what to do with a blue hippo that has ick???

agoutihead · #1 04/28/2007, 01:46 AM

i know these fish are like the most prone to having ick.

but right now the one my buddy just got about a week ago, started breaking out about 3 days ago. it comes and it goes, generally it only shows up at night.

dont hippos have ick forever? ive read that you cant kill that virus on them for some reason? is this true?

what can we do about it?

would a fresh water help out at all, or just stress the fish more?

thoughts?

bureau13 · #2 04/28/2007, 05:16 AM

If you really want to get rid of the parasite, you need to catch him and put him in a quarantine tank for six weeks with either a copper-based med like Cupramine, or hyposalinity. Plus, you need to get ALL your fish out of your display tank for about the same duration so that the parasites in the tank die off...otherwise they're likely to climb back on your healthy fish when you put him back in the tank and reinfect him. Hippos are really no different in this respect than any other fish...they just tend to be susceptible to it, like most other tangs.

jds

waterfaller1 · #3 04/28/2007, 05:23 AM

Do not use copper on a hippo tang, it can cause irrepairable damage. The best way to treat him is in a QT tank with hypo-salinity. Make sure there is plenty of oxygen in this tank, as hippo tangs need it.

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

To help boost his immune system, feed him algae based food soaked in a drop of garlic xtreme, or fresh chopped garlic.

Gillybaby · #4 04/28/2007, 05:50 AM

When I first got my hippo he got the worst case of ick I've ever seen in a fish. Not sure which kind of ick it was cos I know there are several different species. I did absolutely nothing - yes that's right - nothing.

I reduced stress, kept my hands out of the tank and began to overfeed on a varied diet to fatten him up, occasionally adding some crushed garlic to the frozen food. The bad case lasted about 3 weeks then disappeared. No other fish caught it in this time. For the next year, the hippo occasionally broke out in spots but it only lasted a couple days at most. In the last year I've not seen any sign of whitespot on him at all. He is a perfect example of a hippo tang and nearly 9" in length from his original 3" 2 years ago.

Obviously, this isn't going to work for everyone but imo leaving things well alone is sometimes better than causing more stress especially to easily stressed fish like tangs.

JMHO

TarheelFrag · #5 04/28/2007, 06:16 AM

Put him in QT for 3 days. Med with "Super Ick Cure" by API. Then pull him out an d place him back in your tank. Then load him up with garlic! Feed him fresh garlic chopped up real small. Mix it with his flake and feed him several times a day. He will look bad for a while but he should start looking better in a couple weeks. Worked for me.....

Or you could get two bricks.....place tang between and problem solved!

waterfaller1 · #6 04/28/2007, 06:51 AM

Flake?

alan214 · #7 04/28/2007, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wampas
Put him in QT for 3 days. Med with "Super Ick Cure" by API. Then pull him out an d place him back in your tank. Then load him up with garlic! Feed him fresh garlic chopped up real small. Mix it with his flake and feed him several times a day. He will look bad for a while but he should start looking better in a couple weeks. Worked for me.....

Or you could get two bricks.....place tang between and problem solved!

There's been no conclusive evidence that garlic does anything to cure Ich. It merely helps stimulate the appetite in some fish.

Go with the hyposalinity method for 6 weeks and be done with it.

Reefugee · #8 04/28/2007, 10:32 AM

Very similiar experience. Instead of stressing the fish out, I just feed it well. Used garlic (even though there's no scientific proof). Ich disappeared in a few weeks.

Quote:

Originally posted by Gillybaby
When I first got my hippo he got the worst case of ick I've ever seen in a fish. Not sure which kind of ick it was cos I know there are several different species. I did absolutely nothing - yes that's right - nothing.

I reduced stress, kept my hands out of the tank and began to overfeed on a varied diet to fatten him up, occasionally adding some crushed garlic to the frozen food. The bad case lasted about 3 weeks then disappeared. No other fish caught it in this time. For the next year, the hippo occasionally broke out in spots but it only lasted a couple days at most. In the last year I've not seen any sign of whitespot on him at all. He is a perfect example of a hippo tang and nearly 9" in length from his original 3" 2 years ago.

Obviously, this isn't going to work for everyone but imo leaving things well alone is sometimes better than causing more stress especially to easily stressed fish like tangs.

JMHO

matttaylor · #9 04/28/2007, 10:48 AM

^ I'm with them. Feed the tang well and it will go away on it's own. My little one had ick initially (6 months ago) so i fed the heck out of him, added some garlic flake at feeding time and now he's been clear for several months.

wpbfishguy · #10 04/28/2007, 12:18 PM

I didn't do anything aside from feed well with foods soaked in Garlic and ick on my hippo went away in a few weeks.

bureau13 · #11 04/28/2007, 05:59 PM

I dispute this. I've used Cupramine on all my tangs, a blue hippo included, and they're all doing just fine. There was some hypothesizing that perhaps copper could kill off beneficial organisms in tang digestive tracts, but no one has been able to provide any proof of this that I have seen.

jds

Quote:

Originally posted by waterfaller1
Do not use copper on a hippo tang, it can cause irrepairable damage. The best way to treat him is in a QT tank with hypo-salinity. Make sure there is plenty of oxygen in this tank, as hippo tangs need it.

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

To help boost his immune system, feed him algae based food soaked in a drop of garlic xtreme, or fresh chopped garlic.

poppin_fresh · #12 04/28/2007, 07:04 PM

In my experience the stress of hypo and moving to qt is more damaging than the ich itself. I would feed a good nutritious diet and let the tangs immune system do the rest.

bureau13 · #13 04/28/2007, 09:01 PM

That can sometimes be true. The downside is that, if its in your tank, you never know when something stressful might occur that can set off an outbreak. Maybe adding a new fish, some piece of equipment going a bit off causing tank conditions to worsen, etc.

jds

Quote:

Originally posted by poppin_fresh
In my experience the stress of hypo and moving to qt is more damaging than the ich itself. I would feed a good nutritious diet and let the tangs immune system do the rest.

Krazy · #14 04/28/2007, 09:54 PM

Nori, Nori, Nori !!

Let the hippo graze on lots and lots of nori, let it fatten up and the spots will go away with time...

joyski58 · #15 04/28/2007, 10:02 PM

It's gonna depend on your fish. A large hippo I cared for in a FO office tank was treated at various times over the years with copper, Formalin, and even several freshwater dips, but never quarantined. He was a frisky bugger. Someone elses tang may not be able to take any of that. Tangs don't have the slim coat most other fish do; that's why they are more susceptible. Ich is always there; its whether your tank conditions and fish health allow it to take hold.

salty3 · #16 04/28/2007, 10:06 PM

How big is it? It might be getting it form stress from being in a tank thats too small for it. Blue tangs need IMO at least a 125 tank.