Hypo Salinity

VERY IMPORTANT: Corals, feather dusters, and all types of invertebrates WILL

be killed rather quickly if kept in this type of environment. As such this to be

used to treat fish in a quarantine tank only! ICH! That single parasite can wreck havoc on our display tanks, and is

probably one of the most common problems that we as hobbyists’ have to deal with. This hobby supports hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of

product each year trying to destroy this single parasite. On top of that, we

have black ich, marine velvet, brooklynella, uronema marinum, myxobolus, etc. (and these are just some of the parasites! This does not include the

laundry list of bacterial and fungal problems fish can develop)

So how can we protect our pets from this insidious parasite and many others that we can get from our local live fish store? Hypo-Salinity! Have you ever

heard the old saying, a prevention is better than cure? By using this natural method we are able to kill many parasites (including the dreaded

cryptocaryon irritans). So what exactly is hypo-salinity? How does it work? Why should I use it? Let’s take a quick peek:

Hypo means "lower than normal” and salinity "a concentration (as in a

solution) of salt"

By lowering the salinity of the water we are doing several things. First and

foremost, we are reducing stress on our fish. Marine fish like every animal have a certain amount of freshwater within their bodies. That being the

case, organs in their bodies will filter the excess salt from their bodies to keep the natural freshwater balance within their bodies intact. Now doing

this requires energy, by reducing the amount of salt our fish have to filter they have that much more energy to divert to something else.

This reduction of salinity also lowers the osmotic pressure in the water. This

drop in osmotic pressure is actually will kill the parasites! While fish are able to tolerate this drop, parasites and other nasty’s are not. For a more

scientific description of Osmotic Pressure (I’m stupid, don’t ask me questions with big words), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmotic_Pressure. One of

the reasons I appreciate the Wikipedia entry on this, it if you look at the diagram you can see what happens to parasites that float in the water

(under hypotonic).

Ok, all of the above reading is interesting and fine, but how can I actually

use this information to benefit me? Good question, there are so many ways you can use this information to your benefit. By taking your salinity from

~1.024 to about 1.010 in a quarantine tank over the period of a few days,

you are able to reduce stress on your fish and begin treatment of whatever

ails them. By keeping your fish in this environment for a period of six weeks, you can break the life cycle of certain parasites. By keeping them inside a

quarantine tank, the bugs inside your display tank have nothing to feed on and thus die. Between the attack on the bugs in the quarantine tank, and

the starvation of the bugs in the display tank you are thus eliminating them permanently. The only way to get these parasites in your tank again is to

reintroduce them via new arrivals.

Also by having your fish in hypo salinity, any treatment of fungus, bacteria, or wounds will be more effective. This is due to the fact that any medication

applied to the quarantine tank during this period, will have the benefit of fish with more energy devoted to healing rather than keeping internal osmotic

pressure.

After the quarantine period of six weeks, you can begin to bring your salinity

levels back up. Over the period of the next few days slowly raise your salinity back to ~1.024. I have found it effective to drain roughly one fourth

of the quarantine tank volume, and replace it with water at normal salinity. Over the period of four days then, your salinity is back to ~1.024 and you

can then re-acclimate your fish to your display tank water, and re-introduce them. That’s it, like a lot of things it’s easy, it just takes time.

So as a brief recap:

Pros

1. Any treatments done to your fish are more effective due to the lack of stress.

2. Kills the ich parasites when they are in their free floating stage.

3. Kills off any parasites that may be living in your DT due to the fact there is no food

for them to eat while your fish are in a QT. 4. Its practically free as all you need to do is supply the saltwater.

5. Once the parasites are killed over the period of six weeks, the parasite must be reintroduced for outbreaks to happen (i.e. once this treatment is

done, parasites are gone period)

Cons

1. Means your fish aren't in your DT for a period of about six weeks 2. Needs more time to monitor the Water Quality in the Quarantine Tank

than a Display

3. Kill inverts and corals, and certain animals off live rock (so if you use this

method for LR feather dusters and such that you wanted will die)

Now this is pretty much just a primer for the method and information on

hypo salinity treatment. Additional information will be added as time become available.

Hope you enjoyed the reading,

-Gavin