Hippo w/ reoccuring ich

[jmaneyapanda]

Not to hijack this thread, but why do you all think some fish are affected by the parasite, and others not? Is it because certain species have natural physical conditions which prevent infection, or individual fish immunities, or luck of the draw? If eradication by medical or filtration purposes is the only way to save fish from parasites, then why are there thousands or more of hobbyists who have tanks with only one of many fish affected, or people whose fish recover without treatment?
Dont get me wrong, I think more susceptible fish should be checked and treated as needed (such as tangs), but I do not feel it is the ONLY way, and that is the impression I am getting.

 

[Serioussnaps]

Water quality!!! water quality!!!!! water quality!!!! I havent QT;d a fish in 2 years... i qt all corals but not fish. I am a big believer that if you have pristine water quality you will be fine. If you have ich(how many fish do you have?), then put a cleaner shirmp in your tank. Also, enrich his foods(make sure a variety of nutritious food like mysis and algae based like nori)with selcon and zoe. This will help him fight it. You should always do this IMO, i soak all food that i feed, and along with great water I never have parasites. Just soak away and get a cleaner shrimp. Also, regals like to "ich up" when they encounter or suffer some kind of stress. Has there been ANYTHING that could stress him? If so remedy this accordingly. You say you soak, dont stop it.

and the some fish IMO have thinner skin or something to do with their scales that allow parasites to attach more easily

GET THEE A CLEANER SHRIMP OR 2 and keep feeding well and soaking(drop the garlic, notihing but "allicin" or vitamin C, selcon has the same and is far more complete with amino acids, lipids and HUFA's)

The cleaner shrimp will give you peace of mind when he does clear up as well.

 

[Serioussnaps]

Do you have other tangs like a purple tang especially? He may be getting bullied.

 

[Freed]

:rolleye1:

 

[colby]

While I certainly agree that in this instance a QT tank with hyposalinity treatment is the ticket to success, I disagree with the genreal attitude towards garlic here...(please understand I in no way intend in coming off as arumentative at all... )

Of course garlic is not a "natural" remedy for ich in that it does not show up in a wild fishes diet...however that being said I am not aware of wild fish getting ich (not saying they don't). I am not sure if this is because the instant they fall of their game so to speak they are picked off or if the natural environment does not supply an ich friendly place (seems most likely to me...)Keeping fish in a little square box is a far cry from the wild and as such calls for experimentation and I think that garlic has some excellent potential.
While the garlic process has not been scientifically proven so to speak, it has been used with humans (ancient chinese culture) for thousands of years...to me this merits some serious consideration.

I personally have had success three times in staving off ich infections by feeding food soaked in garlic...In these instances I did nothing more than that, no lowering salinity etc due to inverts in the tank. It worked all three times, I personally feel that the garlic in some way boosts the immune system of the fish enabling it to fight off the parasites and such. However, I think for garlic to be successful early detection and treatment is probablly key. Once a fish is covered with ich, its immune sysstem is probablly so compromised that garlic is no longer a viable solution as the only method of treatment...

Just my .02, again I respect everyone's opinion and I hope I din't come off as argumentative...

 

[Zivman]

I use garlic in my tank, but don't rely on it. Certain fish are more prone to getting ich than others, and your hippo is near the top of that list. Thing is, I have had success ridding tangs of ich with nothing more than keeping the fish eating and keeping my tank extra clean. If the fish is healthy enough, it can shake ich on its own. neon gobies and cleaner shrimp are also helpful parts of the equation. I don't feel ich is a death notice for the fish, nor the other fish in the tank. While I have lost a fish or two to ich, I have a number of fish in my tank that have lived through more than one bout with ich or other occupants of the tank having ich - over a few yrs. The thing that some just need to know that a Q-tank is not practical for everyone.


What I would do is keep the fish as healthy as possible. Reduce any stress it might have- water quality, temp, quality food, etc. If the fish keeps eating, keep dosing with things like garlic and selcon. Introduce a cleaner shrimp if you don't have one, and possibly a neon goby. All these things will help.

My question is over what length of time are you seeing these runs of ich occur? Like every few months? weeks? days?

 

[deep_sea_Dennis]

I had the same problems with my blue hippo I have a UV, and I make sure I put plenty of garlic in his food. when he does break out I treat the tank for 3 days with Kent RX-P and poly ox and it seem s to work well...good luck

 

[thor32766]

yeah a tuff situation, i dont know in other peoples tanks, but a cleaner shrimp has done wonders in all my experiences. If you dont have one add one or maybe two. I have two of them in my 90 and four of them in my 220. just my 2 cents

 

[e46mpower]

I have two cleaner shrimps, and my tang doesn't allow the shrimps to even come close to him. I know the shrimps are trying to get to my tang, but he just won't let the shrimps clean him. How can I fix this.