Hyposalinity question.
- Thread starter LD50
- Start date
Kevin8888;4458421; said:
Despite several weeks of waiting in treatment my porcupine puffer has once again contracted ich. This time 10x as bad....I feel bad for the little bugger but the fact is the ich is in the main taink and I cant really afford to do massive water changes on my 50g QT to keep NH3/4 at bay. My clown and trigger show no evidence of infection. I have an AC110 on my main tank, if I were to put that filter on my 50gqt and move the fish in would it be redundant or would the BB surviave hyposalinity?
Also if I were to isolate just the puffer, and the other two fish never develop or exibit symptoms would the ich still be present? or woud it die off as it would be unable to infect a new host and complete its life cycle?
The ich was and always will be in your tank (it is in everyones tank), the problem is your puffer is stressed or has some other weakness which makes him more suseptible to the infection. So the fact that the other fish show no signs just means that they are healthier.
As for BB, surviving I'm not 100% sure on that subject, as I haven't read much in the direction of hypo an entire tank. That said, it will kill everything in the system that isnt a fish, inother words snails, crabs, corals, shrimp etc (but from your stock list that shouldn't be an issue). I feel like if BB dies it wont be in large amounts or die long enough to be detremental (in other words replaced quickly), but again not 100% on that.
As for BB, surviving I'm not 100% sure on that subject, as I haven't read much in the direction of hypo an entire tank. That said, it will kill everything in the system that isnt a fish, inother words snails, crabs, corals, shrimp etc (but from your stock list that shouldn't be an issue). I feel like if BB dies it wont be in large amounts or die long enough to be detremental (in other words replaced quickly), but again not 100% on that.
Never hypo your main tank, it will kill the existing bacteria, crashing the system & killing everything. The tank must remain completely fallow of all creatures for 8 weeks.
http://www.**************.com/forum/library/hospital/swich/
http://www.**************.com/forum/library/hospital/swich/
Thanks for the tips guys. My puffer is not looking so hot, he is covered with the pest but he still eats vitamin soaked squid/shrimp/scalops like a champ so I have hope.
I'm setting up my 50g QT right now with plastic pots an AC110 that has been on the back of the main tank for several weeks, and a HOB skimmer. Hopefully between the two water quality will not decline too rapidly despite having not LR in QT. IDK what to do as far as treatment goes, the poor guy is covered in cyst 2x as bad as he was before. Despite puffer sensativity to Cu treatment I'm considering a low dose yet still theraputic short term cupramine treatment (0.2-.03mg/L) to actually kill off the disease.
I'm setting up my 50g QT right now with plastic pots an AC110 that has been on the back of the main tank for several weeks, and a HOB skimmer. Hopefully between the two water quality will not decline too rapidly despite having not LR in QT. IDK what to do as far as treatment goes, the poor guy is covered in cyst 2x as bad as he was before. Despite puffer sensativity to Cu treatment I'm considering a low dose yet still theraputic short term cupramine treatment (0.2-.03mg/L) to actually kill off the disease.
Well, if you can keep him in a QT untill he recovers, then that would be perfect, I would recomend droping the salinity in the QT, and leaving it low for a wile, then raising it again, BUT leaving him in the QT for quite a wile after he recovers, so when you put him back in the display he wont be reinfected (since treatment is stressful). Also since you are worried about Cu, I would recomend using a non-Cu treatment, I'm not sure which ones are Cu free, but it would be your safest option... possibly also use a methiline blue dip? (not sure on that one, have heard good and bad things about it).
I gave you a link with step by step instructions. Copper can easily kill a puffer. ALL your fish must be in hypo.
Pufferpunk;4460909; said:
Thanks PP I read it, and I know puffers are super sensative to Cu. Im just at a crossroads of do I try and kill the ich with a well monitored low dose Cu? or use hypo and wait it out? I'm going to attempt the latter option first, and reserve the Cu only as a last ditch effort.
Kevin8888;4460696; said:
Yah all 3 fish are going into QT tonight for a full 8 weeks of hypo.
I would do the hypo. Whenever dealing with parasites, using a low dose of anything will only make the parasite immune to the med. Normal dose might kill the parasite but also the puffer. I'd do a FW dip for a min of 30 minutes (unless the puffer looks stressed), before putting it into QT.