[reefnoob1991]

It actually helps them breathe easier because the water is more oxygen enriched, more salt = less oxygen.

[e_baer]

Right, But at their natural envoronment in the red sea with a SG of 1.035 they do fine right? Why would you change it so drastically just to fight ich when you can use another method?

[reefnoob1991]

Why risk organ damage and sterileness when you can do a simple method that has been proven to work time and time again, even used by myself with successful results

[e_baer]

I am not saying it doesnt work. But obviously the fish is weekend from something in the tank and now it has ich.

Hyposalinity will only stress and weeken the fish more, possibly to the point of death. I am not saying use copper, I am just saying use your best judgment and really think hard about what treatment plan you use.

It is also true, adding chemicals is not recomended and that may also cause some damage. I would research a few different options and set up your QT ASAP!

[reefnoob1991]

"Marine teleost fish (higher bony fishes) maintain their osmotic concentration at about one quarter to one third that of sea water. In normal sea water, these fish have a tendency to lose water from their gills due to osmosis and also in their urine. Fish have to drink a lot of water to make up for the loss, however, as the water contains a lot of salt (35‰) they must remove the excess salt from their system. The sodium and chloride ions are secreted by the gills and magnesium and sulphates are excreted in urine. This is an active process and requires energy much like the energy required to keep warm blooded animals warm.

When fish are under stress, one of the processes that is affected is ion regulation. This means they have difficulty adjusting the concentration of ions (sodium, chloride, etc.). Lowering the salinity of the tank water makes the concentration of ions closer to that of the fish"s internal fluids and reduces the fish"s efforts to maintain the correct concentrations."

[e_baer]

So then why would the fish live in the ocean of they could swim there way closer to a river where the SG is not as high?


They may be fine for a short period of time, but for a fish to be in that type of salinity until the parasites larvae is dead is another thing.

[Mr. Tang]

Dude

Do a small water change in your tank. Take that water and use it for the QT tank. You don't need any sand. Dose with copper and leave him in there for a couple of weeks. Increase your temp in your tank up to at least 82 and leave it there for a couple of days even up to a week. You need to kill any ich that hatches after you QT your tang. Trust me. Increase your temp. slowly and your corals will be fine. If you don't, you'll have ich again

[e_baer]

That is correct. I forgot to add that in the last post.

[reefcouple]

I would highly reccomend a freshwater dip as well. Prior to anything else, it seemed to literally catapult my hippo into health.. It's a very simple 30 second dip, you can do this prior to setting up your quarantine....

BTW, my hippo was on the brink of fertilizer, and is now very healthy..

Good luck with everything...

[crxman]

damn it so what should i do

[e_baer]

lol...we confused you.

I also would recomend a FW dip. It is for a very short time.

Look it up on google.


Then i would suggest something like kick ich (in your QT of course)

and Randy suggests hyposalinity.

[reefnoob1991]

Freshwater dips can be held successful with formalin for up to half an hour...sometimes 45 minutes. The hypo treatment only lasts 4-6 weeks and your tank has to remain fishless for that amount of time so when the new parasites hatch they won't have a host and will just die.

[reefcouple]

I'm tellin ya by experience, and a very reent one, wether documented or not, the 30 second freshwater dip worked for me and now my blue is as healthy as the day i got him.

Here's the formula that worked for me.

1 Bowl of FW (RO)

Directly next to it..

1 Bowl of RX P

I literally reached in my tank, grabbed blue with my hand lol

Put blue in the FW for 30 seconds on the nose...

Reached in grbbed blue by the hand again..

Into the RX P Treated saltwater for 45 minutes...

I did this about 5-6 times (1-2 days between each treatment....

So all together it took about 2 weeks...

And wala!!! Brand new BLUE

Funny now, when i reach in the tank now, blue doesnt even freak, comes up to me, and thats no bs lol

But ya gotta start with something.... If you chose some other method thats fine it may or may not work, but ya gotta give it a shot.. Unfortuantely dead fish is just apart of this crazy hoby....

Good luck

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by e_baer

The problem with hyposalinity is that even at a los SG of 1.009 many parasites can still survive that. Also, keeping a fish in low levels of salt like that really stresses them out.

Some fish cannot handle hyposalinity. Are we talking about ich or other parasites too?
I have put 10 fish thru 4-5 weeks of hypo down to 1.009...for over 4 weeks...It does not stress them out. Hypo only way to go IMO. Lot of work though. Good experience for the aquarist. Something everyone should do at least once to see how it works.

One other thing. It does no good to send your fish through hypo unless you are leaving your DT fallow as the parasite will live on another host.

Like Reefnoob said, read that link it is a link a mod here gave me almost a year ago now and it has worked for me flawlessly. Thanks B

[crxman]

ok could i do this, put copper in the qt tank and do a fresh water dip?

[reefcouple]

You can do a FW dip prior to any treatment, just dont let it go past 30 seconds... if he starts to list b4 that pull him out... he will get used to the FW dips.....

[e_baer]

Let us know how it goes and keep us updated on the tangs health!

[crxman]

ok 1 last question....what is better the kent marine RxP or the copper? also can i do a freshwater dip with anyone of these?

[reefcouple]

Yes, you can do a FW dip prior to any treatment...

Good luck with this...

The copper treatment is something foreign to me, but it is a proven method.. The RX P worked for me...

Good luck, and i'm sure blue will get healthier once you start.. It took about 6 treatments every other day for me..

[reefcouple]

oooooopps!!!

The RX P treated saltwater was for only 15 minutes per treatment, not 45 as i previously posted, sorry for any confusion.

[reefcouple]

You may also want to consider using some garlic gaurd if your not already... Its a preventitive thing. Just a couple drops to absorb into their food. It wont get rid of ick but its a great thing to help avoid parasites.. Ick doesnt like garlic. And the fish dont seem to mind it.

Kent Marine Garlic Gaurd, $10.00 for an 8 oz bottle that will last about 6 months...

[crxman]

what i was thinking about doing is putting the copper and the garlic guard in the qt and also doing a dip with the RXP, or is that to much on the fish

[reefcouple]

I would chose between 1 of the 2 ideas, copper or RX P.. The garlic gaurd should be used in most feedings in any tank... Thats just a preventitive, but helps alot.

Flip the coin and just go with 1

Good luck

[reefnoob1991]

Putting water from your own tank in a QT will only bring the ich into the QT tank and still have it in the main tank...ich is not just on one fish its in the whole tank, and needs atleast 4-6 weeks of no fish in it to be destroyed. Doing dips for the fish is great too but the tank will still have ich.

[Mr. Tang]

IT would be ok to use tank water to fill your qt tank. The fish is acustom to your tank water and making a new batch of SW just for the qt tank would only stress the fish out more. When treating the fish for ich, it doesn't matter either. The chemical will kill the ich on the fish and in the water. Also the ich needs a sandbed to lay eggs. So that's also why you wouldn't want a sandbed in your qt tank.