Hi Mandy,
I'm going to give you my experience with hypo, since I'm presently administering this treatment to my fish. I am not an expert on anything, but my advice to you is this:
Hyposalinity treatment cures fish of marine ich when administered properly. It will also kill all marine invertebrates. It is my understanding that it will
not kill the denitrifying bacteria in our systems. It will not cure anything except ich.
As stated already, there is no point to eradicating marine ich unless you plan to exhibit the required discipline to
keep it out of your system. Something "as simple as a coral frag" can and will re-introduce the parasite. You MUST be prepared to quarantine every single thing you buy after you eradicate the parasite.
I can see with my own eyes that all of the invertebrates on my live rock are indeed dying in my quarantine tank. For this reason: most recommend that you seed a sponge filter first before starting up the QT, and not use live rock. Otherwise, all
marine life on the rock
will die (except for the denitrifying bacteria). This will trigger an ammonia spike as the organic matter decays. Be prepared for this, and combat it with 50% water changes as frequently as you can.
The proper series of steps for using hypo to eradicate marine ich is as follows:
1. Identify the parasite in your system, and identify the need to remove it. Prepare yourself mentally for a long future of quarantining all additions. If you're not prepared to quarantine everything, then don't waste your time with this at all.
2. DO NOT use hypo in your display tank!!! All marine life except your fish will die!! Marine ich needs a FISH to perpetuate its life cycle. If you remove the fish from your display tank, the parasite WILL BE GONE after 8 weeks. Just don't do it.
3. Once all of your fish have been quarantined, begin a hyposalinity regime on your quarantine tanks only. There's lots of reading to do, but make sure you're using a properly calibrated
refractometer, and maintain salinity at 11 ppt. This treatment takes 8 weeks and then the fish will be cured of marine ich.
4. Once your fish are cured, and ready to go back to the display tank, your tank will also be cured. Then who has ich?? NOBODY!!!
