Hippo Tang w Ich - Aquarium Advice

ronin33 · 02-23-2009, 07:08 PM

My Hippo Tang looks like he has air bubbles all over his body. Very Small white specks along his body. He is also lethargic. Feeds OK (Particularly algae from the clip). Difficult to tell if his eyes are cloudy as well. Small white dots on them. I also have a Yellow Tang, Maroon Clownfish and a Dwarf Lionfish. Should I take him out and QT him. Been using Garlic w the feeds without results. If I QT him, what SG do you rec? Any meds?

GhostKnife · 02-23-2009, 07:30 PM

SG should probably be the same as the main tank. However let someone else who can better help you with the ich problem tell you.

CaptainAhab · 02-23-2009, 07:39 PM

You should take them all out and QT them at the same parameters as the tank they are in. You need to decide on treatment; hyposalinity, copper, other. I keep them in QT for 3-4 after the last signs of ich are gone. The tank should also remain fallow for that time period (you may need to does food or ammonia to keep the bacteria alive) so that the remaining parasite (in all it's stages) dies from starvation.

It's a long ugly process but if done correctly you can irradicate it. Always QT new additions.

Lots of ich threads on here and all over. Google is your friend as are the people here to help.

lynxpilot · 02-23-2009, 08:34 PM

I just tried chelated copper treatment in a QT and killed 2 hippo tangs and one yellow tang. The clowns and flame angel with them survived the treatment, making me suspect that all the advice about copper treatment and digestive bio's in tangs' stomachs is true. If I ever have to go a round 2 with ich, I'll use hyposalinity. I'd also be absolutely sure that the blue tang had ich. Mine (and it looks like yours too) lies down in a hole in the LR every night to sleep and gets calcerous dust all over him which may or may not be confused as ich. If it clears off every day after he's been out to play, I'm not going to worry about it.

**melosu58** · 02-23-2009, 08:58 PM

Read these.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Quarantine Tank for Everything by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part I by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

Marine Ich/Cryptocaryon irritans - A Discussion of this Parasite and the Treatment Options Available, Part II by Steven Pro - Reefkeeping.com

CRYPTOCARYON IRRITANS

ronin33 · 02-24-2009, 06:00 PM

The remaining fish appear fine. I removed the Blue Tang and placed him in a 10 gallon QT tank w SQ 1.014. I will observe the remaining fish in the main tank (No room to QT them all). I have been adding Garlic to their food all along and will continue to do so w the Blue Tang. Will perform frequent water changes on the QT tank. Are the Ich meds w Formalin worth looking into? I remember a long, long time ago when I had fresh water fish dealing w this. Used the formalin prep on Iradescent sharks and killed them, plus stained all the seems of the tank. Anyone suggest vitamin preps w Soluble B12 supplement?

CaptainAhab · 02-24-2009, 06:32 PM

WHOA... You should lower the SG gradually. I'm not sure what your SG was that that's a big jump. I usually go to 1.008-1.010 for the duration getting there over a 2 day period. Then you need to gradually bring is back up over 36-48 hours.

BTW: If you have ich then it's in your tank and odds are the others will soon be infested. You may be fighting a losing battle only dealing with the fish the exhibits external symptons.

ronin33 · 02-24-2009, 06:55 PM

OK. I keep the SG on the main tank at around 1.018-1.019. I assume this will be a long process. The tank is FOWLR (Plus a CUC, 1 Long Tentacle Anemone which is well, and an Urchin). Should I use copper in the QT tank since the blue tangs already there and watch the rest? Will copper destroy the biologic filter on the main tank?

CaptainAhab · 02-24-2009, 07:00 PM

NEVER use copper with hypo... The hypo if done correctly and long enough will do the trick. There may be other meds compatible with hypo but I do know that copper is not one. I don't use any, just the hypo treatment. You may be able to get away with a dip outside of the hypo tank but I wouldn't do it.

Kurt_Nelson · 02-24-2009, 08:45 PM

Also... since you mentioned freshwater ich, just remember that saltwater ich and freshwater ich are two totally different beasts. What works for freshwater does NOT work for saltwater. Either copper or hypo are your best bets - I'd seriously consider hypo. But if you do it, just make sure you're using a refractometer to measure your salinity. It needs to be 1.009 with little variation, and a swing arm hydrometer isn't going to give you the accuracy and repeatability you need.