Hawkfish with ich!

[theduker25]

Ok, I have a 29g FWLR with a grouper, lionfish and hawkfish. i just spotted a white spot on the hawkfish which I fear is ich. I have done some reading on here and I realize everybody seems to prefer hyposalinty over copper but the expense of a refractometer is out of my budget right now. I have a 10g quarentine tank and am going to remove the hawkfish to their for the time being. I am going to try the copper method since I have done it before.

Question: How long does the poor guy have to stay in the copper tainted tank with the copper? and how long after the copper is removed with a polyfilter?

Any input is welcome, Mr. Hawkfish appreciates it too.

M

[Geoff]

once the copper is used in that tank it will stay in the tank. the sillycone will absorbe some of the Cu. this is why it is recommended not to use a tank for SW if it has been used for FW. Cu is used in FW a lot for parasite control.

you may just be stressing out the hawkfish more by removing it. that is a lot of fish in that tank, it may just be stressed from the close proximity to the other fish.

G~

[Kevin1000]

Here are two links that may help.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...marineich.html

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2003/mini1.htm

If you are going to treat the fish with copper I would recommend cupramine from Seachem - easiest on the fish. You will need a copper test kit that measures complex copper and will measure up to .5 mg/l. Heres a link outlining cupramine treatment.

http://www.petsforum.com/personal/tr...cupramine.html

Copper treatment with cupramine will take 14-21 days.

You should note that if one fish has ich you should count on all fish having ich and you will need to treat all fish. In order to insure that your tank is free of ich you will need to maintain your show tank w/o fish for approximately 5 weeks.

I would recommend treating with hyposalinity. Easier on the fish and easier to administer. You can purchase a good refractometer for under $50.

Hope this helps.

[JennM]

One spot?

Are you sure it's ich?

In my experience it's very rare for hawkfishes to get any disease, particularly ich.

If it is one spot, it could be a lymphocystis. You can either leave it alone it will eventually go away when the stressor that causes it is alleviated, OR you can FW dip for it, and pick it off.

I'd be very surprised if it was ich.

Just my experience.

Jenn

[theduker25]

Well, I have had these guys living together harmoniously for a while now. The grouper stays in his cave. Lionfish perches in his corner upside down and the hawk sits on his perch. I did a freshwater dip on the hawk for about 15 minutes yesterday. The white spot is still there. I think the dip wigged him out more than the white spot. I tried scraping it off too no avail. I am just going to leave it for now and see what happens. The other guys have nothing on them. If I can get a decent pic I will post.

I know it seems like a lot oif fish for the tank, but they all get along OK. I do 50% monthly water changes or hwne i see my nitrates are getting too high. I constantly pic algae out also. Lots of LR to keep things relatively clean.

[JennM]

It sounds like lymphocystis.

High nitrate could be the stressor.

It would be better for all your organisms if you did smaller, but more frequent water changes. 50% is enough to throw the ionic balance off, and I never suggest that much unless there's a serious problem going on.

Try 10% per week - or even 5 gallons. I maintain a 29 g with lower bio load than you have and we do 5 gallons every other week. Nitrates stay below 2 ppm.

Soon the grouper and the lion will be too large for your tank... and either may eat the hawk. Please have an exit plan for those fish as they get too large.

I've got a large Volitan and a large Panther Grouper in the 1000-gallon tank and I was surprised at just how active they are when they have the space. I've always seen them in tanks 200 g or less, and yes they seem rather sedentary. Give them room, and they are very busy.

If it's just one spot on the hawk, I wouldn't worry. My money says lymphocystis.

HTH

Jenn