Ick...has it ever been brought up here before?

[poppin_fresh]

Ok... no lectures please, just advise me.

I brought home a baby Hippo Tang yesterday on an impulse buy. I would have waited, but I would have lost my pick of the litter. He was in the store a week, was eating and was the most active and brightest colored of the 5 in the tank. I noticed they all had a couple white spots on them, but I figured that was kind of normal for a recently stressed tang.

I didn't have a QT set up, and I have read that QTs can stress Hippos even more, so I acclimated and added to the display. He is very active and eats well, but still has a couple white spots.

Should I yank him and QT him today, or is the damage already done? Hes only been in there about 15 hours.

His tank mates
5 Blue Green Chromis
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Purple Firefish

Thanks,
Jon

 

[leebca]

Your tank and all fish should be considered to be infected with the white spots. If you're sure of the diagnosis, the best procedure is to remove all fish and treat the fish while the tank goes fishless for 8 weeks.

This two-part article gives you the treatment options:
Steven Proââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s article on Marine Ich (Part 1):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.htm
(Part 2):
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/sp/feature/index.htm

No lectures, but you do know you deserve them, right?

A good quarantine procedure:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm

Practice good fish nutrition, too! Plus extra additives during recovery
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=785228

 

[poppin_fresh]

Yeah... I know. I QTd all my fish too this point, but I was afraid if the QT cycled it would do more damage than good to the little guy.

 

[leebca]

In a pinch you don't need a cycled QT. Do frequent large water changes and it works just fine. It takes more work and $, but it works.

 

[Rondelet]

Poppin-fresh -

I'd say the damage is done. Having said that, if you haven't seen it already you should check out this thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=820537

I had a little Hippo and the same thing happened to me. I'm sure glad, however, that I didn't jump the gun and rip everything apart to treat it and the others in the tank.

While Lee is right, in that, essentially, your tank and fish are now infected. I would wait and see how it goes before tearing it down to catch all the fish and treating them. If you water quality and nutrition are good, and the fish not stressed out, there is a good chance the white spots you're seeing will not develop into clinical disease. Just my $0.02.

 

[poppin_fresh]

I am not going to pull everyone at this point. The Hippo is in QT and I am starting towards hypo. I will watch all the others and see if anyone else develops it.

 

[TWallace]

On a related note, what do you all do with fish that won't do well in a typical quarantine tank? I'm talking about mandarins, wrasses that sleep in gravel (assuming your QT is substrate-free), sand-sifting gobies, or possibly larger tangs in a small QT that will stress them.

Also, let's say you have a female clown in your display and want to add a male. Isn't it possible that the 4-6 week quarantine of a new male clown could possibly turn it female? Should you pull the female from the display and quarantine her with the new male? I'm not in this positiion now, but I've thought about it in the past and wasn't sure what to do.

 

[leebca]

I'm unaware of any marine specimen that can't be quarantined. You just need to accommodate them. Fish too small? Get a larger QT. Fish needs substrate? Use silica sand. Fish needs hiding places? Put in plastic plants, decorations, etc. Fish can't get along with another fish? Quarantine one fish at a time.

This article will provide most hints and suggestions:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.htm

As for something like mandarins, you should be obtaining only the ones that are eating at your LFS. This is a good article on how they will eat other foods, but even if they only eat pods, then if you use a QT process then the display tank is free of disease, right? and pods from the display system would be disease free:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-02/nftt/index.htm
http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html
Donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t ever believe a mandarin is not possible to quarantine; donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t ever believe that a mandarin is totally impervious to Marine Ich (Cryptocaryon irritans).

 

[Philwd]

Listen to Lee. Mandarins with ich wiped out my tank a year ago. I didn't QT because I had thought they were almost immune. Next time I will use the QT and use the method Melev used to get them to eat in QT.

 

[leebca]

Thank you Philwd. Few people are willing to share their negative experiences and what they've learned.

 

[TOURKID]

but what about the clownfish? im going to wait until my female gets large enough and then id like to pair her up. but my concerns are

a long qt turning him female
after going thru all the qt the female wont except him etc

 

[poppin_fresh]

Back on my topic...

My baby Hippo looked near death yesterday. She never left the bottom corner of the tank had labored breathing. Today I noticed that she started eating again and was swimming around a little. I have been moving the QT towards hypo (now at 1.013) and have been doing low doses of garlic and Formalin/Malachite meds.

I think that we might be on the up side! I'm so hoping she will pull through. I've only lost one fish in my first year in this hobby and I'm not ready for number two.

 

[TOURKID]

poppin, i hope she makes it I had a clarki and gobi as my first fish and got a hippo tang not knowing they are very suseptable to ick, She wiped out my whole tank. It was a nightmare with me being a newb!!! I was looking at hippos agian yesterday... darn if they arent awsome fish!! had to back away b4 it was to late lol

 

[poppin_fresh]

Yeah... I've wanted one for a long time, but my LFSs never have them. When I saw they had 5 tiny ones I knew one was coming home.

She was out again this morning and ate a little more food. I have disontinued the Formalin/Malachite, but am still adding Garlic Extreme. I'm getting a little sick of the smell, but I dont see any more spots on her.

 

[TOURKID]

ive heard good things about garlic. i have the garlic extreme as well, my fish refuses it if its on the food. i put it in the tank a few times but discontinued when i found out it wasent ick it was fungus.