Hyposalinity

[spuri87]

If you feed more often it will help.
Use an autofeeder w pellets.

thanks, will increase the frequency! My autofeeder has pellets and 2 different type of flakes, but not a lot reaches the water column

Chromis and anthias are open water feeders. They don’t eat anything that’s not floating in the water column.

thanks for the info, interestingly 2 of the Chromis got interested in clams on the half shell recently

 

[Coral reefer]

Im not a fan of flakes in autofeeders unless it’s an auger type. I also don’t like to mix pellets and flakes in the spinning types because they usually won’t give you a repeatable dose

 

[spuri87]

Hypo (Day 50):

Full Hypo-salinity cycle is now complete.. didn't see any casualties in last 50 days which I guess is the best outcome on that front, but there is always that possibility of ich kicking me right in the butt once salinity is raised back to normal levels. I do see blue tang occasionally scratching against the rocks, but with UV running 24 hrs and improved feeding schedule, I hope it is not fatal for the fish. As mentioned before, I do see increased aggression from my blue tang (and convict tang as well who was rehomed) that has caused ripped fins on 2 of the yellow tangs and 2 of the cardinals as well. They are hiding more and get scared when Blue is around, but do eat whatever is in the water column in their 'range'.

Coming back to hyposalinity, now it's time to increase the salinity level back to 1.026.. As per the instructions on HF and R2R, salinity has to be reduced very slowly, over period of weeks if not months.. Upon research, feels like best way to do this slowly is to to top-off the water with 1.026 salinity water which shall increase the salinity slowly but regularly.. Today is Day 1 of filling my ATO with 1.026 salinity water.. Chatgpt suggested to go upto 1.033 to ensure the salinity level in my DT is raised to 1.026 within 3 weeks from now, but I am not in a rush, hence doing it slowly as per the recommendation online.

 

[MichaelB]

I would also suggest, the rate in which your salinity will be raised using ato method as you mentioned is Highly dependent on your evaporation rate.

That's different for every system and will also have variables relating to surface agitation, tank temperature, type of screen/ lid on the tank, and total system volume. This isn't even factoring in all the differences in the room your tank is kept in.

Only mentioning that to say if those weren't factored into your calculations of how long it will take to raise salinity your expectations may be skewed who's to say by what amount either much quicker or much slower. So also a good idea to regularly check your salinity a few times a day when starting raising things up so you can more accurately anticipate the rate and time it would take to raise your salinity. Don't totally trust to a formula that doesn't account for potential variables I refrenced above.

Hoping you have success treating the fish.

 

[Turkeysammich]

While you are at it. I would run a round of Prozi pro. Heavy oxygen is needed.
You won’t know what’s what until you get close to 1.020 and a few weeks later. If everything was successful. Even if you weren’t successful in getting rid of the ick. Just move on. Good husbandry will get you a long way.

 

[spuri87]

thanks @MichaelB I hope so

Yeah, I plan to regularly monitor the salinity level daily.. I dont have a formula in my head, just taking it on a day-to-day basis, a few days in I will know by how many points is salinity increasing on a daily basis..

While you are at it. I would run a round of Prozi pro. Heavy oxygen is needed.

I did search about it when I started, There are mixed reports.. Jay on R2R suggests not to combine both (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/prazi-with-hyposalinity-to-treat-flukes.979615/) as it can be stressful, HF is neutral.. Any downsides to observing the tank until 1.026 and then treating with Prazi instead of doing it now?

 

[Turkeysammich]

thanks @MichaelB I hope so

Yeah, I plan to regularly monitor the salinity level daily.. I dont have a formula in my head, just taking it on a day-to-day basis, a few days in I will know by how many points is salinity increasing on a daily basis..


I did search about it when I started, There are mixed reports.. Jay on R2R suggests not to combine both (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/prazi-with-hyposalinity-to-treat-flukes.979615/) as it can be stressful, HF is neutral.. Any downsides to observing the tank until 1.026 and then treating with Prazi instead of doing it now?

I would come back up to 1.020 or close then Prozi pro. The scratching could be gill flukes.
Any time you meditate or hypo. The fish are extremely stressed and sketchy.

 

[PjFish]

I would also suggest, the rate in which your salinity will be raised using ato method as you mentioned is Highly dependent on your evaporation rate.

That's different for every system and will also have variables relating to surface agitation, tank temperature, type of screen/ lid on the tank, and total system volume. This isn't even factoring in all the differences in the room your tank is kept in.

Only mentioning that to say if those weren't factored into your calculations of how long it will take to raise salinity your expectations may be skewed who's to say by what amount either much quicker or much slower. So also a good idea to regularly check your salinity a few times a day when starting raising things up so you can more accurately anticipate the rate and time it would take to raise your salinity. Don't totally trust to a formula that doesn't account for potential variables I refrenced above.

Hoping you have success treating the fish.

Second what Michael said! The last month of off and on cold spells really impacted my evaporation.. Daily normal evap on the 230g above 50F is around a gallonish per day. Below that it doubles to two gallons or more a day and increases the colder it gets mainly at night..We haven't used our furnace very much at night since it has not been that cold yet plus the whole back of house gets double the sun in winter which helps alot..IF your thermostat has been on a regular schedule and never off then this shouldn't apply so just tossing that out there for ya!
Glad you haven't suffered more fish loss!
Not sure how much of the lights you cut down on since your corals are in another system so how's tank looking overall?
I'd wait or tread lightly adding corals back so soon since they acclimated to their own system by now. Just to be sure the larger system is clear and recovered fully..
Thanks for the update! Been wondering how things have been rolling...

 

[spuri87]

thanks @PjFish .. tank is doing ok, but feels boring to me with no PBT, no convict and 3 yellows hiding (maybe due to bullying or something else).. I am waiting to increase the salinity to 1.026 and add some more vibrant and outgoing fish (of course QTed )..

Not sure how much of the lights you cut down on since your corals are in another system so how's tank looking overall?

I turned off my Kessils and only using AI Blade for 6 hrs in a day.. also waiting for hypo to be over and add CUC to help with some of the green algae I have started to see in my tank now.. I mentioned in one of my previous posts that my Corals couldn't make it in the other tank, so I dont have any corals at the moment.

Here is a small feeding time video from today:

 

[Darkxerox]

If you have no corals, set your blades to like 1-2% white and nothing else, you're just having them on to look at fish. Otherwise you're growing algae.

You'll need to introduce some healthy biomedia since the hypo may have killed off a lot of beneficial things like microcrustaceans or other good benthic critters. They help control diatoms really well.

 

[spuri87]

(Day 57): Salinity at 1.011, 7 days out.. I guess its not a bad option to increase the water salinity in ATO from 1.026 to 1.033 as chatGPT suggested, to go a little faster.. I plan to go to 1.030 in ATO first, monitor and then go from there if needed.. Things look the same in the tank except I have started seeing some hair algae on a few rocks.. Paying heed to the above advice from @Darkxerox, I have turned off the lights completely, except for feeding/monitoring time when I turn them on for 30 mins each.

 

[Darkxerox]

I wouldn't go too high since you might get precipitation depending on your salt mix. Just keep it at nsw levels and be patient. Put a fan on the tank if you want it to go faster.

 

[spuri87]

(Day 65): Salinity is going up slowly but steadily.. I started changing 5 gallon water with new saltwater at 1.026 to not only help increase the salinity a bit quicker but also do a 2.5% water change daily to get me into the habit of changing water regularly once things are settled.. With 5 gallon water change along with ATO at higher salinity than DT, I see an increase of 0.001 per day which is within the acceptable range as per the HF and R2R documentation (a maximum of 0.002 increase per day is recommended).. I am at 1.015 now, so hopefully another 1-2 weeks before I reach the desired number.

All Fish look good except the smallest Yellow Tang who is looking a bit lethargic.. He is getting bullied by other 2 YTs but still comes out to eat, though in very less quantity.. Yellows have seemed to lost interest in Nori.. Blue tang seems to enjoy almost 2 nori half-sheets every day.. Shall I try a different nori brand maybe? Blue tang was aggressive towards any fish who came near the clip, maybe that contributed to this disinterest.. I have 2 clips at opposite ends in the tank right now.

 

[spuri87]

(Day 86): Just realized I never had an official closure to this thread.. Salinity at 1.023, I didnt do a prazi treatment, though I do have it in my arsenal to do a round if needed.. All fish look good.. crazy looking at the pictures from 1st week in the journal and comparing to current state of things.. Everybody is eating fine and looking active.. No white spots, though I do see occasional scratching, but that can be due to multiple other reasons.. I had no casualties during the entire process.. Thank you all for all the support and advice during this journey!

 

[FinalPhaze987]

This made for a very interesting read. Thanks for documenting and sharing. I tend to jump into things and forget the documenting part, but hopefully this help others in the future. Glad all you fish made it out ok.

 

[PjFish]

Awesome! Thanks been wondering about your updates since Michaels issue popped up! Just reminder snails can not contact ich but they can be carriers of it!! There are LFS that sell QT snails in fishless systems..Our north bay LFS Fishy Business does this as well..Of course coral frags can be carriers as well ugg! but several vendors have fishless coral systems. But I highly recommend our local Sponsor and club member @Arvin R Kay’s Coral Cove in Castro Valley for pest free corals.. Unless you already have a qt coral setup..

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