Hypo advice

[Salty71Cuda]

So I've been doing hypo treatment for ich for just about 2 weeks now. The two fish that made me QT everyone still have ich (comes and goes). My question is since I've never done hypo before, how long do you think it would be before I start seeing any improvement? I know once the ich has cleared I should wait 6-8 weeks then raise the Sg. I know theres a sweet spot for hypo 1.009-1.012 , my SG is currently at 1.012, should I lower it more? I am tempted to try some medications though I know they may not work. I should also say that all my parameters in the QT are in check. Ph is checked daily. I also soak food in garlic/selcon/vitachem daily. I just wanna see my poor fish get better soon. Anyone have any insight?

 

[wrassefan]

if you don't hit 1.009...hypo doesn't work for ick

 

[JohnK]

Yup. I've always tried to keep the SG at 1.008 for hypo, with 1.009 being the max I would let it get up to.

 

[stingythingy45]

"I just wanna see my poor fish get better soon."

Give it time.Eventually the ich will drop off the fish and go the encyst on the bottom.
That's when you'll catch them with their pants down(so to speak).

 

[Salty71Cuda]

Thanks everyone. I'll drop my sg to 1.009 and see how it goes.

 

[JayM]

Make sure your refractometer calibration is spot on, because at SG that low, much lower will do long term damage to your fish.....

 

[JohnK]

Yea, second that. It'll be tricky with that cruddy old refractometer, probably worth picking up a new one if you havne't already

 

[Qwank]

yup 1.008-1.009. it will work, my clowns are ich free thanks to the advice from everyone here. the biggest issue i had in hypo was keeping the amonia levels down

 

[two-rocks]

Anything below 1.008 will probably kill the fish
Anything above 1.009 and the ick will not die.

Or so I've read.

What do people do for PH issues?

 

[two-rocks]

yup 1.008-1.009. it will work, my clowns are ich free thanks to the advice from everyone here. the biggest issue i had in hypo was keeping the amonia levels down

I was under the impression that in an established QT the hypo didn't change the bio filtering (one of the BIG advantages to using it).

My copper treatment currently in process killed all bio filtering - but I knew that would happen.