Hyposalinity QT

[danelam]

I'm getting some new fish tomorrow and my QT is all setup for hyposalinity treatment. Should I just acclimate them as normal to the QT water or is there another way to do it seeing as the salinity in the QT will be much lower than their transport water?

 

[marrone]

Why are you treating your fish? Just setup the QT tank similar to your main tank, if possible use the water from you main tank. If the fish look sick then you'll start to treat and the treatment will depend on what they have.

 

[danelam]

In Paletta's New Marine Aquarium he writes about starting them in QT at a low salinity as a precautionary measure. Would you not recommend this?

 

[marrone]

There is no reason to start QT at low SG. If your fish has something you can then start to treat it, there isn't a reason to take precautionary measures especially since the fish isn't in your main tank.

The purpose of QT a fish is to check it out and give it some down time, from being ripped out of the sea to all the moving around. If the fish has something you can then start to treat it, otherwise it gives the fish down time before you move it to your main tank, which will cause more stress to it.

 

[caad3]

I would not. I agree with Marrone. Try and match the conditions of your main display tank, (i.e. use the same water). QT tank is used to observe your new fish for disease or other issues. If they become sick and need to medicate then it is turned into a hospital tank.

There is no need to stress out your new fish with hyposalinity treatment. I have been using QT tanks on every new addition and have them there 3-4 weeks with pretty good success.

Hope that helps

 

[danelam]

thanks for the tips guys. What about freshwater dips? I've read alot about this, but am unsure of how to do this without stressing them. Do you simply drop them in the fresh water without acclimating them? Then what? Put them into QT after this without acclimation again?
It's all a bit confusing.:redface:

 

[marrone]

A fresh water dip isn't going to do much, outside of stressing the fish out even more. A fresh water bath, for about 15 - 25min or as long as the fish can take it, is better to do. You also need to make sure the Ph is above 8.0.

Then again unless you think the fish has something you shouldn't do a fresh water dip or bath.

What you want to do it just dip acclimate the fish to the QT tank and if they show sign of something you can then use the best thing to treat them.

 

[caad3]

Get your fish acclimated and observe. The only fish I have had to dip with some success has been clown fish. Once they catch something like Brook (slime coat breakdown) if you don't treat immediately they will surely die. Also when feeding soak it in garlic. They say it helps with the immunie system

 

[danelam]

i've just bought some PVC piping for QT but noticed it has some writing in permanent marker on it. Is it safe to use?

 

[grknyer]

I have to agree with Michael on this one. Don't do the hyposalinty thing unless there is something is wrong.I just bought a mystery wrasse and a helfrich firefish which will call home my qt tank for at least a month before they go into my main display.The water is the same as my main tanks water.If they show no signs of disease they graduate to the main tank.I had an incident once where a fish I bought came down with a really bad case of ich two weeks after I bought it.It happened to be in my QT where I was able to treat it with Sea Cure copper.Treatment lasted 20 days and after I obsevered the fish for an additional month before it wend
T onto main display tank.All in all it was 8 weeks before I absolutely sure I could put them in.