Trying to save a yellow belly hippo

[l3leedingstar]

Okay so apx 6 weeks ago my dt was infested with ich. I lost 2 fish before moving everyone that was left into a qt. At this time I took in a small yellow belly hippo 3" who was covered in ich and barely breathing. That day I did a fresh water dip then a formaldehyde dip then put him in coppersafe with all my other fish ( I know that seems like a lot but he def. wouldn't have made it through the night anyways) after all that about 2 weeks later he developed popeye. I know this is from high ammonia but no other fish had it. Maybe it was a pre existing condition from where I got him from and didn't notice? Anyways I then treated him for that and the swelling went down but one eye is still a little cloudy. He's still in the qt with all the other fish however he has lighter color patches on him. Could they be scars? Do ich scars ever go away? This little guy has been through so much and he's always so happy and eats good I would hate to see him not make it to his new dt I've looked up so many diseases and can't find anything that looks like this. I tried to take pics but with a hippo that's a little hard. There's no way it's ich or velvet because the tank still has copper in it. I'm really confused and wonder if maybe he is stressed from being in copper for a few weeks and is losing his color? Also I have 2 yellow tangs one I've had through this whole experience and he never acquired ich. I since got a new yellow tang and he got ich right away and his fins are all ripped. The ich is gone but he still has torn fins and doesn't look right to me. Also I have 2 chromis in there who never got ich but their fins are also torn. I've treated for bacterial infections and parasites so anything they had I would think would have been gone?

 

[svejil]

First thing I would do is STOP getting more fish, until your ich treatment is over for your current fishes. You could just be reintroducing parasites and starting over.

Copper is not tolerated well by some / most tangs. Although you do not mention adverse effects from your yellow tangs, your hippo was already in bad distress, and although the combination of treatment you performed may have saved its life, it is likely what has caused the discoloration / scarring.

This is in most cases reversible. You mention quite a bit of fish in the QT, and ammonia. How large is your QT? Stress is also a factor here likely. Once your treatment is finished, and you return the fish to the DT, you could see a improvement, as long as excellent water quality, and highly nutritious food is fed. You did not mention what type(s) of food you offer. Be sure it is varied, and contains vitamin supplements, along with Selcon, or something similar. NLS pellets are also a good food staple. Tangs also need algae daily, please offer on a clip.

I suspect if you have a set protocol to finish your treatment, and return these fishes to your DT with plenty of swimming room, and excellent diet, you will see improvement. How large is your DT?

SV

 

[l3leedingstar]

I added 2 fish who were dying about 3 days after I put all of mine in qt. So no new fish have been added for about 5 weeks.

I know copper is very strong but this is why I chose the copper safe its supposed to be safer and not as toxic as other copper medications. Like you said no signs from any of the fish being copper/medication related. Don't you think they would have shown signs of stress the first week or two while trying to adjust to the new tank? Why would there be complications now?

The qt tank is a 45 gallon.ammonia is currently reading zero. I'm afraid when if I return them to the display they may get ich again if they are stressed or if the have something it may get worse then I'll have to rip the whole tank apart again. I read the display should be left fish free for 8 weeks so they still have 2 weeks of treatment. I feed a variety if things. Seaweed with garlic everyday dry seaweed flakes with garlic pellets with garlic pe mysis I soak in zoa and garlic and I throw some cubes of mixed food in there also.

My current reef tank is a 92 corner with 55 sump. I'm setting up a 180 also. Taking your advice maybe I'll wait the rest of the treatment period then move everything back into the 92 and watch them while setting up the 180 then in 6 months or so move them to the 180 so they'll have plenty of room.

 

[svejil]

Copper, and high ammonia and physical trauma is what I would expect to cause discoloration or scars.

If you leave your main DT fallow for at least 8 weeks with no cross contamination from your QT to your DT which would start the clock over again, then you should not have any ich to infect your fish when you re-home them, regardless of stress. See below:

At about 8 weeks, the odds are above 99.9% or less than 1 in a 1000 that there would be any living parasite in the fishless tank.

As far as research has found, the odds are about 100% or very close to that number, that there would be no living parasite in the fishless tank, when the tank is fishless for no less than 12 weeks.

I have heard of tanks still having parasites at or below 6 weeks, but so far have not heard of anyone having identified and confirmed living parasites in fishless tanks at 8 weeks, though there is a very small chance

Stressors are only a factor if there is ich present to infect. If you fallowed your main tank correctly, you can see by what I posted above, that you should not have ich present. Many misconceptions that ich is forever present, which is not true.

Hope this helps.

SV