The Puffer Forum

Okay it finally happened...one of my fish (royal gramma) developed ich...boo!!

I am applying the hyposalinity method. Do I need to raise the temperature to 86 degrees too OR just apply this low-SG method?

what kinda fish is he?

plurmaster, it's a royal gramma...

have a read
library/hospital/swich/#more-78

I have done the following but no temperature requirements were provided.

"The parasite requires saltwater conditions to survive, therefore, by lowering the salinity the parasites will die off. This is called hyposalinity, and requires obtaining a Specific Gravity of 1.009 (measured with a refractometer or hydrometer at least daily) for a minimum of 4 weeks.
The tank needs to be bare bottom (no substrate) with hiding spots for the fish. Hiding spots should be things that can be sterilized after each use - pvc pipe/couplings or those plastic caves/decorations used in freshwater tanks.
There should be some source of biological filtration. I prefer air driven sponge filters that can be cycled or maintained in your display system’s sump or a sponge or bioballs in a hang-on-back filter. Both of these can be quickly removed from the display system and added to the quarantine tank when needed.
Additional aeration (air stone or power head pointed from the bottom of the tank to surface) will also be needed to meet the fishes increased demand for oxygen. "

I have sucessfully cured ichs on my puffers 100% everytime. I turn the heat up to 90,add aquarium salt in the hospital tank. Already have a filter inside but i add additon air pump because lack of oxygen if the tank temperature is high for about 2-3 weeks. Also 75% wc every other day but again this is for my puffers only and it works for me. Not sure this method works for other fish while some fish cannot tolerate heat like this.

I don't raise the temp at all for marine ich, my reef tank always stays around 78-80 degree's so the parasites life cycle is already fast, plus it's already harder for oxygen to dissolve in saltwater so taking the temp up higher than 80 would make it even more difficult for oxygen exchange, taking the heat up to 90F in IMO would further stress an already stressed animal

plurmaster: the treatment your using is for Ichthyophthirius multifilis(freshwater ich). He is dealing with Cryptocaryon irritans(saltwater ich)

My method is for FW by the way.

oops, just beat you plurmaster

freshwater ich and saltwater ich are two totally different things, and need differentt treatments.

Matthew, you know you need to treat every fish in the tank in a QT, right? Do not do hypo in your main tank. Part 2 of treatment is to leave the main tank fallow for 8 weeks so the parasite dies off w/o a host.

Pufferpunk- all treatment for the fish are being performed in the quarantine tank.

did your fish become lethargic due to the hyposalinity method? my royal gramma is just hanging out and no where near as active (SG is 1.010).

ADDITION/EDIT: The RG is now swimming around....phew....maybe he is more a night fish...haha

He's also probably not used to the difference in salinity, either. Salt makes the water more buoyant, so he's also probably feeling a little heavier.

You need to get your SG to *exactly* 1.009 SG (which is why we recommend a refractometer over a hydrometer for this treatment method). Also, if you don't have a refractometer, now's a great time to get one (and trust me, they're a thousand times nicer than a hydrometer).

Keep us posted on situation.

yeah i found a refractometer for 50 bucks and it has worked great for 4 years now, instead of sticking a big plastic thing in your tank you just put a little pipette full of tank water on the window and bam you got the salinity, get one

Be sure to calibrate it regurlarly.

thanks for the help everyone...the RG is doing well...