-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Freshwater Dip Process?
- Thread starter SteveReef
- Start date
Not sure cause I've never done it but if they come in with fluke then you need to get fluke tabs. I would just follow the directions on the box.
Why not try hyposalinity? It's been shown to kill off parasites and doesn't stress your fish nearly as much. Keep in mind that there is some evidence that some parasites will burrow deeper into the skin of the fish when presented with a FW dip, I'm not sure if that's been shown w/ hyposalinity.
Drop your salinity level to 1.013 to 1.010ppm in your QT and treat (acclimate slowly) If you choose to go the FW dip route, adjust the PH and temp to match your tank. Have some Amquel or something equivalent to get rid of the ammonia. The fish will expel alot of waste as it gets highly stressed from the SW.
If you have fluke in your tank, you need to find a way to treat the tank as well. 30 days fallow, or more should starve the parasite as they will have no host to consume.
Never hyposalinate a reef tank. Your corals will die.
Drop your salinity level to 1.013 to 1.010ppm in your QT and treat (acclimate slowly) If you choose to go the FW dip route, adjust the PH and temp to match your tank. Have some Amquel or something equivalent to get rid of the ammonia. The fish will expel alot of waste as it gets highly stressed from the SW.
If you have fluke in your tank, you need to find a way to treat the tank as well. 30 days fallow, or more should starve the parasite as they will have no host to consume.
Never hyposalinate a reef tank. Your corals will die.
any particular reason for doing both? and the extended hypo? Just something that works for you? I've never seen reference to such a long hypo treatment or doing both. Juss wondering
The methylene blue helps keep the fish calm, I think. The freshwater dip helps reduce the number of external parasites but does nothing to rid the fish of marine ich. The marine ich life cycle can be longer than 4 weeks. The treatement needs to last 4 weeks after any spots are seen and at least 4 weeks if none are noticed. I guess it depends on how sure you want to be. For me, I'd rather be safe than sorry and treat a little longer to make sure my display tank never comes in contact with MI again. The fish should be brought back to normal salinity over no less than another week. It's a pain in the ***, and makes QT pretty lengthy, but better than having an outbreak in the DT.
Gotcha, just a difference in style. I QT to determine if there is ich then treat. Sounds like you treat as if there was ich just to be on the safe side
Strictly my opinion. Few lfs' follow strict QT that would control or minimize MI to any degree whatsoever. Some fish are less susceptible to succumbing to MI, but not much less likely to carry the parasite. Without eliminating it from ALL additions to the tank, those fish more likely to succumb(tangs, batfish, etc) will contract the parasite. In other words, a stronger fish like a clown can survive months in QT without ever showing outward signs of infection, yet still carry the parasite to the DT where a hippo tang could contract and succumb to the illness.
I QT EVERYTHING but I'm a little neurotic like that. One ich outbreak wiped out my entire tank, fish of course. How many times have you seen an lfs put a fish struggling with illness into their invert tank to keep it away from other fish? MI can tag along in or on the invert or in the small amont of water that is transferred in the process of adding the inverts to the tank. My procedure is much less stringent though.
In the end, the longer the QT the better your chances of identifying any issues and treating them. However, it just lessens your chances, not eliminates them.
If you subscribe to the belief that keeping an invert in a fishless system for a period long enough to break the MI cycle than theoretically you can eliminate "them". Due to the muliple stages of MI life cycle, "Them" could be most parasites and probably some bacterias. Also, if you subscribe to the belief that MI and most other parasites can be eliminated by hypo(or treatment with medications)then proper QT could eliminate the threat. In theory, if the pathogen is not introduced to the display tank, then the threat does not exist. I think there's enough evidence that many of the more common problems can be removed or eliminated from our systems not just suppressed.
There are many discussions on this topic on other forums. Some believe it can be eliminated some don't. Many feel improper QT or cross-contamination is the only reason many of the pathogens or parasites reappear in the display tank of some.
There are many discussions on this topic on other forums. Some believe it can be eliminated some don't. Many feel improper QT or cross-contamination is the only reason many of the pathogens or parasites reappear in the display tank of some.
Sorry if I'm bringing up an old(er) thread -
For Fish - I typically put in some PVC and let them hide and adjust to their new surroundings. Then (weeks later) I try not to scare the cr*p out of them when fishing them out to put into the display. This is the one part of QT'ing I dislike...
For sessile inverts - I will place them on top of PVC (like a planter), then at night put some bait at the far corner of the tank. I forget if it was calfo or fenner that suggested this - but it's a great idea. This will lure out any larger predators hungry for flesh.
For motile inverts - I tend not to bother QT'ing. For example, I would not QT a cucumber or nassarius snails since I have no sand bed. I'm still undecided on whether to QT shrimp and algae-grazing snails.
JohnS_323 said:
For Fish - I typically put in some PVC and let them hide and adjust to their new surroundings. Then (weeks later) I try not to scare the cr*p out of them when fishing them out to put into the display. This is the one part of QT'ing I dislike...
For sessile inverts - I will place them on top of PVC (like a planter), then at night put some bait at the far corner of the tank. I forget if it was calfo or fenner that suggested this - but it's a great idea. This will lure out any larger predators hungry for flesh.
For motile inverts - I tend not to bother QT'ing. For example, I would not QT a cucumber or nassarius snails since I have no sand bed. I'm still undecided on whether to QT shrimp and algae-grazing snails.
CaptainAhab said:
A properly made FW dip is less stressful than days/weeks in a hyposaline environment.
I've gone upwards of 70 minutes with FW dips where the fish never once seemed uncomfortable or going crazy.
Of course, there are exceptions (wrasses, in particular).
But I'd never, ever recommend hypo for any real reason. Just no point in it, if you ask me.
I've gone the method of treating every single fish I get with Quinine Sulfate (aka Crypto-pro). VERY fish safe (and slightly hermit crab and shrimp safe, also) and kills anything that gets in it's way. Any invert, outside of hermits and shrimp, are eradicated pretty well. You want a way to de-worm your tank of any and all bristleworms? That stuff will do it!
But I just have so little faith in hyposaline treatments, simply because they have to be measured EXACTLY and with a refractometer at the minimum. Anything over 1.010 and you're not doing jack. Anything under that and it gets seriously stressful over time.