Thinking about Hyposalinity in my new 400 Gallon display

[Ashish Patel]

Achilles has alot of spots, Hippo has few. No other fish I can see any spots. I think having the achilles will help me confirm without any doubt that hypo is working or not.

 

[Ashish Patel]

If you look at my latest video it's difficult to see spots on achilles since he is so active. don't think he would make it with ich and ive decided its not worth adding anymore fish ever.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I had my UV flow very low this past week and today seeing how achilles look decided to increase flow. I was surprised with how many bubbles where coming out the UV. UV being higher than water line is definitely a bad thing or it could have happened when i turned of the pump and left

I have done hypo twice in my current display tank. I removed inverts, macroalgae and corals. I scrubbed my rocks to minimize die off of algae and sponges and I siphoned my shallow sand bed well. Both times I dropped the salinity over 4 days and dosed Microbacter 7 (not sure if it made much difference but I never had any detectable ammonia. I did hypo for 4 weeks each time. The first time I did hypo I don't think I held the tank steady enough at 1.009 because ich came back a month after salinity was back at 1.025. So I started over and was much more careful about salinity. Again, no ammonia. It's been a year since I did hypo and no signs of ich at all.

The only annoying part was keeping my corals and inverts in a QT tank for 3 months but it was worth it.

Thanks for chiming in. Curious as I was planning on just running hypo for 30 days then bringing it back up. However after reading more it seems 30 day clock starts after spots are not seen on fish. I am currently on day 3 and have fish with spots so thinking I have to start the clock after parasites go to there next phase (which I don't have memorized but the fall of and reproduce phase)

 

[Ashish Patel]

Day 4

Added filter socks, what a difference

 

[Ashish Patel]

So there is a big elephant in the sump room. A second system only few feet away. I think this system is ich free but chances are it has a large gem tang that is harboring ich, or maybe not!

Anyways, the chances of droplet contamination is very high. Especially since there are 2 skimmers very close, i want to get rid of this system anyways but not until I QT every coral and get it back to health and make a transfer of somekind to bank the corals.

I am pretty careful about not working on both system together and using different tools and cleaning supplies but jeez, what are the odds of me doing all this work and it coming back in from the system next door via droplets! It very possible the MP40 kicks on high gear and some splashs happen and then i get some parasites. I dont like the fishless method for 76 days bc I think its like a death sentence for SPS corals that are used to 24-7 supply of fish waste to feed on. LPS and softies will live in toilet water, acros are a different story!

 

[Ashish Patel]

Everything going smoothly

Only see 1 or 2 spots on hippo and maybe 5 on achilles

 

[Ashish Patel]

No more spots. 30 day starts today

 

[Ashish Patel]

Achilles was scratching today. I have to make plans to remove one yellow tang and maybe even 1 purple. Aggression is Neverending.

This yellow tang is looking to fight all day. Got a good cutt on him today and with that one ich spot showed up again in the same spot as last week

 

[Ashish Patel]

- I still got a few new spots on my Achilles and hippo. Maybe they where already at the Trophont phase since its technically 9 days in. All other fish are spot free. yesterday did see achilles, and orange shoulder scratching but not constantly.

-Ich is still active in the water but I can tell its losing its strength.

- Fish are very healthy and active. Aggression between tangs is there but its more so with the yellow tangs and purple tangs. Occasional jawing between achilles/hippo and Orange shoulder and the other tank mates.

- Salinity has been stable at 1.008.

- 2 days ago turned of UV. I want to see if the Hypo is working and not just giving false hope.

- From my experience thus far the Hypo is only working on killing the Tomont phase.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

- I still got a few new spots on my Achilles and hippo. Maybe they where already at the Trophont phase since its technically 9 days in. All other fish are spot free. yesterday did see achilles, and orange shoulder scratching but not constantly.

-Ich is still active in the water but I can tell its losing its strength.

- Fish are very healthy and active. Aggression between tangs is there but its more so with the yellow tangs and purple tangs. Occasional jawing between achilles/hippo and Orange shoulder and the other tank mates.

- Salinity has been stable at 1.008.

- 2 days ago turned of UV. I want to see if the Hypo is working and not just giving false hope.

- From my experience thus far the Hypo is only working on killing the Tomont phase.

Be very careful - 1.008 is very low. I see some side effects even at 1.009 in some species like Anthias. be sure your measuring device is spot on....you don't want to be testing 1.008 only to have it be at 1.007

Hypo only kills the tomite/theront stage. The trophonts on the fish and the tomonts in the gravel are pretty much unscathed by it.

Jay

 

[SaltyPotato]

Following along as I’m also hypo sitting at 1.009 after 48 hours with 2 clowns a white tail tang. I’m only two days at 1.009 but no trophonts visible. I expect I’ll see them again in a few days but hopefully nothing after.

 

[DaddyFish]

@Ashish Patel Sorry to be so late chiming in. I certainly don't have the expertise of Jay and I too rely on his expert advice. I do have experience going Hypo in a big (215-gal) tank loaded with Tangs (and Ich).

Not wishing any gloom and doom on you, but IMO you must be prepared for possibly dealing with residual Ich well into the 30+ day mark and having to reset the counter. In my case it seemed as though the Tangs were passing parasites to each other during feeding. Because one fish would show spots, then a few days later another, etc. It kept repeating. I finally had to resort to Formalin to eradicate the Ich from the system, but Hypo conditions vastly improved their chances of survival. I did a final run of 35-days Hypo (1.009) before raising it over a 7-day period to 1.025. Only lost 1 of 16 fish in the process.

Can't say whether or not I'd do it over again or buy a bunch of 20s at Petco and do Tank Transfer while rebooting the main display. Either method is a lot of work.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Be very careful - 1.008 is very low. I see some side effects even at 1.009 in some species like Anthias. be sure your measuring device is spot on....you don't want to be testing 1.008 only to have it be at 1.007

Hypo only kills the tomite/theront stage. The trophonts on the fish and the tomonts in the gravel are pretty much unscathed by it.

Thanks, I am 100% sure I am under 1.009 and maybe slightly over 1.008. It is difficult for me to be 100% sure on 1.009 since the blue line covers this section so my reference point is seeing the blue line under the 1.009. I dont see any issues with the tangs health but maybe my 2 clownfish are less active and could be as you mentioned that smaller fish are effected more than larger.

Good information on the Tomite/ theront stage. This explains alot!

 

[Ashish Patel]

@Ashish Patel Sorry to be so late chiming in. I certainly don't have the expertise of Jay and I too rely on his expert advice. I do have experience going Hypo in a big (215-gal) tank loaded with Tangs (and Ich).

Not wishing any gloom and doom on you, but IMO you must be prepared for possibly dealing with residual Ich well into the 30+ day mark and having to reset the counter. In my case it seemed as though the Tangs were passing parasites to each other during feeding. Because one fish would show spots, then a few days later another, etc. It kept repeating. I finally had to resort to Formalin to eradicate the Ich from the system, but Hypo conditions vastly improved their chances of survival. I did a final run of 35-days Hypo (1.009) before raising it over a 7-day period to 1.025. Only lost 1 of 16 fish in the process.

Can't say whether or not I'd do it over again or buy a bunch of 20s at Petco and do Tank Transfer while rebooting the main display. Either method is a lot of work.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think its very easy to read a procedure but actually executing has so many variable that differ from tank to tank and fish to fish. Initially i thought 30 days and that is it and now I am 10 days in and realize my outbreak was worst then I thought and still have new spots. I will for sure have to go 6 weeks minimum. know its not a 100% guaranteed but if it works out I probably wont be adding any more fish to this display tank, even if i wanted to i cant since my tangs are large and aggressive, they will destroy anything new. All corals will get a 45 day QT in a fishless QT. Something I am working on setting up now.

Anyways I bought formalin after watching video on tidal garden with the lady in the video saying its a very gentle medicine but then later finding out our dangerous it is to use without proper care. Did you use the formalin on the display tank or outside the tank?

 

[Ashish Patel]

Since I cant register the different phases, I refer to this chart.

According to Jay, Hypo only kills the Tomite/Theront stage. The other phases are going about their business as usual and not effected by Hypo.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I am starting to doubt hypo is working. It's like if I didn't have the achilles I would be fooled into thinking it's gone. Keep in mind I turned of my UV 4 days ago too make sure hypo was working. Anyway don't want to take any chances. Achilles could be healthy one day and gone the next so will continue on and report. Maybe it's a hard strain but incase it doesnt work 'm going to start supplement so achilles can better resist the ich and just be more immune to it.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Day 14 of hypo

Achilles has about 5 spots. I think there was well over 100 at its peak.

Observations
I am pretty sure using filter socks helped catch free floaters.

 

[Suneru]

Why stop the UV? Shouldn’t you kick the ich while it’s down.
I just started hypo on my 300gal DT today. I’m gonna follow this thread closely!

 

[Suneru]

@Ashish Patel … I finally had to resort to Formalin to eradicate the Ich from the system, but Hypo conditions vastly improved their chances of survival. I did a final run of 35-days Hypo (1.009) before raising it over a 7-day period to 1.025. Only lost 1 of 16 fish in the process.

did you dose the formalin directly to the tank? What was you method? Did you think about H2O2 dosing?

what is everyone doing to keep PH up?

 

[Ashish Patel]

Why stop the UV? Shouldn’t you kick the ich while it’s down.
I just started hypo on my 300gal DT today. I’m gonna follow this thread closely!

Because UV just gives us the false sense of accomplishment and I want to be sure Hypo is actually working. I just have to be patient and let it run its course. day 17 i think