Stressed Baby Hippo Tang

[cburke401]

Hey everybody, I just picked up a baby hippo tang (about an inch, maybe less) and a small firefish goby yesterday. I picked up the fish from different LFS's, the goby took an hour drive and the tang took a ten minute drive. When I got home it took me about forty-five minutes to clean, dry, setup, and get the water parameters in the quarantine tank perfect for the fish before I started acclimating. I used about six gallons of water from my reef display and about four gallons of new saltwater in my ten gallon quarantine tank. This left the temperature at about 79 degrees Fahrenheit (although I just turned it up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit), salinity at 1.024, the pH at 8.3ish, and nitrates, nitrites, and phosphates all at about 0. I didn't include the other test results like calcium because I didn't think they were necessary even though they too are all ideal. I acclimated my goby first. The goby was in the bag a total of an hour and forty-five minutes and I acclimated him for about thirty minutes using the drip method. The baby hippo tang was in the bag for about forty minutes and I acclimated him for about four hours. Anyways the ten gallon quarantine tank has an aqueon power filter with only the sponge in it, a marineland bio-wheel 10 or whatever the smallest size is with only the bio-wheel, a heater, a micro power head, and a large rock. There is hardly any light in the room to reduce stress. They were both doing fine last night. The tang would hide in the rock and only come out to feed and he ate good. Although when the sun rose today and I fed them, I noticed that the tang has ich and is breathing heavy. He doesn't seem to be terribly ill but I want to do something. I have the two products by Microbe-Lift, Herbtana and Artemiss that are both copper-free and I am thinking about starting to medicate right away. Does anybody have any advice or comments? Both would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MrTuskfish]

First, good move using a QT. Neither of the products you listed will cure ich. Herbtana is one of many herbal meds that claim to do everything and do little, if anything. Artemiss doesn't even claim to do anything with ich and it doesn't. Ich is a serious parasite, capable of wiping out entire tanks and needs to be taken seriously. IMO, herbal do-alls are not serious. The Tang's heavy breathing is a serious symptom of ich, which loves the fish's gills.

The only cures I trust are Tank-transfer or copper. TT is my first choice; its easy, safe, and foolproof. I don't know why copper is feared by so many people;its used by most wholesalers, shippers, collectors, and many LFS. If you decide to use copper, let us know, there are some tricks and pitfalls that make it safer & easier. Hypo-salinity has its fans too; but I personally don't trust it. There are a couple of quinine drugs that seem to work too; but I have no experience with them and they may be difficult to find. I wouldn't hesitate to use them; some excellent forum members have very good things to say about these meds. There is no med, other than copper and (probably) the quinine drugs that will kill ich. Many folks have lost many fish to drugs that simply don't work.

First, I'd read the ich stickies above to get an idea of what you're dealing with. Be sure nothing wet goes from your QT to your DT, or you'll have real problems.

There is no reason to do all those tests in a QT. Nitrate, phos, etc. don't hurt fish at any level you'll see in a QT. Did you check ammonia? That's a biggie in a QT. You need to have a plan to deal with ammonia, unless you've planned ahead and have the QT cycled with the HOB filter media seeding for a few weeks in your DT. Plenty of WCs are probably needed. You've already used DT water; its ideal for doing water changes in the QT, plus the DT gets a small WC as well. Don't go nuts with all the "stress" tactics. As long as the water is good and the fish have hiding places; they will do fine with just slightly subdued lighting; you want them eating as much as they normally would. IMO & IME; "stress" is one of the most over-used term in the hobby.

 

[b0bab0ey]

^^^ Good advice above.

If you aren't comfortable doing tank transfer, start copper treatment ASAP. Cupramine is the brand of choice, but I think both of your fish would do fine using Coppersafe as well. If the tang isn't looking too bad then bring the copper up gradually; take twice as long as the instructions say. Feed the fish in-between doses to make sure they are still eating (appetite suppression is a common side effect of copper treatment).

 

[b0bab0ey]

double post

 

[Brando457]

i definitely recommend the copper treatment my hippo is approximately 2" and I had him in copper and he is doing very well!

Personally all my fish have been treated for ich in one way or another. I currently have: Emperor angel, kole tang, hippo tang, melnarus wrasse, 2 sustainable aquatics black ice clowns, chromis, flame angel, and a goby. The best thing I've found is cupraine to treat them.

 

[cburke401]

Hey guys thanks a lot for your input, I will definitely take it into consideration. However when I woke up this morning I found the two fish laying on their sides about three inches apart? They both seemed to have no type of visible parasite and the goby's gills are opened up. I put my hand under the tank (there is no sand) and the goby flinched a bit but I couldnt reach to where the tang is so I don't even know if he is alive, but if I had to guess I would probably say he is alive. It isn't time to feed them yet so I can't say anything about that. I started dosing with Hebtana because I didn't know what else to do. But now that you mention cupramine, I am on my way to my LFS to buy it right now...should I wait until tomorrow to dose cupramine? I fear the worst.

 

[cburke401]

Also I forgot to mention yesterday that I have been using Garlic X-Treme right before feeding (although they've only been in the QT long enough for me to feed them once!)

 

[b0bab0ey]

But now that you mention cupramine, I am on my way to my LFS to buy it right now...should I wait until tomorrow to dose cupramine? I fear the worst.

If the situation is as dire as you're describing, they probably won't be alive if you wait until tomorrow. It may already be too late. You need to begin treatment ASAP!

I fear you may actually be dealing with Velvet, not Ich. You said in your OP that "the tang has ich", so I'm assuming you saw white dots on him. Velvet is often mistaken for Ich and can kill within 48 hrs.