Ick

[Oreo0313]

So, I've set my tank up and am getting some pretty decent coralline algae growth, and I thought the fish were healthy. Then the other day I noticed my blue tang acting funny, rubbing the rock and darting around the tank. The next day I noticed the tang had white spots. I researched the symptoms, and have learned that I'm dealing with Ich. I've set up a 20 gallon quarantine tank and have all of the fish in it. This way I can let the DT fallow for six weeks. I will begin treatment tonight, but am wondering which treatment method to use: either hyposalinity, coppersafe or cupramine, or ich attack. Perhaps I'll do a combo of hyposalinity and ich attack, since ich attack is non-toxic. I really don't want to use copper, as it is toxic to the fish as well as the parasite.

My primary question is this: how does one lower the salinity without drastic swings of PH in the QT tank? I plan on taking out 10% of the QT water at a time and replacing it will room temperature RO/DI water, but I'm afraid the PH of the RO water (being around 7) will cause stress to the fish. If you think I need to raise the PH of the replacement water, how do I do so?

Thank you.

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do both treatments, that's really stressful to the fish IMO/IME. I've not had good luck with the hyposalinity route, I've just used copper and had good results that way. But, hopefully someone who has done the hypo routine will post up here. A quick way to raise the ph of freshwater is to aerate it vigorously. However, I would think if you drip in your replacement freshwater over a long period of time any ph swing would be minimal. A slow drip wouldn't be as hard on the critters either.

 

[Anonymous]

agreed - dripping the water should bump the Ph too badly.

Along with Hypo, I'd kick the temp of the QT to about 80, as it will speed up the life span of the Ich without further stressing the fish.