November 27th 05, 07:32 PM
This especially for Miskairal.
As you will already be aware, the 2 diseases you are most likely to
find when buying new fish are marine ich. and marine velvet. Most
books will then be suggesting treatment with copper.
This has the effect of preventing that tank, and all the contents,
from possibly being used for inverts. ever again. Copper apparently
leaches into the glass itself. Mr. Chemistry (Boomer) has even
(said/hinted ?) that copper is difficult to adminster and monitor, due
to it's strength altering during the course of treatment - I apologise
if I am mis-quoting you here, Boomer !
One treatment that certainly works, with less stress on the fish, is
hyposalinity. Please make sure you understand the concept, reasoning
behind it, and how to effect the treatment. It is not difficult, but
because it is not an exact science, if you read 10 books, you will
read 10 differing answers as to what to do.
I would say reduce the S.G. to 1.011 over a period of 2 days, and keep
at that level for 4 weeks, then increase the S.G. to normal over 3
days. Do not make any other adjustments to the water parameters.
Some people advocate increasing the temp. to (say) 86F, but higher
temp. will normally reduce the oxygen level, which will stress the
fish even further. Some books say to adjust the pH, but I never did.
As I said, this not an exact science, so everyone is free to shoot me
down. One thing that will have to be done, is to remove any inverts.
such as snails to another tank, as they will not take hyposalinity. I
do not know about brittle-stars. Hermit-crabs are quite tough, so they
may survive.
Thanks for the post about hemostats, it is a sad day when you don't
learn something new !
Regards, Fishnut.
As you will already be aware, the 2 diseases you are most likely to
find when buying new fish are marine ich. and marine velvet. Most
books will then be suggesting treatment with copper.
This has the effect of preventing that tank, and all the contents,
from possibly being used for inverts. ever again. Copper apparently
leaches into the glass itself. Mr. Chemistry (Boomer) has even
(said/hinted ?) that copper is difficult to adminster and monitor, due
to it's strength altering during the course of treatment - I apologise
if I am mis-quoting you here, Boomer !
One treatment that certainly works, with less stress on the fish, is
hyposalinity. Please make sure you understand the concept, reasoning
behind it, and how to effect the treatment. It is not difficult, but
because it is not an exact science, if you read 10 books, you will
read 10 differing answers as to what to do.
I would say reduce the S.G. to 1.011 over a period of 2 days, and keep
at that level for 4 weeks, then increase the S.G. to normal over 3
days. Do not make any other adjustments to the water parameters.
Some people advocate increasing the temp. to (say) 86F, but higher
temp. will normally reduce the oxygen level, which will stress the
fish even further. Some books say to adjust the pH, but I never did.
As I said, this not an exact science, so everyone is free to shoot me
down. One thing that will have to be done, is to remove any inverts.
such as snails to another tank, as they will not take hyposalinity. I
do not know about brittle-stars. Hermit-crabs are quite tough, so they
may survive.
Thanks for the post about hemostats, it is a sad day when you don't
learn something new !
Regards, Fishnut.