Fish Looks Horrible in HYPO!?!?!?

[Fxdupcobra]

Well my fish are all in Hypo thanks to another Ick outbreak. My question is on the tank that has the powder blue the Ick looks out of control and the fish is suffering breating very hard and is very stressed. The only good news is he is eating (for now). The salinity is at 1.015 I need to get it to 1.009 fast. I have been dropping it gradually and was wondering if I can drop it at once from 1.015 to 1.009 to help him quicker or will that cause more of a problem?

[leebca]

Fish can surprisingly handle a drop in salinity much better than they can handle a rise in salinity. Drop the 1.0015 to 1.008 to 1.009 over a 12 hour period.

Sorry to hear of the condition of the fish. Breathing with difficulty is not good. It's good that the fish isn't at its I-won't-eat-because-I'm-stressed point yet!

You can give the fish some relief from gill infestation by giving it a freshwater dip. A FW dip doesn't eradicate Marine Ich because the pathogen is too well protected by the mucous membrane and fish skin, but it can get at some of the pathogens attached to the gills which are causing the fast respiration.

Make sure to support your fish's nutritional intake with immune boosters. See this post: Fish Immune Boosters

[Fxdupcobra]

Thanks Leebca, I will definitely take your advice as always hopefully the little guy will make it.

[vaporize]

Lee, just on a side note, you mentioned that Ich is too well protected by the mucus layer and FW dip cannot affect it. I am wondering the typical 1 hr formalin dip is used to burn thru muscus to kill brook parasite, will that also kill ich / velvet type of parasites in such a bath?

thanks

[leebca]

Marine Ich isn't just protected by the mucous layer. It is also protected by the fish skin. Marine Ich burrows through the mucous layer and into the skin. Most reside below the skin level and the fish itself protects the parasite.

Formalin has been used in the past, without complete success. Like the FW dip/bath, it has some negative impact on the parasite, but doesn't cure the fish of this disease.