary tract infection isn't involved. in my personal tank after adding urea i had for a day or two 0 reading at my ammonia test kit. after a few days ammonia was being detected by the test. in few additional days nitrite and nitrate started to be detected as well by my test kits.in other words-classic cycle.

a personal anecdote, my microbiology professor who's research focuses on cyanobacteria once told me that they use urine in part of their experiments , but since its an official and professional laboratory they have to buy a Pharmaceutical grade urine that costs hundreds of dollars a month.. instead of just peeing in jug and using that haha.

so, if you had a pic in your mind of you standing on a chair and peeing like a marble fountain into your tank, a very funny and ridiculous notion i agree,it is not what i meant at all.
no doubt, it's less risky and more comfortable to use standard methods for cycling a tank than using urine. my only point is that it is plausible even-though it may sound stupid.