need help! Blue Hippo Tang has ich

sherm827 · 03-20-2006, 10:09 PM

I bought a Blue hippo 3 days ago and Im sure it has aquired ich! It is still eating and swims around as of tonight. It is covered with a lot of white spots, and its breathing looks to be a little heavy. Iv been feeding all of my fish frozen food and have just started the garlic treatment tonight, I am also in the process if raising the water temp to 80, My other fish are rubbing the rocks, so I think there getting it as well. Im really worried that Ill loose my fish and not sure what I can do to save them. I have read a lot about ich and it sounds like it is going to take over my entire tank. This is my first major encounter with any problems in my tank. its been up and running for 3 months levels are good. Nitrate 20, Nitrite 0, Alk 180, and PH 8.4. My tank is 55 gal and 60lbs live rock. undergravel filter, protein skimmer, 2 powerheads. Livestock, Royal Gramma, Perc clown, Algae Blenny, Coral Beauty, Cleaner Shrimp, Choc chip star, Anemone, and my new fish the Blue Hippo. Im new to saltwater and to this site, I have raised fresh water for years. Please help

whatevva · 03-21-2006, 08:39 AM

Would it be possible to set up a small quarantine tank? It's tough to treat fish in a reef tank because what helps the fish, is not good for coral.

oyam123 · 03-21-2006, 08:51 AM

cleaner shrimp you have will help......just keep it eating.

sherm827 · 03-21-2006, 08:56 AM

Not good woke up this morning and she has lost all of her color and shes breathing really fast, and swimming on her side, I think im going to loose her by the end of the day.

Loverotties · 03-21-2006, 09:01 AM

Give Her a fresh water dip or some LFS will try to help them in their hospital tanks.

tims · 03-21-2006, 05:24 PM

i hope your fish will make it,
settign up a QT tank and treating right away will be best, if possible treat all fish, Ick has away of finding a nice place to hide, they can also move in to the gill area so you can not really see them. Although the freshwater dip is a quick way to "pop" them, that can lead to many more problems down the line.
if you ca nget a QT tank up and running, leave the main display empty of all fish for a few weeks, this will help need the life cycle of the Ick.

sherm827 · 03-21-2006, 06:20 PM

My tang died at noon today. I tried to rescue her and failed. I have taken advice from a friend that sugested I lower my salinity in the tank for a couple of weeks and then bring it back up. Is this a good idea? I was told to bring it down slowly until I reach 1.017. I would like to try this tonight and get a head start on this ich thing before it wipes out my whole tank. I have learned a lesson and will never put a new fish in my main tank again. I bought a small tank today for a QT what do I need? The basics or more? Should I add anything to the bottom? Its a 10 gallon. I thought I knew enough to keep a tang, im going to wait a little longer. LFS is going to help me replace the tang, but not until i can get things back under control. This place is great! Im new to salt fish keeping and find that most of my answers to my questions are here. Thanks for the help.

tims · 03-21-2006, 06:53 PM

Yes "hyposalinity" will or is another way to treat the tank,
how many fish do you have right now?
slowly lowering the salt level and then keeping it there for a while you help. but you will also have to raise it very slowly also.

honestly if you can do it, remove all the fish from the main display for a few weeks, this way you can treat the fish and the tank will be empty of hosts.

but in your QT, you can leave it with out a substrate, need to have a heater and i would just a hang on power filter to keep the water moving. If thisis going tobe just short QT before going in to the main display then nothing super specail is ready needed, you can use a few pieces of LR rubble for the bottom if you want , but then you will have to keep it up and runnig all the time, if you hav a sump , placing a floss bag so bacteria live in it will help the QT tank when you set it up for new guys. Try to keep the salt level the same as the main display if you, or find out what the LFS keeps it at and then slowly raise the level to what your main display is. this should take a few days to do..
on a side note,
Garlic has been used by many members to "treat" Ick. But there is no really "hard" proof" that it really works. it also is suppose to increase the " i want to eat" feeling in fish that are not eating. So far the garic thing has not been shown to increase the immune system or to help them fight off Ick at all, but others have said they have had success,but then again, if you start fiddling around with differnt things to try and heal or save someone , you can never be totally sure what did or did not work. Me i am on the fence about.
if you woudl like to read more on methods or others treatment and problems youcan always do a search in several of the forum.
Another method that some have used is ozone. ireally dont recommend that at all.

sherm827 · 03-21-2006, 11:10 PM

I have 4 fish. Royal Gramma, Perc clown, Algae Blenny, Coral Beauty, Cleaner Shrimp, Choc chip star, and 2 Anemones. I was thinking of QTing them but thought that my QT tank would be too small for the bio load. They all have it now except for the clown. he seems to be doing great. None are showing signs of stress from what I see, and the cleaner shrimp is working overtime keeping the Coral beauty clean and he will work on the clown a bit as well but refuses to help out my Gramma. my worry is stressing the fish and making matters worse if I try to catch and move them. I think the ich with the added stress killed my Tang. All fish are eating well and not breathing hard. They seem normal except for the rock rubbing every once in a while. Hypo seems like a good idea, but will it get rid of the ich? How much more stress would this meathod be then if I was to QT them?

sfilingeri · 03-21-2006, 11:30 PM

Im right here with you on this, i bought a Powdered Brown Tang and 2 days later all my fish in my 60gal had ick. (2 clowns and a yellow tang)

My clown almost died, wouldnt eat and breathed heavy.

What saved them all?? im not sure but this is what i did and it worked:

First I put a UV sterilizer on the return of my cannister filter

Second I raised my temp to 83

Third I used SeaChem Paraguard

My fish all survived and were better almost overnight.....

VWD · 03-22-2006, 12:02 AM

Welcome to TRT!!!

Sorry to hear you lost your tang.

SeahorseFanatic · 04-05-2006, 10:20 PM

Whew! 83 is quite high but at least it worked!!!

fisher · 04-08-2006, 02:25 PM

there is also a product out there called rxp it is safe for corals as well and works great for removing the nasty little ich critters.

tims · 04-08-2006, 03:24 PM

Welcome Fisher to TRT

do you have the full name? or who makes it?

Kent E. · 04-12-2006, 02:21 AM

Hippos always seem to have ich. The ideal situation is to make sure the tank is adequate for the fish, this keeps the strss down. Next make sure that its a healthy specimen. Most likely it was doomed before it was in your tank. If those two requirements are met, a hippo may still get ich but it should recover.

Need some advice