Baby hippo with possible ich, and my treatment (please reply!)

[Jonviviano]

Hello, and thanks for viewing,

About 3 weeks ago i purchased a baby hippo (a.k.a ich magnet). He hid for about a week, then gradually came out and fed on dried seaweed. Another week later hes been coming out daily, swimming all over the tank very happily. He eats at every meal, and eats the supplied seaweed. I dont want to risk taking him out, into a Q tank because of his size, i dont want to add anymore stress, And hes finally comfortable. He has 3 pin head sized white dots on him, which i beleive is ich. One dot is on his fin, and the other two on his body. My main question is how exactly do i use the Garlic? At the moment im trying to drip the Garlic onto a small piece of nori, let it dry then add it to the tank. Should i leave the garlic fully concentrated? or dilute it. Can ich actually "run its course"? or is my little hippo doomed. Can he easily pass it to my other fish?

Thank you very very very much if you have any comments, i want to get this under control before its to late

Thanks

 

[HotHotHot]

My main question is how exactly do i use the Garlic? At the moment im trying to drip the Garlic onto a small piece of nori, let it dry then add it to the tank.

That would work.

Should i leave the garlic fully concentrated? or dilute it.

Full strength.

Can ich actually "run its course"? or is my little hippo doomed.

Depends on how weak or stressed he is.

Can he easily pass it to my other fish?

Yes if they are also weak or stressed.

Are they RAISED dots? Sometimes their skin gets marks from running into the rocks.

Now that I've answered that, I would also like to add: suppliment ALL of the fish's diet with vitamins and/or Selcon on the nori and their other food. That should help boost the immune system of all of them.

I went through this with all 3 of my ich magnets. They eventually fought off the invader and recovered. It spread briefly to my clowns but they got rid of it quicker. It was brought in by a yellow tang that didn't show signs when I got him.

I'd say if you start with the vitamins and/or garlic now and it keeps getting worse, QT them. Check "All things salty" for fish capturing techniques.

The stress of capture won't kill them but the ich might.

HTH
Ed

 

[leebca]

Are you sure of your diagnosis?

Your best opportunity for control was to have put the fish in a QT. If you look through threads in this Forum, you'll note it is the biggest error aquarists make -- not using a QT.

IF it is Marine Ich, the fish needs to be taken out and treated properly. Please do a lot of homework and reading: :reading:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=586506
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/marineich.html
Steven Proââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s article on Marine Ich (Part 1):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.htm
(Part 2):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.htm

FLAME MODE: On

Garlic doesn't cure Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans). Run it's course. Sure. You'd do that for your dog with rabies, or grandma with pneumonia, right?

Unfortunately, you're not the only one who proposes to do nothing for a sick fish. I'ts hard for me to understand that strategy. And using garlic is about as close to nothing as you'll get.

FLAME MODE: Off

 

[HotHotHot]

BTW, you NOT doing nothing. You seem concerned, so do the reading Lee suggested.

But I wouldn't recommend radical treatment for a common cold either.

Ed

 

[Jonviviano]

Thanks HotHotHot for all your help, greatly appreciated. and thanks Leebca for all your criticism....as you see i am doing something by posting a thread

Flame modeff

 

[Freed]

I have never seen a person just sneeze and have a runny nose for a while WITH the chance of dying from a common cold. Ich is a very serious disease that has the potential to kill even if what you are seeing is a very mild case at the moment. It can/will get worse with no treatment at all and could very possibly kill that fish and/or the rest of the tank.

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

I agree with Leebca and Freed

I always compare ich on fish to ticks on dogs...lots of ticks!!
Both live off a host and both will eventually kill the host if left untreated...and ich will kill much faster