Hippo Tang with spots

[astride13]

I have a Hippo Tang that has had a few white spots for about two weeks. He rubs the rocks like he is trying to get them off. He still had full coloration and eats constantly.

I have tried to catch him, but have been unsuccessful. I have soak his foods in homemade garlic juice (mashed fresh garlic and saltwater) and he has been eating that with no improvement.

Since I cannot catch the tang without tearing apart my reef, is there any fish or shrimp that is likely to "clean" him? Or any other "reef safe", in tank methods that are recommended.

Sorry no pics, he hides now when he sees me coming. I will try to snap some from a distance.

 

[two11devan]

Your best bet is to try to cacth him and QT him. SOme people might suggest getting a cleaner shrimp, but that is not a cure all. The shrimp might try to clean the fish and it might not. The fish might not let the srhimp near it. Even though its gonna be a pain, the best thing for the tang is gonna be to get him outta that tank and into a QT. Also, to remove the ich from the tank it needs to remain fishless for no less than 4 weeks. I know its not the answer you wanted....but I HTH

 

[astride13]

You're right, that is not what I wanted to hear. Last time, when I removed 3 damsels, it took me 4 hours just to get the rocks/corals into a few buckets and actually catch them. Then it took the rest of the day plus a few days of adjusting rocks to get it back to normal.

Since the fish appears 100% healthy right now, I would prefer to take other measure until it works or it seems to be affecting him. I have been feeding with garlic this week, maybe that will help.

Any recommendations on cleaner shrimp? I have seen the one called "Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis)", is that the ick eater? How many should I get (55gal)?

 

[two11devan]

You could get a pair of them....you might be able to have 3 in there. But this is not a cure all and you might spend a bunch of money on the shrimp and they might not take any interest in the tang or vice versa. But if you really don't wanna QT, I guess that its worth a shot.

 

[astride13]

I would love to QT the little guy, but I don't want to rip apart the tank to do so. I try to trick him everyday with food, but right when he sees the net he dashes into the rocks. since he is acting 100% healthy, I wanted to look at the other possibilities before I move all my rocks and raise the chances of problems to the other inhabitants.

I will purchase a few shrimp this week and see how it goes. I have my QT tank ready to go if I do manage to catch him. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[astride13]

I was near a fish store and bought their last Cleaner Shrimp. I am acclimating him now, so in about 1 hour he should be in the tank. Coincidentally in the fish store he was climbing on a Hippo Tang, so maybe that is a good sign.

Wish me luck!

 

[astride13]

Bad news, I woke up this morning to see quite a few more spots on the tang. He was swimming much slower and was acting sick today. I was able to catch him and moved him to the QT tank. I filled it with water from the tank so I could put him directly in. When I came home from work today he was dead. I guess the parasite really hit him hard today. I wish I could have helped him earlier.

On another note, my cleaner shrimp that was supposed to help me out of this was cleaning my yellow tang this evening. I didn't see any spots on him, but I guess he had something that needed to be cleaned.