Lowering salinity (ICK FIGHTING)

[new2dis]

I need to lower my salinity. How do I do that and how fast can it be done. 55g fish and coral. Running a UV sterilizer and ick is getting worse. I don't want to put any of that in my new tank.

[KING]

Not sure how it would b on ur corals..but in my breeder setups..i got it at. .20 to..18
Were u at now..

[new2dis]

I am sitting at 24. That is what i am worried about right now the other tank is cycling. Feel kind of stuck.

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[Scutterborn]

A hypo salinity system means that you would have to drop the salinity to 1.009 SG. Your coral will not make it at that salinity. Any higher and you're not gonna do any good with the the ich. If you have coral in the system, you need to remove all the fish and any piscine inhabitants. Shrimp, crabs, starfish and other invertebrates are okay.


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Will the coral make it in the cycling tank

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[Scutterborn]

That depends on what your parameters are. Run some tests and give us some numbers. What are your nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and phosphate levels?


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Havent tested it yet just cause I know it takes takes time will check when I get home.

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[profntbtr]

you can drop it, short term, without too much worry, just be sure to do it slowly. take it a gallon at a time and switch it for freshwater, wait 3-4 hours and repeat the process, but, like Ben said in order to have an effect you gotta get the salinity much lower than the coral will tolerate. what i'd suggest is setting up a tank with no life, like a salt bucket with some kind of air driven filtration or skimmer. no sand or rock to die off = no cycle to worry about. Use Seachem Prime and change the water every 3-4 days until the new tank is ready, if your fish are otherwise healthy, you should be able to do this without too much harm. also, saltwater fish can deal with very low salinity. people may crucify me for saying so, but i used to work in the industry, and they kept the fish only tanks at 1.012 with long term success i might add, and with no ich issues. there was a point at which my refractometer was broken, and the salinity in one tank was 1.006 for at least a week with no deleterious effect. acclimation from fish only salinity to reef salinity was stressful, but if you drip acclimate for a loooong time (at least 2-3 hours) you should be golden.

[Scutterborn]

I should also add that the fish need to be quarantined for no less than 4 weeks in a "tank" with no sand or rock. You can use PVC pipe and fitting to give them places to hide. The tank that has ich should go fallow for no less then 8 weeks.


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Plan on taking tank down just a home for the coral unless they need quartined as well

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[new2dis]

Can quartine 9 fish in a 20 gallon tank cause I have that

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[Scutterborn]

It depends on fish species and their size.


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Naso. 2 clowns 1 spotted hawk 3 b\g chromis 2 long fin cards all relatively small biggest is about 3in [naso]

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[Scutterborn]

Nope. I wouldn't. The naso would need this alone and the hawk can get twitchy when confined.


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Here is my plan let me know what you guys think. Going to set up 20gallon tank for corals no sand or rock. Leave 55g and drop salinity keep fish in there for quarantine. Move rock (about 50%) and sand that i want to keep into the cycling tank since it will be with no fish for about 4 weeks. How should I medicate the quarantine tank, no copper fish going back with coral eventually.

[Scutterborn]

If you keep the fish in the 55, you need to remove all the rock, sand, etc. put some PVC pipe fitting (enough for all the fish) into the tank. Start lowering the salinity by pulling SW and replacing with FW. Personally, I'd do this over the course of several days. It's less stressful on the fish. Once you get it to 1.009 kept it there. Start your clock so to speak. Maintain that SG exactly. If you hit 1.010, lower it and restart the countdown. An ATO helps considerably with this.


-Ben-

[hobogato]

replied to your pm, but i didnt know what fish you were dealing with. i agree with ben, putting all of those in the 20 would be a bad idea. i like your plan in the pm and what ben says above.

[new2dis]

How long should I keep them at .009

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[Scutterborn]

4 weeks.


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Also can I put all the rock and sand in the new tank

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[Scutterborn]

Also can I put all the rock and sand in the new tank

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As long as you don't put any fish in with it for 8 weeks.


-Ben-

[new2dis]

I hate time. Haha. You guys are amazing thanks so much for all of the advice

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[Scutterborn]

The best way to look at it is this way. Every thing in your tank could have ich. The rock, sand, coral plugs, etc. Ich feeds off of the fish. It needs the fish in order to survive. If you remove the fish from the equation the lifecycle of ich will be broken. They go through several phases of their life cycle. The cyst stage is what you see on the fish. That is the little white spots that you see. This is when they are feeding on the fish. They then drop off the fish into the sand and reproduce. They can stay in the sand for upwards of four weeks. There have been reports of even longer.


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Do I treat the fish in any other way.?

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[Scutterborn]

Here's a great link. I know he can be a little long-winded but, trust me it's worth full read.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/


-Ben-

[Scutterborn]

Do I treat the fish in any other way.?

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What do you mean?


-Ben-

[new2dis]

Medication or is the hypo enough. I would rather not give meds if it is not needed

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[Scutterborn]

I'd avoid using meds. Copper or hypo are the treatments for ich. If you have other problems, I'd attack them one at a time. Your going to be doing a lot of water changes.


-Ben-

[i3oosted]

Lowering the salinity fast is not a problem(for fish), raising it is. With hypo treatment, you have to be ON THE DOT at all times. It can't waiver, there is minimal room for error.

Those fish in a 20g? hell no

I can't keep exact salinity without a little bit of a swing due to evaporation, so I use Chloroquin Phosphate. It has worked every time, has a wide therapeutic range but is untestable. It's a one and done treatment and takes 2 weeks but I go 3 weeks... just cause.

[EpicWin]

I'm not going to go into detail in this post but metronitozole+focus+garlic in food+uv sterilizer will solve the ich problem far more effectively than hypo. I have lots of experience with this. Pm if u are interested in details