Hippo Tang w/ Ich

Just a quick update.

Fish seem to be doing fine. The 55 Gal QT is probably a bit on the big side. I could have easily gotten away with a 40 Gal breeder.

PH and Sp. Grav are good. Tested for everything else and everything was good.

Now I am spending all my time in the basement looking at my tank, instead of spending all my time in the living room looking at my tank.

Any suggestions for things I can be doing with the DT while it is fishless for two months?

Can I add live rock to it, I am considering a skunk cleaner shrimp and a small red star (cannot think of the name currently), can I add these now?
 
Crypt wont effect them at all. With the tang, the 55 is better because of the length. Be srue to keep an eye on that PH. Ive noticed that if I top off my tank, the PH can plummet. then again, I am getting about 10% of total system volume evaporation and I put all 20 gallons in at once this weekend instead of spacing it out.
 
I assumed that since my tank is fishless, even if any inverts I add are carrying parasites, there are no fish in there and won't be for a few months (damn this is going to take a long time...Not a mistake I will make again).

PH is holding strong. I am going to do a 10% water change tonight and have already added PH buffer to the replacement water.
 
niqiri said:
You have to assume that either the water that the inverts have been in or their bodies are carrying parasites. Every time you add something new to the tank that has not been quarantined it is likely that you are exposing your tank to parasite. Thus, you should restart your clock every time that you add something to the tank. Frustrating, I know, but you don't want to have spent all that time putting your fish in hypo only to find that the shrimp you bought gave them ich. Once you have added your fish back into the tank, if you want to be free from parasites, you must quarantine any non-fish specimens for eight weeks to ensure eradication.
Click to expand...

I understand exactly what you are saying, which I why I was thinking now would be a good time to add some inverts to the DT, because it will be fish-less for at least 6 weeks (the clock hasn't started yet as the Hippo Tang is still displaying signs of Ich.

I am thinking that if I add some shrimp or whatever now, there are no fish to host.

Partially I am just looking for things to keep me occupied while I have a beautiful fish-less tank running in my dinning room.
 
Should QT it with cupramine and leave the tank empty for 8 weeks to be safe. Otherwise, it will just come back and any other fishes that get introduced may become infected.
 
From what I have read, hyposalinity should be just as effective as copper if done right. If after a few weeks, I am not seeing progress, it will be time to weigh other options. So far the fish seem to be doing well. I did a 20% water change this am
 
I am trying to control the Ammonia level in the QT with daily water changes. If I am reading the test right, it is sitting around 2.0 ppm, how high is TOO HIGH, and what, aside from lost of water changes can I do to control it? Ammo Lock?
 
I am doing lots of water changes (going through tons of salt).

I remember reading somewhere (and this could be wrong) but if you leave water that has been removed from the tank (with high ammonia levels) sitting out with a powerhead to circulate it, the ammonia level can drop, is there any truth to this? can I recycle used water that aside from high ammonia levels is relatively clean?
 
Ever since the Ich spots had shown up, the fish was reluctant to swim around whenever I was in the room. I am pleased to say that last night when I got home, she was swimming all over the tank, and appears to be white spot free. I am tentatively starting the countdown.

How high can this ammonia level get before I need to panic?
 
I think what happened was that I dropped the salt content too quickly, killing off the bacteria that were populating my filter sponge (which had been in my sump for a very long time), and my QT is cycling as if it were a new tank. Ammonia levels have crept up towards 5.0 ppm (I think those are the units of measure. I have been doing daily water changes.

At this point I am beginning to worry about the health of my fish, not because of the hyposalinity or ich (which both seem to be fine) but because I am basically cycling my tank with two Perc clowns, 3 Pajama Car and a Hippo Tang, I would be ****ed with myself if I lost the fish not due to Hypo, or Ich, but because the tank I cycling like a new tank would, when I assumed there would be bacteria in the filter media.

Water changes are not seeming to keep up with the rise in Ammonia. What steps should I be taking.

The fish do not seem to be affected at all to this point, everyone appears fine, aside from they are not eating a whole lot.
 
niqiri said:
I would say that if you're already doing lots of water changes and ammonia is still rising that you should be adding an ammonia detoxifier and maybe a bacterial additive. Some have disputed the effectiveness of these products but I don't think it could hurt in your situation.
Click to expand...

Planning on doing just that today.
 
Get some stability by seachem. I used it in both my QT tanks and I have yet to register any ammonia. That's even with a fish dieing in QT.
 
rayn said:
Get some stability by seachem. I used it in both my QT tanks and I have yet to register any ammonia. That's even with a fish dieing in QT.
Click to expand...

I will pick some up today. I feel like I have done pretty well with the Hypo, the only mistake being lowering the Spec. Grav. too quickly, killing off the biological filter.

Haven't been home since this morning, but the fish seem to be doing well.
 
I started the 4 week countdown yesterday. I could have said the 9th, but the 10th is easier to remember.

For the future, do I need to plan on a 4-6 week hyposalinity for all fish?
 
I am in the same boat, just got everyone into Qt tonight, not easy. I've read on RK magazine that 31 days was long enough to treat ich. I will do a search and see if I can find the article. It also read that garlic and other herbal treatments were not affective.
 
My experience is that Hypo-salinity is not always effective, sometimes it works like a charm, other times reducing to 1.007 seems to do nothing. The only effective treatment I've found is a Copper QT tank treatment, Mardel makes a good copper solution. QT tank as usual should be devoid of anything that is not glass or plastic as I think the calcium rocks, LR, substrate can absorb some of the copper reducing its effectiveness.

Since you are doing Hypo-salinity, might I suggest upping your tank temp a degree or two into the 82 range in the second to last week of treatment to speedup the remaining ichs lifecycle and kill the remainder faster.

Good Luck!

@ezhoops Garlic is effective as a preventative only b/c the sulfur compound it contains actively masks the chemical cues the protozoans use to find a victim fish. This sulfur compound must be built-up in the fish's body over time though, its very similar to that one friend many of us have who loves garlic. If he eats it enough, he will smell like it, his clothes and room will smell like garlic, even if he hasn't eaten any. B/c it builds up in the blood and cells.
 
terry4505 said:
I think what happened was that I dropped the salt content too quickly, killing off the bacteria that were populating my filter sponge (which had been in my sump for a very long time), and my QT is cycling as if it were a new tank. Ammonia levels have crept up towards 5.0 ppm (I think those are the units of measure. I have been doing daily water changes.

At this point I am beginning to worry about the health of my fish, not because of the hyposalinity or ich (which both seem to be fine) but because I am basically cycling my tank with two Perc clowns, 3 Pajama Car and a Hippo Tang, I would be ****ed with myself if I lost the fish not due to Hypo, or Ich, but because the tank I cycling like a new tank would, when I assumed there would be bacteria in the filter media.

Water changes are not seeming to keep up with the rise in Ammonia. What steps should I be taking.

The fish do not seem to be affected at all to this point, everyone appears fine, aside from they are not eating a whole lot.
Click to expand...

If you've killed off your bio-filter, go to your LFS and pickup some anti-ammonia filter-floss. Looks like a brown polyester pad, rectangular about 1' by 8". Some LFS have them, most corporate ones do not, cant think of the brand-name now. Anywho this filter-floss can be added into your filter setup and removes most ammonia before it can become Nitrite or nitrate, use this and a 25% weekly water change in your QT tank and your good
 
jameskb said:
@ezhoops Garlic is effective as a preventative only b/c the sulfur compound it contains actively masks the chemical cues the protozoans use to find a victim fish. This sulfur compound must be built-up in the fish's body over time though, its very similar to that one friend many of us have who loves garlic. If he eats it enough, he will smell like it, his clothes and room will smell like garlic, even if he hasn't eaten any. B/c it builds up in the blood and cells.
Click to expand...

I would like to discuss this further. I've read that the basis of the garlic use is from (forgive me I forgot her name) a woman who is a puffer keeper and one of her puffers had come down with ich and she had tried to feed it a garlic soak food and the ich went away. This was reported and has gone gang busters since.

JamesKB: so what you are saying is the ich cannot find the fish because the fish is not emitting the normal smells or whatever the ich uses to identify the fish. This makes sense but I want to make sure everyone understands that it isn't a CURE for ich. This is the belief most hobbyists including myself are lead to believe.

I would also like to know where you read this or your source.

Thanks
 
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