What about making my salinity 1.020 because my LFS has this also to avoid Ich because

Discussion in 'Salt' started by minajaguar, Jul 4, 2012.

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  1. minajaguar

    minajaguar Spaghetti Worm

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    What about making my salinity 1.020 because my LFS has this also to avoid Ich because its common in my tank and i can't get rid of it .
     
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  3. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

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    first of all ich is not a parasite you can not get rid off, in fact you can happily have it living in your tank without your fish ever getting it (as was the case for me). if youre unable to remove the cyst from your fish it means you are not tackling the key problem (and mind you there may be more than one, and in your instnace im sure this is the case).

    As has been said to you in the past by me and others, get rid of that tang. yellow tangs and blue tang aka hippo tangs are the most sensitive to being attacked by the parasite if the their minimum necessities are not met! therefore if you insist on keeping an unhappy fish in your tank you risk compromising your whole live stock, is it really worth it? if you really want to keep the tang, and i can understand that seeing as i absolutely love mine with its puppy eyes ( still a teenager ) and its crazy attitude, then upgrade!! otherwise as mentioned before you will only face this problem over and over again.

    secondly i have asked you several times with no response what it is that you feed them and if you have taken into account what i told you about researching home made fish food recipes. if you are unwilling to do this then you should probably not be in the hobby in the first place as this takes little time and money to invest in.

    now regarding your actual question. keeping a salinity at 1.02 is not a good idea if you plan in keeping corals and other invertebrates, why? because (and keep in mind im not marine scientist) in order to compensate a lower salinity you need to lower your water temperature as well. this not only poses then a problem to most tropical fish you find in saltwater, seeing as they have evolved in temperatures of about 25°C but im sure it effect the efficient oxygen intake by the gills of the fish in your tank.

    This said what we want to do when keeping our fish in an inclosed environment is recreate to the closest possible values what they would live through in nature, seeing as...well...thats where they do best!

    Most tropical fish are found in waters who's salinity ranges from 1.023 to 1.026 the latter being ideal for most hard corals as well. keeping a lower salinity will only make your fish more fragile and more prone to the ich parasite and other diseases in the long run.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2012
  4. pink4miss

    pink4miss Panda Puffer

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    i think you have the salinity and oxygen backwards. there is actually more oxygen in the water with lower salt levels. and also less oxygen in higher water temps.
    someone please correct me if i have this wrong. but this is what i have read. and why i lowered my salt from 1026. to 1024.
     
  5. pink4miss

    pink4miss Panda Puffer

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    sorry i can't comment on this since i have no idea whats in your tank. but i can say good diet, good water perimeters and a uv sterilizer will help tremendously. and forget the garlic for ich.... since when does garlic grow in the ocean?
     
  6. rayjay

    rayjay Gigas Clam

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    IMO, 1.020 is too low for satisfactory success with most corals and many inverts. It's fine for fish only.
     
  7. cfcheong

    cfcheong Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    :LolLolLol
     
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  9. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

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    to simply put it, the problem posed by a lower salt concentration comes down to cell structure and cell construction. saltwater fish have evolved in a manner to intake water from their surrounding and remove the salts from their cells. if you place a saltwater fish in fresh water the cells will only intake water and eventually "burst", the opposite is true for freshwater fish.

    research osmotic pressure.
     
  10. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    Many corals can't live long term at 1.020. Fish can, but it has no effect on ich. To have an effect on ich, you need to get closer to 1.008. LFSs likely keep their salinity at 1.02 to save money on salt. If they are really doing it for ich (unlikely) then they are very misguided.
     
  11. PghSteeler

    PghSteeler Tassled File Fish

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    If you want to get rid of the ich you need to remove all fish and put them in a QT tank and treat medically and keep the DT running without any fish for 8weeks??( help me out guys). This will allow all the different stages of ich to be killed due to the fact that they will not have a host to prey upon.
     
  12. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    Yes 6 to 8 weeks, 8 better to be safe.