should i drain my water and remove the sand?

[grtdaddy]

im still getting small amounts if ammonia, i was considering removing the sand i have the water ready to go. and im still seeing white spots on my hippo and a couple on my kole after about 5 days in hypo is this normal? i dont want to lose them.

[DaveK]

5 days? You need to wait at lest 2 weeks before you will not see any white spots, at least 4 to 5 before you can put them back into the display tank.

You will need to make water changes in the QT tank to reduce ammonia.

There is no point in removing the sandbed.

[grtdaddy]

Originally Posted by DaveK

5 days? You need to wait at lest 2 weeks before you will not see any white spots, at least 4 to 5 before you can put them back into the display tank.

You will need to make water changes in the QT tank to reduce ammonia.

There is no point in removing the sandbed.

thanks for the response. i was having major die off from my sand bed, and getting ammonia that i could not control, lots of worms. i drained the tank, and now my fish are in the tank with no sand and lots of power filters. sorry but i want the water quality better than it was, i know i may get some ammonia again, but i am ready for it and at least i am not battling dead critters, just poop.

[leebca]

I am trying to better understand what is going on.

Your tank was infected, right? You reduced the salinity of your display tank, or did you move all the fish to a quarantine tank? What salinity is it now? How are you measuring the salinity.

Here is a good read on how to perform this treatment. Not sure if you read through it or not: A Hyposalinity Treatment Process

[grtdaddy]

Originally Posted by leebca

I am trying to better understand what is going on.

Your tank was infected, right? You reduced the salinity of your display tank, or did you move all the fish to a quarantine tank? What salinity is it now? How are you measuring the salinity.

Here is a good read on how to perform this treatment. Not sure if you read through it or not: A Hyposalinity Treatment Process

i have two tanks, a 125 which was infected and a 56 which was not. both established. i was told i could start hypo in the 56 with the sand bed. Using my recractometer i lowered my salinity down to 1.009 which i held there. my sand bed was full of worms, and i started getting ammonia and i could not get it out doing 80% daily water changes. so i removed fish, put in bucket with an airstone, drained emptied and cleaned the tank. then refilled with aged ro/di salt water, put fish back in and added several filters. i had a smaller hang on the back filer on the tank before with good bacteria in it, and i bought a ex 70 and a whisper 4 making a total of 3. i have two cans of saltwater heated with a powerhead in it ready to go for every other day water changes. also bought a ammonia badge to better monitor the situation.

Yes i read that several times, fantastic job and it's a real help. my fish seem to be in great condition, as of today i see no spots on my tangs at all. but im going to wait a day or so to make sure when i have time to really examine them before i start my count down.

[grtdaddy]

Leebca, do you have comments on my set-up? i would love to hear from you on it. thank you.

[jnohs]

I do not know much about your current situition but i would like to comment. I would "X" the sand

#1 it is a dirt and polutiant trap.

#2 with out the sand you can clean your tank with the greastest of ease. I just put my hand in my tank and wave the crap out of it and get all the nast detriuse in the water colum. then just siphone it out when doing a water change. Withch would impossiable with sand.

#3 Also it can tox you tank in about 2 hours. It starts a processe that just goes arye and kills everything and releasing amonia, nitriates, sulfers and more. This has happend to me and I watched my tank go from amazing to dead in about 4 hours.

#4 Also if your tank water is normally at a high nutrient level. then so will your sand bed. And when trying to lower nutrient levels it will leatch back in to the water.

#5 with no sand bed the white dots witch are ich. Can not go through there life cycle because at one point the live in the sand.

Some people say that no sand bed is not a compleat system and there for in adiquate for a reef tank. I say that I am not trying recreate a reef system but just a small part or biotope of the reef. I could try all i want to get all the little nichs that are in a reef but then I would need a tank the size of.... well the ocean.?!

[grtdaddy]

i took the sand out of my QT and it is now bare bottom. i will not take the sand out of my DT, my whole purpose is too treat my fish leaving the main tank fallow.

[leebca]

From this thread I don't find much information about your setup. If you are referring to your quarantine setup, then from what has been written it seems to be more like it should than it started out.

You don't want anything living in the quarantine tank other than the fishes being treated, and your biological filter. So you added "several filters" but are they biological filters? of what kind? I assume the hang on the back filter is posing as your main biological filter, but since I don't know its size and the sizes of the fish you are treating, I can't tell if it is sized properly or not. From the words you've chosen, my sense is that you need sponge filters in the tank (not powerheads).

Don't count on that 'ammonia badge.' They work best in freshwater. Use a test kit for ammonia and nitrite and test the water no less than twice (I prefer four times) a day, especially one hour after feeding. Remove all uneaten food twice a day and remove waste until the biological filter(s) are fully functional.

Change water (over 80%) once or twice a day if needed when you get any reading of ammonia or nitrites in the water.

Follow the guidance in the hyposalinity post on how long to treat AND after treating, how long to hold the fish to verify they are cured.