What's wrong with my Hippo? (pic)

[migston]

Excuse the crapiness of the picture. I really need to get a camera that allows you to manually focus and set exposure. Anyways, here's the best shot I got of my Hippo

I'm not sure what to make of it. It looks like brownish lesions all over his skin. Some are raised like pimples and some, especially around his face look like the flesh was eaten away. Could this be some form of ich? HLLE? Fungus?

I've had him in my QT for about 7 weeks now. So far it seems to not have done anything. He looked extremely healthy when I put him in but I did a hypo treatment anyway. After 3 weeks I brought the salinity back up and fished him out but when i got a good look at him, I noticed big white pimples all over him. I suspected ich so i put him through another 3 week hypo and that's where it stands now.

I know that the pics suck but could anyone maybe point me in the right direction so i can do some more research. I need to know what he's got and if it's contagious because quite frankly, my QT is crap. I only have an HOB wet/dry for filtration on it. If what he's got is a contagious disease then so be it, I'll treat him. But if it's a reaction to poor tank conditions, and putting him in my display would help, I'd like to know ASAP

 

[murphreef]

the white pimples are most likely ich.... then the flesh missing around the face and such is most likely HLLE....

these fish are so prone to it.... any lil thing sets it off...

my lil hippo went through the same thing when i first got him 2 years ago....

i found that they key was feeding a good variety of food.... from frozen vitamin enriched meaty foods to kelp and frozen formula 1 & 2.....

good luck

 

[818]

Hes going through puberty

Are those white or black specs Migs?

Sam

 

[migston]

The pimples are kind of orangey/brown which is why I'm not sure if it's ich or not. Besides wouldn't the two separate hypo treatments have done something against ich if he had it?

I'm pretty sure he does have HLLE, but he definitely has something else because he has those pimples near his bottom side too.

He's kind of picky and I only notice him eating mysis and cyclopeeze. I'll get some formula 2 and see if he'll take to it.

 

[818]

Migs you definatley need to feed veggies. Nori, formula one, etc.. his immune system is weak and thats why he probably got the disease.

 

[migston]

I've been clipping seaweed for him but I'm not sure if he's eating it. AIt does disappear but I can't tell if it's cause he eats it or just cause it gets soggy and breaks up. Never actually seen him take a nibble, but he hides whenever I come around.

 

[NanoLurker]

are these orangish/brownish "pimples" raised or are they flush? do they appear to be getting larger?

 

[migston]

They're somewhat raised. Not sure if they're getting larger since I only noticed them recently. He used to have big white pimples.

 

[818]

Migs Nori breaks away withing a few hours.... A tang of any species will eat whenever, whatever! So if hes not eating you need to soak whatever it is hes eating in Selcon. Or he wont make it in the long run.

Sam

 

[NanoLurker]

you can also try ocean nutrition seaweed selects. here's some additional info on mhlle http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/sp/index.php

also, you mentioned two rounds of hypo - what did you drop it to, how quickly did you bring it back up, how quickly did you drop it again and were you using a refractometer. how big is your QT tank? the fish could be stressed out quite a bit right now so reducing that and offering a more varied died will help.

 

[migston]

Both times the salinity was dropped to 1.009 using a refractometer. Took about three or four days each time dropping or raising the salinity. QT is unfortunately only 10g so I'm sure it's stressing him out.

This is pretty frustrating because I'm so tempted to just put him in my display where I feel like he'd have a chance, but the risk of killing my established fish is too much until I can figure out what's with him.

Maybe the seaweed I got wasn't to his liking. I put some in my display and none of the snails even cam near it. It's unseasoned but they don't seem to like it. I'll try the more expensive Ocean Nutrition stuff.

 

[NanoLurker]

this may be an impossible question for you to answer but are these new orangey/brownish pimples located where the old white "pimples" used to be? i'm thinking that if there it was an ich problem, these orangey/brownish spots may be sites where the trophant was attached. i'm a little worried since you mentioned the orangey/brown pimples appear raised. my only experience with any type of raised pimple is an infected granuloma but it was localized. it sounds like your fish (if i'm understanding correctly) has a number of these over it's entire body.

you can't borrow a better camera can you? possibly take a video and edit down to some good frames? the picture is pretty blurry but it appears to be a pretty good case of MHLLE. personally, i'd see if i could get a really good picture and post over in marine depot's "disease, health and wellness" and see what kelly thinks.

as hard as it is, i think you're smart in not placing the fish in your main display. a larger QT tank would help but may not be something you can do at this time. keep a really good eye on your water quality. i'd also try and get some beta glucan and spirulina in the fish as well.

i wish i had more to offer.