Ich and popeye - hippo tang

[shluffer]

I picked up a hippo tang and he has both ich and popeye. the was visible for the first time today.

He was QTed for me and both issues showed up after he was put in my tank. Shame on me for being trusting.

My options are to move him to a fully cycled QT (55 gallon which may be small for him), and treat him or to leave him in place and hope. The filtration is a fluval 405.

If I treat him, do I just treat him for the ich or also for the popeye?

I would like to use cupramine to treat him. Hypo salinity makes me nervous, and I have heard that copper is faster. If I treat for the popeye, what do I use? Should I add air stones too make sure he is getting enough air, or just point the output to the surface of the water to increase the gas exchange?

Thanks in advance for the fast help. I plan on implementing tonight so responses are appreciated.

 

[Chris27]

Copper is nice and easy to use, provided you don't have any calcareous material (rock or sand) in the tank. All you need to do is dose per the directions and test frequently, making sure to add more copper if you need to.

Ensuring that you have the proper test kit for the type of copper you're dosing is also very important, ie. ionic copper vs. chelated.

The 55 Gallon will be fine for the hippo for QT, so that won't be a problem. Treat the QT for about 3 weeks with the copper, and closely monitor the popeye. Ideally you want to treat the popeye first given that copper will probably make it worse, but Crypt is far more deadly to the fish.

After the three weeks, you can do a 100% water change to remove the copper, and bring the water back up nice and clean. At this point, you can medicate the tank to help fix the popeye....but keep an eye on water parameters, as some meds will affect the bio-filter.

 

[shluffer]

Thank you for your response. It helps to have the process confirmed.

He looks somewhat better this evening. He has shed most of the white spots, and is swimming around more. I'm not sure if this is a sign of recovery, or if it will be back in a couple of days. We shall see.

I did a 10% water change, and dosed the new water up to 0.5 mg/l. If I only increase the dosage this way, it will be slow going to get to the recommended .5 mg/l. If figure that .2 is the min therapeutic dose, and that he is looking better, so increasing slowly can't hurt. It may help by giving him more time to get used to the copper. What do you think? should I try to dose all the way up to .5 tomorrow night (as per the instructions) or just take it slow as long as he looks ok?

I would also like to know how much I should feed him while in QT. I dropped in an oceans nutrician square last night, and another tonight. I haven't seen him eat either, but last nights is gone. He did nip at tonights. These are the gel squares so they don't quickly break apart into the water, but they may dissolve into it over time. I'm just not sure. If they don't dissolve, he must have eaten it. Is this too much / not enough food? He was eating a half sheet of Nuri a day before I picked him up, so this may not be enough food. I'm hesitant to increase how much I'm feeding him as I'm worried about polluting the water.

 

[Chris27]

The white spots dropping off isn't a sign of recovery, it's a sign that the life cycle is continuing. Once the white spots drop off, it means that the parasite is going to go into a cyst, where it will attach to the surfaces in the aquarium. When the cycst's burst, they release a free swimming parasite that will seek out a fish host. The free swimming stage is where the copper is effective, so ensure that you get the concentration up soon. If you caught it soon enough, you should be good to go, and most likely you won't see the white spots again.

As for feeding, unlike most tangs, blue tangs are more omnivorous then herbivorous, so feeding meaty foods along with the nori is the best way to go. Additionally, blue tangs tend to eat food from the water column, instead of picking it off the rocks, so defrost the frozen square first and feed a little at a time, the fish will eat better this way.

 

[shluffer]

Thanks for all of your help.

I increased the mg/l to the recommended dosage as per the instructions (the instructions indicate I should add to get up to .5). When I fed him this evening he ate. Both the white spots, and the popeye seem to be gone. I think (s)he is going to be fine. I am going to wait 3 weeks and then make a decision about the popeye. If its gone, I'm not sure its worth treating for it. What do you think? I would like to see him eat more, but he is still rather skittish. Whenever I go near the tank he goes to a corner and fades his colors. it gets in the way of feeding him. I will take your advice and try food that will stay in the water column for longer.

If you are following this, I will continue to update.