blue hippo help

[ZooShark1029]

I have a large blue hippo in a 75 reef..... he has had ich since the day i put him in over 2 weeks ago...i have been using garlic x treme and it got better but now it is worse, i cannot catch him to dip him..... what is the best chemical that will not harm corals (mainly soft and lps) and help the hippo or should i keep using garlic xtreme?
thanks

 

[Xaiv]

You can try kick ich. If possible try lowering the salinity and raising the temp (slowly - over a couple days). I would keep soaking his food and seaweed in the garlic. That is what I would try, but I am far from an expert!

 

[gohan23]

Re: blue hippo help

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13038556#post13038556 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZooShark1029
I have a large blue hippo in a 75 reef..... he has had ich since the day i put him in over 2 weeks ago...i have been using garlic x treme and it got better but now it is worse, i cannot catch him to dip him..... what is the best chemical that will not harm corals (mainly soft and lps) and help the hippo or should i keep using garlic xtreme?
thanks

Is he eating? Have you thought about putting cleaner gobies in there yellow or blue.

 

[JamesJR]

I would use a hypo treatment and quarantine over about 6 weeks. IMPE, I have had problems getting rid of ICH on blue tangs in the past but I have never lost one to it. For how susceptible to it they seem they sure don't seem to die from it easily.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

How much does your PH and temp swing from lights on to lights off. I have 2 blue hippos one in a 100 gallon cube and the other in a 55 both reef tanks. Blue hippos are very sensitive to any water quality changes. I probable will take him a month or so to get acclimated properly.

 

[Dooly]

ick attack has worked surprisingly well for me

 

[ZooShark1029]

temp fluctuates like 78 day to 77 at night.... i have blue hippos in my 150 and they are fine....... ph is at 8.1 .......i am going to try to catch him and find some strong medication for ich and then put him in a 75 quarentine tank ... what is the strongest non-reefsafe ich medicine i can dip him in

 

[ZooShark1029]

temp fluctuates like 78 day to 77 at night.... i have blue hippos in my 150 and they are fine....... ph is at 8.1 .......i am going to try to catch him and find some strong medication for ich and then put him in a 75 quarentine tank ... what is the strongest non-reefsafe ich medicine i can dip him in

 

[ZooShark1029]

ok i just got him out he is now in a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon filter ( i know its small) but it has a bunch of power heads and airstones...... i caught to other fish with ich a lg foxface and lg lamarks angel...... the foxface has about 10 bumps and the lamarck has more..... i purchased coppersafe .... i am going to put it into the 40 with the 3 fish in an hour.... please let me know if what i am doing is ok... I HAVE NEVER USED CHEMICALS BEFORE its just that this ich was not going away on these guys and i did not want it to get worse for either of them
thanks a lot

 

[ZooShark1029]

for every1s help so far

 

[Recty]

As with any chelated copper product, you need to make sure you are maintaining the proper levels of copper in your tank.

The manufacturer will state the level and say that you only need to dose every couple days for the first week and then leave it in for a week or whatever (just an example, I'm not 100% sure on the product you have) but if you have activated carbon in your filter, or live rock in your QT, these things will pull the copper from the water. You need to make sure your QT tank is bare bottom and your filter system doesnt have anything that will absorb chemicals. You basically want the tank to be as chemically inert as possible, which a bare glass tank is except the silicone seams, but even those are real slow absorbtion rates.

Anyway, good luck with the copper treatment.

 

[Dooly]

honestly, I think for something like ich and an ich prone fish like a hippo tang.. I would rather have just left him in the display tank and treated with something that is reef safe.. why are you looking for "non-reef safe" medications?

I'd say you stressed them out much more by chasing them and putting them in a smaller tank, but since you have them now, I guess you could try hyposalinity and copper treatment..

but like I stated above.. I had a slight ich outbreak (wrasse and hippo were covered with white dots) and I treated the entire tank which includes anemones, dendro, acans, etc.. with Ich Attack and within 2 days, no sign of ich...

 

[ZooShark1029]

dooly i see what you are saying but the reef safe Ich products are not as effective as the non reefsafe because of copper (plus i dont trust any chemical with corals im just paranoid even if it is reef safe ) ... the blue hippo has ich so bad it isnt funny he was like that for 2 weeks but was worse..... but hopefully what i did was right,,...... but thanks again..... and the tank is bare bottom

Ok last question...... i know this might be stupid but i really dont know.... can i still use garlic xtreme to entice them to eat even with the coppersafe treatment//.... there shouldn't be a problem with using garlic xtrme right???

 

[jda]

Coppersafe might be a one-time addition. Check the label. If so, you will only need to add more when you introduce new saltwater to displace the saltwater with the copper in it.

They should eat just fine if they have been with you for a while - especially if they were good eaters before. If they don't, then you are in trouble and something is seriously wrong. Yes, you can use garlic with copper.

You fish will have more to fear from Ammonia than from the ich in that new QT tank. Check it many times a day and have plenty of fresh saltwater ready for water changes. I would feed them sparingly at first and make sure not to waste any food.

 

[sean48183]

Agree with jda about the ammonia. You are going to have a heck of a time knocking it down in that tank. Get one of those ammonia filter floss pads and put it in your filter. It really helps. If it gets to 1ppm pull your fish out immediately and put them in the display. IMO ammonia is the #1 fish killer of all the stuff that can go wrong with your tank.

Also to help fight ick what I usually do is overfeed for about 2 weeks. Run your fuge light 24 hours a day if you don't already to help algae growth and eat up nutrients. I usually feed 4 medium meals a day spread out over the whole day. If you work during the week dedicate saturday and sunday to doing it and feed at least twice on work days. If the fish will only take a certain type of food use that for as long as they have ick. It will take some dedication and it sounds like you are trying pretty hard. Once they get thru the worst of it they will be strong enough to fight any remenants of ick that is left. Good luck.

 

[Xaiv]

What does overfeeding them do sean?

 

[jda]

Overfeeding give the fish an abundance of nutrient for their body to use to fight the ich on it's own. If you soak in garlic or other vitamins, then this can also help the fish fight it on their own.

Overfeeding is regular feeding to some people, but I think that a good description is feeding the fish all that they can eat nearly all day long.

 

[sean48183]

What jda said

 

[Xaiv]

Oh ok. Thanks for the info!

 

[scuzy]

what's the point His display tank is already infected with ICh there is no point in treating jsut the fish and putting him back in where ich will jsut reattach itself. DO you have otehr fishes in the display tank? I usually jsut feed lots of garlic/selcon soaked frozen food and my tangs either becoems immune or hte ich jsut goes away. i don't see ich on them for years until i stress the heck out of them.