Blue Hippo Tang - Help?

[FishPharm]

My blue hippo tang has been in my tank for several months. It was quarantined when first purchased for 6 weeks. There were no signs of ich during this time. And this was the last fish added to the tank. The blue hippo now has shown signs of white spots on its body.

I thought I had read somewhere on ReefCentral that ich can only be introduced by a fish carrier. Is this true?

I followed cautiously quarantine procedures and thought this was preventitive measures to protect against ich. Is ich still possible with the precautions I had taken?

 

[pk1]

I had the same thing happen to my Achillies, 3 months after being introduced. I thought the same thing as you, and I am interested in hearing the reason. In my case, the ich went away after about 3 weeks, I fed heavily, left the tank alone as much as possible to avoid stress, and added 2 small 1 inch skunk cleaner shrimp. IMO, the small shrimp are what did it, as about 3 days after putting them in the tank the ich was gone for good. I already had 1 big one that the tangs flirted with but would not commit too

Good luck
PK

 

[FishPharm]

Thanks PK.

I wish I could add inverts but I have a FlameHawk that would make quick work out of the cleaner shrimp. In retrospect, I just purchased a new calcium reactor and the pH has had some swings associated with it while I was trying to dial it in. Perhaps stressed out the tang.

I am going to try to get him out and QT him with a hyposalinity treatment. Thanks again.

 

[pk1]

Just a question, can you treat with copper in the QT tank? I would think catching and doing a hyposalinity treatment would also stress the fish out, and that's just my thought, not sure if it really does or not. Also, you could try letting him fight it off, my Achillies also gave it to my hippo, and they are both fine now. I am not sure if the cleaners did it or not, many have reported tangs beating it on their own. Also, my 2 clowns, wrasse. rainford's goby and firefish we're un affected.

 

[ub32965]

No copper needed. Ick is caused by stress, poor water quality. This worked for my hippo tang: I feed vitamin enriched foods and garlic, heavily.

 

[fancyfish]

fishpharm
I have a flame hawk, 3 cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp. get them big enough and he will not touch them.
Tangs are ich magnets as we all know. Ich lives in our tanks wether we like it or not. My regal and my white faced tang occasionally get ich. my naso never does.Usually if they are eating well I just let it run its course. not the worst thing to happen. Use selecon and garlic to assist with the immune system. Ozone or uv are helpful as well.

 

[FishPharm]

Yes you can use copper in a QT tank. Many recommend this also as an alternative. And yes I may stress out the tang. I have to be careful. I have an acrylic box with some nori inside it where I hope the tang will swim into and close the other end quickly enough. Hope this works? If not, will consider other options.

 

[FishPharm]

Well, with so many chiming in, maybe something to consider just letting it run its course with the advice above. I do have ozone, selcon and garlic.

 

[curthendrix]

How about a neon cleaner goby?

 

[pk1]

Oh ya, my hippo loves nori on a clip...when the evil achillies lets him at it!

 

[FishPharm]

My tank is filled to the gills with fish. :lol: I don't think I can get another in with the bioload I already carry.

 

[redboxer13]

My tang did the same thing. I made sure my UV sterilzer was working fine; feed it nori with garlic supplementation, heck all the food, i made sure had a touch of garlic; made sure my water was good, and my cleaner shrimp and neon gobi did the rest. Forget the copper; the fish is already stressed as is, so in my opinion why stress it out even more. If the fish is not overly stressed it should recover. JMO. Good Luck

 

[shawn1965]

Same thing happen to me, I did what ub32965 said good feeding with garlic and let it run its course.

 

[FishPharm]

Thanks all for your helpful insight. Will try and follow regiment of feeding with garlic extract, selcon and vitamin supplements and hope for the best. If all goes well overtime I will post the success of this advice. Thanx again!

 

[ravenr]

My Hippo had the same thing...I think that it came from temperature swings after doing water changes. My lfs recommended using "kick-Ich" Its reef safe (just like they all claim). I treated the tank as prescribed and the Ick's gone after 1 week of treatments and everything else in the tank survived as well. I recommend this product, as much as I dont like to add chemicals to my tank.

 

[dominick33]

Had the same problem..Hippo's are very ich prone. Tried garlic etc. Finally caught the rascal and put him inot my quarantine tank with copper and it solved the problem. This happened several times and I finally traded the Hippon into my supplier for a different tang.

 

[seamommie]

I am in the midst of the ich battle with my hippo. My heater got a short and caused a big temp swing. I'm using Kich-Ich and the garlic-vitamin regiment. Seems to be working. One tip - the dosing info on the bottle is the minimum dosage (per the company president). Most people use a bit more than it says. I didn't the first go round and am having to retreat at a heavier dose. That just my opinion but none of my corals have shown any adverse effects. Good luck! These beautiful hippos are worth the extra effort.

 

[FishPharm]

I just thought I'd follow with an update. Since posting for help here on the 2nd of February. I have been adding garlic and vitamin supplements to mysis shrimp and fed daily. My Hippo has managed to pull through and has had no outward physical signs of ich for over two weeks so far. IMO with the hippo already being healthy prior to getting ich and the feeding regiment outlined here can give you an edge on beating ich. In the past I read you need to pull your fish and place in quarantine. I now feel this may not be neccesary based on what experiences I have had. My two cents anyways. Thanx for your recommendations. This did work for me!