I have a confession to make...

[Doan]

I did it.. I got a very small 2inch hippo tang for my 55 gallon... I am sorry all I had an opportunity to get one that was even quartined by someone that I know and I got it.. Please dont' tell the Tang police.. It is really the only fish that I am just gaa gaa over when he gets big I promise to get a bigger tank.. He has been in the tank now for about a week and it turns out he is a hog.. Eats EVERYTHING.. But I also know that they are prone to ich.. What do I look for so I know and dont' let him infect others?? I thought I saw a white spot on him the other day but it was gone the next day I was told that it could have been anything by the LFS guy I may not have really even seen it but you guys who have helped me know I am a bit of a worry wart what should I look for just in case.. He is swimming everywhere and eating like I said but just in the future how do you know if something is wrong ich wise.. Thanks


Doan

 

[jamal-188]

Fist signs of ick will usually be the fish scraching on rocks/substrate etc. Before I've ever seen spots I've seen the fish scratching.

 

[daveNandi]

If you are afraid he has ich, I've heard you should have a UV sterilizer running and perhaps add a cleaner shrimp to reduce the chances that all the other fish will get sick.

 

[HoopsGuru]

The fish will grow at roughly 2" per year so that should be a gauge as to how soon you will likely have to plunk down the cash on a 125g or larger. Best of luck, just remember stress free will likely also mean disease free!

 

[two11devan]

The best way to rid a tank of ich is to leave it completely fishless for no less than 4 weeks...this is the only for sure way (that i have heard) to make sure there is no more ich left in the tank. Cleaner shrimp wont necessarily take care of all or any of the ich in the tank. It might help clean the fish who has ich, but I have read that they do little to help solve the problem. HTH!

 

[Xenos]

The best way I've heard to get rid of ick is to lower your salinity slowly and get your specific gravity down to 1.018 then add copper (DO NOT add copper if you have inverts of any kind. Horse shoe crabs are the only inverts I know who can tolerate copper) Ultraviolet sterilizer will help as well. Also if you are seriously conserned about your fish, see if you can get an aquatics specialist to come to you and do a fresh water dip. Fresh water dips shouldn't be done without the supervision of someone with experience. A fish cannot be in a dip for longer than 10 minutes, depending on how sick the fish is. I'm a chicken and usually don't make it past 7 minutes. This is very stressfull for a fish, but it will kill parasites. Again DO NOT attempt this without experienced guidance. This advice is my opinion. I've done it will every fish I've added to my tank with success.

 

[Doan]

Actually, I am just gonna re Qt the fish.. I am just too much of a worry wart to trust that it was done long enough etc. I am actually thinking since I have only 2 fish a flame angel (who is a godsend and will not touch my coral ) and the hippo I am just gonna get a Qt going tonight and if all heck breaks loose I am ready for it better safe than sorry and really leaving the tank fallow for a few weeks. It's not like it is gonna hurt the tank ... and I get my bedroom tank the QT. I have one quick QT question though.. I am in the process of Phasing out my FLuval 404 and I was thinking that since the filter and all will be new and not have the bacteria I could pull out some of the filter media (the ceramic tubes) from one of the bins and put it in the bottom of the qt with the PVC to add some bacteria. But this is my own idea of how to get bacteria into the tank quickly.. Do you guys think that will work if I clean it off in a buket of saltwater first? I just don't wanna put them in have the tank cycle while I am at work tommrow and come how to dead fish.. that is what I am trying to aviod in the first place..


Thanks

Doan

 

[sw-addict]

I just thought that I can't help but put my opinion in on this topic. I have 3 different kind of tangs. I have found everytime that you remove a tang from the display tank and place them in qt for about a month that the ich will be gone. But then you have to net him probably chase him around the tank, this causes stress and the ich will return in the display. I have purchased a skunk cleaner shrimp and a neon cleaner goby and this does a great job of keeping the fish clean and unstreesed. If you have the same problem with qt give this a shot you wont be sorry.

 

[jamal-188]

The best way I've heard to get rid of ick is to lower your salinity slowly and get your specific gravity down to 1.018 then add copper.

I'm not sure there would be a point in lowering the SG to that point and then adding the copper. Most do not recommend the use of copper, hyposalinty(lowering SG to 1.009 over 48hr period) is a much better and safer method of ick treatment, you can read more about it >>here<<

Also if you are seriously conserned about your fish, see if you can get an aquatics specialist to come to you and do a fresh water dip. Fresh water dips shouldn't be done without the supervision of someone with experience.

IMO this will do more harm than good by stressing the fish out. If you choose to use hyposalinty there is no need for a freshwater dip. The dip will stress the fish out lowering it's immune system even more. Hyposalinty will rid the fish/tank of ick and is a stressless/harmless treatment for the fish.

BTW, inverts and critters on LR will not tolerate this low of a SG so a Q tank is recommended for treatment.[/url]

 

[Xenos]

I have been working in a large aquarium for over a year that has over 32,000 gallons of salt water. In the time I've been there we had one ick out break and our procedure is lowering salinity to 1.018 and adding either copper, malachite green or fromadihidw. We fresh water dip every new inhabitant for 10 minutes and qt for one month. We rarely have fatalities or out breaks. I fresh water dip all of my new fish (seven minutes I'm a chicken) and I have so far had similar success. We have probably lost no more than a handful of fish and that was to an Emperor snapper. We have ever type of file fish, tang, angel, butterfly, hawk, clown, goby, wrasse, you name it. Please don't try to discredit my opinion. I am speaking from knowledge I have gained through experts and books. I respect your opinion and I would appreciate some of the same. Copper is intolerable to most parasites including ick.

 

[reefrunner69]

Copper is intolerable to most parasites including ick.

Agreed, it is also toxic to the fish at high enough doses and stressful even in theraputic doses. I am almost certain that the place you work uses it's method because it is a compromise between effective and cost effective. That is alot of wasted salt to do a true hyposalinity treatment, but using copper renders the substrate uselees for keeping inverts in the future. I certainly have no problems with your recommended treatment, but in a time where the trend is to go reef...it need to be stressed a little more that the tank will be unsutable for inverts.

 

[jamal-188]

I respect your opinion and I would appreciate some of the same. Copper is intolerable to most parasites including ick.

I'm not saying I don't respect your opinion, I just have a difference oof how I feel treatment should be rendered. I was merely stating that I do not see the point or need to lower SG to 1.019and treat with copper. A SG of 1.019 will not kill off ick. I will never use copper as a treatment again since I have learned of the negative affects it can have on a fish.

In your instance with such a large tank as Kevin stated treatments such as hyposalinty may not be practical for a number of reasons including $ and the large amount of time and effort it would take to do these large water changes. However treating such a large system with copper would also be costly and expensive and difficult to remove from the water, and even more problematic if left in after the recommended treatment period is over.

I"m speaking from a home aquarium standpoint here but the main purpose of a Q tank is to evaluate the condition of the fish and render the appropriate treatment necessary if there is a problem before the fish is released into the main display. Since most people use a rather small Q tank I see no reason why somebody would choose to use copper over hyposalinty.

I also feel as I've previsously stated that a freshwater dip will further stress out a fish and will not rid the fish of ick completely. If the correct treatment is initiated asap a freshwater dip is not necessary due to the fact that ick cannot survive at a SG of 1.009.

.... but this is all JMHO.. take it or leave it for what it's worth.

Chris

 

[Doan]

Thanks guys I am doing my best here... I have a QT set up but he seemed to be doing better last night he looked good as a matter of fact as I tried for about about 10 minutes to catch him after he ate.. Then he put himself between two pieces of LR and did his flat thing and honestly I felt that if messed around two much it would crush him as it was where the rocks were stacked vertically.. So I figured to give up.. Went back about an hour later he went back to the same spot same. Finally I let him just ride.. If he starts to look sick again and I can catch him into the QT he goes if not hey thats great ...

Doan