Group Hypo' Therapy

F

Frogspawn

Well, it took me a year and a half in this hobby but I finally screwed up big time. I have been so careful to keep ich out of my tank by hypo treatment with nearly every fish I've added since I'm keeping tangs.

I picked up a very healthy looking CBB last week and knowing how delicate they are I thought it would be better for the little guy if I put him in the display right away. The next day he looked fine and ONE HOUR later he was covered in ich from stressing out! Yikes!

I took him out immediately hoping beyond hope that I could minimize any "fall out" from him in the tank. I put him in QT and started hypo' right away.
The little guy is doing great and loving his small but quiet home.

Unfortunately, by the next day all my tangs were showing signs of ich and the regal had a bad case of it. So I guess I did a better job than I realized until this episode. Now I'm left with the option of sick tangs that are otherwise healthy but will never look as 'clean' as before.

So, with the longevity and health of the fish in mind I'm seriously considering buying a large tank just for a Texas QT of all my fish for hypo' at the same time and letting the main tank recover while fallow. This is a big undertaking I realize with many challenges and pitfalls that I don't fully understand yet. Has this been done before by anyone? It seems doable to me as I've done the hypo on a small scale a few times now successfully. I'm worried about parms with several fish over 8 weeks though. Lots of water changes in a big tank. Ouch

Is it worth the effort or should I just deal with the changing spots of Ich?... yecchhh..

SOB! :sad:
 
Yes, it is doable. I am in the 11th day of hypo/fallowing my two 125's. I have 20 fish in three 20-25 gallon containers. If you can set up a large tank for all of them that would be the way to go. I suggest that you set it up for at least a week to start it cycling. Your tank water will help, but the bacteria that you need in the hypo tanks is different for processing waste. It takes about 7 to 10 days for it to get established . If someone close to you is already doing hypo you can get them to throw a sponge in their tank for seeding. That will help cut the cycling time down, but that first week you will be doing 25%-50% water changes on a regular schedule of at least every other day. You will be running high ammonia the first week or so, then high nitrites the next, you have to be ready for frequent water changes. Be sure to cover the tank too, you will have jittery fish once they get over being scared. You can't do hypo with a swing arm hydrometer. Make and have lot of water available.
 
I may be in the minority about this... but I still am not sold on the hypo treatment in a mass scale. I think its place is really as a preventative or a treatment for a really sick individual. Keep in mind that now that its in your tank, it will be in there for an extended time. if you pull the fish out now, they will need to be housed in a comfortable tank for a period of time. If you don't have that available, you'll be stressing them out more, not only with the treatment but the crowded facilities.

If it were me... and this is only me... I would start feeding heavily with fortified foods. If the fish were healthy before, chances are they can fight it off given a little help.

You may end up losing a few or all of them, but if you move them all to an unprepared tank that is too small for all of them, that is just as bad. This way you will reduce the stress as much as possible.

If you have the facilities to house them all though for the time it takes to treat them AND starve off the ich in the tank, then go that route.
 
I think a 100 gallon should be sufficient don't you? I was planning on an aggressive tank in the future anyway and this may be a way to step into that. The WAF is still high also!
 
@Frogspawn wrote:
I think a 100 gallon should be sufficient don't you? I was planning on an aggressive tank in the future anyway and this may be a way to step into that. The WAF is still high also! said:
Probably as long as its cycled and there are hidey holes for them. Cut up some large pvc or put LR in there. And thats assuming your fish are not huge :) Scott can chime in on the amount of time needed to starve your main tank.. I can't recall the time frame needed at the moment, but I think its 6 weeks or more at least.
Click to expand...
 
I've always done six weeks but would probably do eight weeks just to be sure about it if I tackle this.

(Makes me tired just thinking about it!)
 
Ya and it is worth it in my opinion. The problem if you don't is every time you ever add anything you have to hold your breath and hope because the new entrant will get it, those highly susceptable will reshow signs, etc. that's not worth it to me. I like the assurance that there is no ich in there so I can add that $50 or $100 fish (after qt w/ hypo of course) and be fairly confident he'll be OK!
 
Yeah, I think I'll do it. It's gonna take some time to set up and go through it but it'll be worth it I think in the long run. I'll never again put a fish in without quarantine and hypo' first.

Refresh my memory here but any live rock in hypo' will kill off everything in the rock correct?

Thanks,
 
Well, it'll kill off the worms, pods, coraline algae, etc living in it. The bacteria in it will be stunted, but they'll come back, eventually.
 
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