Help needed to save a hippo tang

4 days ago my hippo tang developed what appeared to be ick after being in my
reef tank for almost 6 months. She is now quarintined with her tank mate, a
percula clown fish who has showed no signs of infestation. Initially I did a
freshwater bath and placed them in a small tank with a
cooper/formalin/malchite mix to treat them. On day 2 the hippo tang looked
better and was feeding. Suddenly on day 4 the hippo is now covered with what
appears to be ick and now also has clouded eyes, the percula looks fine.
What am I doing wrong? Urgent help needed! I really want to save this fish.
Thanks to anyone who can offer suggestions.

Lost my entire stock to Ich with the exception of 1 fish. My Yellow Tang who
showed the same signs as your Hippo Tang. Covered in white spots with cloudy
eyes. Out of desperation I bought a 15w UV sterilizer and attached it to the
system (major PITA since plumbing is not exactly my thing).

Dude I have never seen this fish look better. Within 24 hours he showed big
signs of improvement. Within 48 hours he was ich free and looking
outrageous. Now he is strong, fins way up, and feeding like a madman. Not to
mention the water is crystal clear like I've never seen it. I plan to keep
the UV running 24/7 for another week or two and then go to 8 hour a day
shifts with it.

The sterilizer kills free swimming bacteria and parasites not the ones on
the fish. But as they fall off the fish to do their reproductive thing, they
get sucked into the filter and passed through the sterilizer. I know I've
read that UV effectiveness is minimal at best, but IMO and experience it
saved the fish from the same death as his mates and other aquarists that I
talk to tell me that their system with UV lights in the mix run for years
problem free.

I did read that UV's under 15w are not effective against parasites.

Hope this was a little help because I totally feel your pain.


"larap" wrote in message
...
4 days ago my hippo tang developed what appeared to be ick after being in
my
reef tank for almost 6 months. She is now quarintined with her tank mate,
a
percula clown fish who has showed no signs of infestation. Initially I did
a
freshwater bath and placed them in a small tank with a
cooper/formalin/malchite mix to treat them. On day 2 the hippo tang looked
better and was feeding. Suddenly on day 4 the hippo is now covered with
what
appears to be ick and now also has clouded eyes, the percula looks fine.
What am I doing wrong? Urgent help needed! I really want to save this
fish.
Thanks to anyone who can offer suggestions.

"larap" wrote in message
...
4 days ago my hippo tang developed what appeared to be ick after being in my
reef tank for almost 6 months. She is now quarintined with her tank mate, a
percula clown fish who has showed no signs of infestation. Initially I did a
freshwater bath and placed them in a small tank with a
cooper/formalin/malchite mix to treat them. On day 2 the hippo tang looked
better and was feeding. Suddenly on day 4 the hippo is now covered with what
appears to be ick and now also has clouded eyes, the percula looks fine.
What am I doing wrong? Urgent help needed! I really want to save this fish.
Thanks to anyone who can offer suggestions.


Sounds like a bacterial infection instead of ick. I would treat the quarantine
tank with maracyn and maracyn II for at least a week.

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 08:38:30 -0500, "larap"
wrote:

4 days ago my hippo tang developed what appeared to be ick after being in my
reef tank for almost 6 months. She is now quarintined with her tank mate, a
percula clown fish who has showed no signs of infestation. Initially I did a
freshwater bath and placed them in a small tank with a
cooper/formalin/malchite mix to treat them. On day 2 the hippo tang looked
better and was feeding. Suddenly on day 4 the hippo is now covered with what
appears to be ick and now also has clouded eyes, the percula looks fine.
What am I doing wrong? Urgent help needed! I really want to save this fish.
Thanks to anyone who can offer suggestions.

Hello larap,

I note that you say "a copper/formalin/machchite mix". (What is
malchite ?) I don't think you should be mixing chemicals, as they may
interact, giving a totally undesired effect.

If they are both still alive, I would gradually reduce the specific
gravity to 1.012, over several days i.e. take out some sal****er and
add R.O. or freshwater, to reduce the SG by (say) 0.002 each day. This
may kill any pathogens and be less stress on the fish. If you begin to
see an improvement, keep this SG level for (say) 4 weeks, then
gradually increase the SG back to where it was. Make sure there is
some algae for the hippo. Keep posting the progress.

Regards, Fishnut.

I had the same thing happen to my hippo - he looked real bad!
With the advice of my LFS, I bought a cleaner wrasse which picks and
eats the egg sacks off the fish before they fall off to start the
process all over again. After about a week or a generation cycle for
the ick, they were all gone. He still gets them from time to time but
very few and they're gone in 2-3 days.

Fishnut wrote in message . ..
On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 08:38:30 -0500, "larap"
wrote:

4 days ago my hippo tang developed what appeared to be ick after being in my
reef tank for almost 6 months. She is now quarintined with her tank mate, a
percula clown fish who has showed no signs of infestation. Initially I did a
freshwater bath and placed them in a small tank with a
cooper/formalin/malchite mix to treat them. On day 2 the hippo tang looked
better and was feeding. Suddenly on day 4 the hippo is now covered with what
appears to be ick and now also has clouded eyes, the percula looks fine.
What am I doing wrong? Urgent help needed! I really want to save this fish.
Thanks to anyone who can offer suggestions.

Hello larap,

I note that you say "a copper/formalin/machchite mix". (What is
malchite ?) I don't think you should be mixing chemicals, as they may
interact, giving a totally undesired effect.

If they are both still alive, I would gradually reduce the specific
gravity to 1.012, over several days i.e. take out some sal****er and
add R.O. or freshwater, to reduce the SG by (say) 0.002 each day. This
may kill any pathogens and be less stress on the fish. If you begin to
see an improvement, keep this SG level for (say) 4 weeks, then
gradually increase the SG back to where it was. Make sure there is
some algae for the hippo. Keep posting the progress.

Regards, Fishnut.

I agree with fishnut regarding lowering the SG but you should also raise the
temperature. In my experience, this quickens the life cycle of the
parasite. I run my QT at 82 degrees when I have this problem.

"Fishnut" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 08:38:30 -0500, "larap"
wrote:

4 days ago my hippo tang developed what appeared to be ick after being in my
reef tank for almost 6 months. She is now quarintined with her tank mate, a
percula clown fish who has showed no signs of infestation. Initially I did a
freshwater bath and placed them in a small tank with a
cooper/formalin/malchite mix to treat them. On day 2 the hippo tang looked
better and was feeding. Suddenly on day 4 the hippo is now covered with what
appears to be ick and now also has clouded eyes, the percula looks fine.
What am I doing wrong? Urgent help needed! I really want to save this fish.
Thanks to anyone who can offer suggestions.

Hello larap,

I note that you say "a copper/formalin/machchite mix". (What is
malchite ?) I don't think you should be mixing chemicals, as they may
interact, giving a totally undesired effect.

I think he meant malachite, which is a water-soluble form of copper carbonate.

If they are both still alive, I would gradually reduce the specific
gravity to 1.012, over several days i.e. take out some sal****er and
add R.O. or freshwater, to reduce the SG by (say) 0.002 each day. This
may kill any pathogens and be less stress on the fish. If you begin to
see an improvement, keep this SG level for (say) 4 weeks, then
gradually increase the SG back to where it was. Make sure there is
some algae for the hippo. Keep posting the progress.

Regards, Fishnut.

Hi Fishnut,
While I agree with you that Hyposaline treatment is
probably the best way to go, to have a good success rate it is a bit
more complicated than you suggest i.e. you should transfer the fish to
a quarantine tank containing the same water conditions as the main tank
i.e. all parameters identical, all water used during the treatment must
be mature/aged, not fresh mixed. The fish must be transferred with no
exposure to air, no nets, use a clear plastic container or plastic
bag.(for every transfer), Reduce the salinity over 2 days in 4 stages
about 5ppt each time until the salinity is 14ppt (1.008 sg) at the same
time slowly increase the temperature to about 30C. Move to a second
quarantine tank/container same water parameters as the one you are
moving from (but different water) every 3 days for a total of 4 times
That's a total treatment time of about 12 days. between moves the
vacated tank must be dried out then cleaned (to kill the ich) It will
greatly help the fish and the cure if you can add Beta glucan to the
fishes food starting about a day before the first move and continuing
till the fish is recovered back in the main tank
should any one doubt my advice do a google search
(Hyposaline treatment) you will find confirmation plus a lot more.
regards,
unclenorm,