I bought a blue hippo tang from coralville bay. I put him in my 90 gallon with three other fish and he seemed to be ok, today i was looking at him and noticed ick on the side of him. I have heard these fish get it pretty easily. I have a uv sterilizer but it doesnt kill ick that is on the fish only free floating. I thought about puting him in a qt tank till it goes away maybe but some melafix in it. Let me know what you guys think.
ick
- Thread starter js_bass
- Start date
jtesdall
Premium Member
Hippos do get it very easily, the question is from where. How long has this tank been setup? In my experience (and many articles and forums agree) good water parameters and general husbandry will prevail. If the hippo is strong, healthy and eats well, he will win. If parameters are stressful (Nitrates, SG, etc.) then he will be stressed and you have les of a chance.
I have had luck (although some say its crazy) with adding garlic extract to their food. The question is: did I have luck or did the fishes immune system beat it itself?
When the lights are out tonight look to see how badly he really has it and look for its spread to other fish. If he is new he will be stressed and hopefully will only have a few spots.
I have had luck (although some say its crazy) with adding garlic extract to their food. The question is: did I have luck or did the fishes immune system beat it itself?
When the lights are out tonight look to see how badly he really has it and look for its spread to other fish. If he is new he will be stressed and hopefully will only have a few spots.
Atticus
New member
Ich is a nasty thing to have in your tank. It comes in with stressed fish and hippos are notorious carriers. My personal experiance and reading has shown that the only way to truley rid your tank of ich is to now pull all fish to QT, treat them with Cupramin, and allow the display tank to go fallow(fish free) for 4-6 weeks.
It is true you can only treat the ich in its free swimming stage.
Garlic can boost a fish's immune system, but will not be effective once the fish is infested.
Fish can reach a balance with ich in your tank and show little to no signs of the parasite until the next new fish is added or the environment becomes stressful.
It is best to treat this correctly now, save your current fish, and learn proper quarantine tecniques to avoid this and other problems in the future. Examples: red bugs, marine velvet, amyloo, etc.
It is true you can only treat the ich in its free swimming stage.
Garlic can boost a fish's immune system, but will not be effective once the fish is infested.
Fish can reach a balance with ich in your tank and show little to no signs of the parasite until the next new fish is added or the environment becomes stressful.
It is best to treat this correctly now, save your current fish, and learn proper quarantine tecniques to avoid this and other problems in the future. Examples: red bugs, marine velvet, amyloo, etc.
My tank has been set up in it current spot for eight months but has been running for about 3 years now. Only the eight months were in my supervision. I havn't had any problems with ich so far. So, what I am going to do is qt the hippo in his own tank. I will continue to watch the other fish to see if they show any signs of it. If they do should I put them in the same qt tank or another. Although i am not going to do this until I get a commin senses of what other reefers believe.
Paul B
Premium Member
If you only have three fish in there I would leave him alone. You already have ich in there so it would do no good to remove the fish now unless you want to leave the tank without fish for 6 weeks. Ich is very easy to cure and the cure is just about guaranteed in a seperate tank with copper but unfortunately you can't cure it in a show tank. Hippo's get it very easily because a hippo like all tangs are schooling fish which are never seen alone. If you have only one they are very stressed as you can tell by them hiding when they are first introduced for days and looking very scared when you put your hand in the tank.
Ich is not caused by stress, it is caused by a paracite but in my opinion (and only my opinion) unstressed fish in breeding condition do not get ich. My hippo was covered in ich when I got him. After a few weeks in my reef with me doing nothing but feeding him, he is fine. It has been many months and there is no ich present but I know it is in my tank and has been for over 30 years. A stressful event like the fish being transfered to your tank from a dealers tank could very well not cause but allow ich to become a problem.
It is a very well understood affliction but there is a large flaw in the knowlege of why it sometimes does not affect fish when it is obviousely present.
I assume you diden't quarantine this fish. If this is the case you will always have ich in there. You need to keep these fish very healthy by feeding fresh food and not introducing fish that will bully them. Of course it is easier to keep a tank where you quarantine everything and there is no ich present.
Good luck.
Paul
Ich is not caused by stress, it is caused by a paracite but in my opinion (and only my opinion) unstressed fish in breeding condition do not get ich. My hippo was covered in ich when I got him. After a few weeks in my reef with me doing nothing but feeding him, he is fine. It has been many months and there is no ich present but I know it is in my tank and has been for over 30 years. A stressful event like the fish being transfered to your tank from a dealers tank could very well not cause but allow ich to become a problem.
It is a very well understood affliction but there is a large flaw in the knowlege of why it sometimes does not affect fish when it is obviousely present.
I assume you diden't quarantine this fish. If this is the case you will always have ich in there. You need to keep these fish very healthy by feeding fresh food and not introducing fish that will bully them. Of course it is easier to keep a tank where you quarantine everything and there is no ich present.
Good luck.
Paul
No, I did not qt this fish first. I just floated him. So you sugest that i should do nothing and just feed him normally. Thanks for all the information paul. I will continue to watch the fish and see if others are getting ich. If this becomes a present danger i will go fallow ( or whatever it is). Thanks again you guys
matt the fiddler
New member
Well, which type of ich are we dealing with?
I have spoken to many people, that say the only true way to fully 100% kill this nasty nasty parasite is to remove the fish for the lifecycle [thus kill it in it's swimming stage], and drop the hospital tank's salinity by a GREAT deal over a few weeks, let it sit for the lifecycle, then slowly bring it up. the problem people found was the the medecine was not 100% effective....
I have spoken to many people, that say the only true way to fully 100% kill this nasty nasty parasite is to remove the fish for the lifecycle [thus kill it in it's swimming stage], and drop the hospital tank's salinity by a GREAT deal over a few weeks, let it sit for the lifecycle, then slowly bring it up. the problem people found was the the medecine was not 100% effective....
