hippo with slight ICH

[iservicebox]

my hippo tang has white spots scattered on his body. i had an ICH outbreak before but everything seems to be fine now. he sometimes scratches on rocks but he really isnt affected by it. he has cleaner shrimp that always cleans him off and im using a uv sterilizer. is that enough protection?

 

[justin_tyme]

I'm in exactly the same situation.

My hippo always gets a slight case of ich whenever I introduce new animals in the tank (yes I throw away the bag water).

It generally lasts 2-3 days, and it's minimal (approx 8-10 tiny spots). He scratches a little and gets a clean from the 3 shrimps, and he's fine.

This has been going on for about a month and a half now, and I have had roughly three "cycles" of ich. It only affects the tang and no other fish. The UV has been running all along save a week, when it was leaking and I had to fix it. One slightly major outbreak happened after that.

I would say I'm struggling to defeat ich. The UV is adequate in size and flow so I'm not planning anything else beside feeding plenty of vitamins, greens and a little garlic when the spots are showing.

My guess is that this kind of setup (UV+shrimps) prevents the fish from getting a serious case of ich, yet does not totally wipe out the protozoans or whatever they are. I'm in no condition to QT the fish and leave the tank empty so I guess I'll just have to wait and see, fingers crossed.

good luck

 

[reefrunner69]

is that enough protection?

Possibly, but doubtful. You really need to break the life cycle of the parasite. I had a clown that had ick for over a year, once I finally broke the life cycle there was no more ick in the tank. Fish have been known to live for long periods of time with ick (in reef tanks) but it is the exception, not the rule.

 

[smokiums]

What would you recommend to break the cycle? I just saw my clown with a white dot on his fin and white pimple looking thing on one of his white bands.

 

[steve-s]

What would you recommend to break the cycle?

Quarantine and treat the fish seperately. You remove the fish host (4-6 weeks) and you remove the parasites ability to feed and then reproduce, breaking the life cycle in the display tank.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Terry B]

Do you quarantine all new fish for 3+ weeks BEFORE they go into the display tank?
Terry B

 

[smokiums]

Thanks Steve. I've been doing some reading and you reaffirmed what I had already planned to do. Last night I started mixing 10gallons of SW to replace in my main tank when I setup the QT on Sat.

Thanks.

Any particular medicine you recommend?

 

[steve-s]

Any particular medicine you recommend?

I usually don't recommend meds for ich. Hyposalinity performed properly in a seperate QT is the least stressful and one of the most effective when dealing with ich. The only time a med may be neccessary is in the event of secondary infection caused by the parasite. Then you may need to add a gram negative anti-biotic, although most times it is not required.

Cheers
Steve

 

[smokiums]

Awesome. Thanks.

I'm not even going to wait till this weekend. I'll go to my LFS and get the SW needed and try to do it tonight or tomorrow, the latest.