My poor blue hippo

[Jason B]

Some of you guys may have seen the pics of the blue tang that came with my tank. When i picked him up he had a bad case of HLLE which i have not been able to stop. When i got home on Monday he was covered in white spots which im sure is ich.

I dont know what is going on in my tank to cause this. My peramiters look fine...

Salinity - 1.022
ate - 20
ite - 0
alk - 300
ph - 8.0

I feed them a ton of gut loaded brine shrimp, Nori, and h20 life 50/50 plus which im told is the good stuff. he eats like crazy but has always been very scared of people. There is no stray voltage in my tank ether.

He is around 5 - 6". Fat as can be. He had a split in his tail since i picked him up but im not sure how it happened.

I think its time that i let someone who is more experienced help him because i obviously cant. If you can help him you can have him. Please let me know if you are interested.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[clayspst]

relax, ich isnt the end of the world. Hippo's are known for ich, just keep feeding him and he should pull through.

 

[milesofreefs]

get that Salinity up to 1.026. slowly, idk if that will help with his condition but thats where it should be.

 

[Jason B]

Thanks for the info. I will raise the salinity and increase the feedings a little.

I have a ton of Mahi and blackflin filets that i probly wont eat. should i mash this up and mix it in with the food?

 

[ReeferBill]

Hang in there he looks pretty healthy , and soak his food in Selcon to beef up his immune system

 

[doggydoc]

You can send me the mahi and tuna fillets!!!!!!!


Always at sea;
Doggydoc

 

[mrx66699]

get that Salinity up to 1.026. slowly, idk if that will help with his condition but thats where it should be.

No dont raise the salinity that will be more of a benefit to the ick parasite. Keep the lower salinity with FOWLR. This will also allow the fish to breath easier while recovering and naturally fighting off the parasite. If you can quarantine him and you can use Hyposalinity or OST (Osmotic Shock Therapy) which is one of the most effective, non-chemical ways to rid fish and an aquarium of saltwater ich and other parasitic diseases, as well as eliminate undesirable pests in saltwater systems, such as aiptasia anemones.

Here is a little info on it if you are not familiar with it and choose to use it. All marine creatures require freshwater just as we do to survive, they just process it differently. Since their bodies are less salty than the water surrounding them, to prevent the loss of needed freshwater they take in seawater, process it to eliminate the salt molecules, and then retain the freshwater to maintain a balance with nature. When the salinity of seawater is lowered, or hyposalinity is applied, it results in a lowering of the osmotic pressure of the water at the same time, thus the related name Osmotic Shock Therapy (OST). Fish and a few other sea creatures can withstand and adjust to this change in pressure, but protozoan (Cryptocaryon/White Spot Disease, and Brooklynella/Clownfish Disease), dinoflagellate (Oodinium/Velvet or Coral Fish Disease), and flat worm (Black Spot Disease) ich organisms cannot. Reduce this necessary pressure, particularly rapidly, and they literally explode! Although delicate corals and invertebrates may not immediately rupture as ich parasites do, these too are marine animals that cannot tolerate exposure to low osmotic pressure, resulting in a rather quick death. Do not use hypo if you have a Reef set up. If you cant quarantine him then keep up the feedings, using multiple sources of foods as you have stated you are doing and mother nature will take its course for better or for worse.

 

[Jason B]

I remember reading that lower salinity was better for fish only tanks as it makes them less susceptible to parasites. Do most stores carry Selcon or is that something ill have to order online?

I woke up this morning and all of the ich was gone. What would cause ich to spring up that fast even though my parameters are fine?

For now i would like to hold onto him and see if i can fix his HLLE. From what i can guess it was caused by the extremely high nitrates when i picked up the tank. They were way over 200ppm. It has not become any worse than when i picked him up. Im going to beef up his diet with better quality nori and more of the gut loaded brine shrimp. If this doesn't work then i will see if someone else will take him and help him.

 

[gasman059]

My advise ============== ignore all of the other advise LOL and stop any other changes to your tank, INLCUDING ADDING FISH.
Feed and wait until things settle down.

The fish in its current state looks fine but the tank will not be adequate for him with anymore tankmates.

So patience is a virtue, if you start doing all them recomendations for suuure he will die.
Stress will bring more stress.

 

[billsreef]

My advise ============== ignore all of the other advise LOL and stop any other changes to your tank, INLCUDING ADDING FISH.
Feed and wait until things settle down.

The fish in its current state looks fine but the tank will not be adequate for him with anymore tankmates.

So patience is a virtue, if you start doing all them recomendations for suuure he will die.
Stress will bring more stress.

x2

Besides, to get the salinity low enough to have any impact on the ich would also kill all the inverts in your tank. The infection looks pretty low level, and while I'm usually one to pull and treat, it looks like you have a reasonable chance of feeding this guy well and having his immune system beat it out after a few cycles.

 

[mitchwelt]

my blue hippo has an ick outbreak every once and a while to and he always recovers, feed well and keep an i on him..

 

[zachfishman]

My small (2") hippo had a bout of marine velvet (or something like that, not ich) when I first got him. Plenty of nori and some garlic-soaked brine and he was clean and healthy in a week.

If you're worried, this is a perfect excuse to buy a skunk cleaner shrimp

 

[redneckgearhead]

Without pulling all the fish and allowing the tank to go fallow you will always have ick. If it was my tank, I would set up a hospital tank and qt and treat all fish for 8 weeks. The white spots will come and go depending on the fishes immune system at that moment and the life cycle of the ick. Just because there is no white spots, doesn't mean there is no ick. I do not believe cleaner shrimp will cure ick. You might be able to feed the current fish well and build up there immunity to the ick but any new addition will be susceptible to it.

 

[Jason B]

Thanks for all the help guys. I just feel bad for the little guy and since he hasn't show any improvement with the HLLE, the ich was like a slap in the face. Now that i know its a little more common in the blue tangs that i thought i don't feel as bad. Im going to get some of the selcon and soak the nori.

I am definitely done adding fish. Once i get a better handle on the tank i am going to start adding corals but i still have a lot to learn.

I was planning on doing a 20% water change today but do you think that will stress him too much?

 

[milspec]

In all the years of doing this I never QT my fish and ich always goes away once the fish are healthy and not stressed. I never lost a fish to Ich. For HLLE I have seen Miracle Mud work for a tang that could not shake it. It cleared up in a month or two. If you have a refugium you can try this. I think it also has to do with caulerpa so if you don't have a sump refugium you may want to put some in the display. More then the tang can keep up with eating, the tang will also benefit from having it to eat.

 

[Jason B]

i have a refugium that only has new (3 month old) live sand and live rock. I guess it would be considered a DSB as it is around 3-4" thick. I would like to take the sand out and put in the refugium mud but with the way he is right now and after Gasman and Bill telling me to let him settle down a bit i think im going to wait until the ich is not showing anymore. Would that even stress him if i did that?

 

[gasman059]

SLOW DOWN--no more changes let your tank mature and avoid snake oils and miracle cures.
There's none

 

[fragyoureef]

Hows the little guy doing???

 

[milesofreefs]

No dont raise the salinity that will be more of a benefit to the ick parasite. Keep the lower salinity with FOWLR. This will also allow the fish to breath easier while recovering and naturally fighting off the parasite. If you can quarantine him and you can use Hyposalinity or OST (Osmotic Shock Therapy) which is one of the most effective, non-chemical ways to rid fish and an aquarium of saltwater ich and other parasitic diseases, as well as eliminate undesirable pests in saltwater systems, such as aiptasia anemones.

Here is a little info on it if you are not familiar with it and choose to use it. All marine creatures require freshwater just as we do to survive, they just process it differently. Since their bodies are less salty than the water surrounding them, to prevent the loss of needed freshwater they take in seawater, process it to eliminate the salt molecules, and then retain the freshwater to maintain a balance with nature. When the salinity of seawater is lowered, or hyposalinity is applied, it results in a lowering of the osmotic pressure of the water at the same time, thus the related name Osmotic Shock Therapy (OST). Fish and a few other sea creatures can withstand and adjust to this change in pressure, but protozoan (Cryptocaryon/White Spot Disease, and Brooklynella/Clownfish Disease), dinoflagellate (Oodinium/Velvet or Coral Fish Disease), and flat worm (Black Spot Disease) ich organisms cannot. Reduce this necessary pressure, particularly rapidly, and they literally explode! Although delicate corals and invertebrates may not immediately rupture as ich parasites do, these too are marine animals that cannot tolerate exposure to low osmotic pressure, resulting in a rather quick death. Do not use hypo if you have a Reef set up. If you cant quarantine him then keep up the feedings, using multiple sources of foods as you have stated you are doing and mother nature will take its course for better or for worse.

thanks for the correction. knew about the processing of salt to fresh but not about the whole keeping it low in FOWLR to reduce diseases.

G/L with the fish jasonb

 

[mrx66699]

Just keep feeding well, keep the water the same salinity level, water changes can assist with the quality of water and wont hurt as long as your not going crazy with the percentage changed.....exactly as stated above just keep stability and consistency and he should be fine .....dont go for 101 changes or cures.....if he is eating good with what you are giving him KEEP giving it too him and introduce more but keep him eating well ...change his diet over time by adding to it never taking away from it