Why Barebottom?

[blondenblue]

I was just wondering why when you hypo fish with SW ich it is recommended to have barebottom? am i right in thinking that the SWich cant survive with a sg of 1.009? Thank you

[Nick]

I think it's just to make cleanup easier.

[edmlfc1]

I didn't have a place to keep all my sand until hypo is over so I left most of it in there. 3 weeks in and 5 weeks to go. It's all good so far.

[CoreyK]

So that the intermediate ich has no place to settle.

[blondenblue]

but does the intermediate ich die at that salinity?

[DRRT]

part of the life cycle of ich is to live in the sand as a juvenile, and the adult parasite is the actual cysts you see on the fish. They drop off and reproduce in the substrate. So having a bare bottom tank helps to disrupt the life cycle. Lowering the salinity can kill some of the parasite due to the hypotonic environment, the cells take in more water than needed and can "explode." Over an extended period of time, this can affect the fish cells as well, but for shorter periods of time, it is beneficial. The fish's system has to spend less energy taking in water and removing salts so it can focus more on fighting the disease.

[blondenblue]

Thank you DRRT i was unclear about which stage the hypo killed the ich, now alot clearer