So My Hippo has Ich...Who Cares!

[jcdeng]

Hey, I qt everything before I add to tank too, it has worked so far. But whatever makes you feel happy man, I mean, this hobby is for us to enjoy, not to spend the money and getting stressed out too. I wanted to skip qt on so many occasions (new CUC, new 1 piece frag of sps, the 40 dollar fish from DD) just so much trouble of running a qt tank for 2 months for something that cost me so little money. But when I look at my 1000 dollar worth of fishes that is living healthly in the DT, I have to man up and just stick with it, however stressful it may be.

On the flip side, if I only keep 20 dollar fishes I won't mind just buying stuff and throwing them into DT right away.

 

[ethridge78]

True but hippo's almost always get ich at one point or another they are notorious for it no mater what you do.

 

[Nicktam]

Hello everyone,

I'm a totally SW novice and have my first FOT 1.5 months ago.
Yes, i have the same ich issue on my powder blue tang which I bought last night. It having ich all over the body from head to tail the next morning. I was a little nervous and not sure what to do.
The first thing i did was immediately searching "ich" word in this forum trying to get some help out. (There are 162 related threads out there, :fear
Thankfully i read this thread and realized this tang type is prone to ich infection and it's just quite common.
After reading a few more related threads, I decided to follow the treatment method as what ReefmadScientist recommanded.
I will closely monitor the health and performance a few days before setting up a QT tank if thing gets worse.
Thank you guys here sharing your knowledge and experience! Appreciate.

 

[DSP]

I totally agree with the op and basically everyone else that has posted, I could care less if any of my fish get ich because it's so easy to cure, If I'm shopping for fish and I see one with a little ich I don't think twice about buying it all because I know it will be fine and that's the honest truth.And I'm happy to see more and more people are starting to leave there fish alone instead of stressing them to death trying to catch them and put in a hospital just for them to breakout soon as they are reintroduced back into the display.Everytime I add a new fish to my tank I know it's gunna break out with ich and I know it will be gone within a few weeks,As soon as the fish settles down and realizes the tank Is his new home it will likely never break out with ich again.I will be doing a video series on new fish I add to systems just to show the best way to treat for ich and how fast it goes away if you leave it alone.No it's not scientific proof but it works

 

[DSP]

Hello everyone,

I'm a totally SW novice and have my first FOT 1.5 months ago.
Yes, i have the same ich issue on my powder blue tang which I bought last night. It having ich all over the body from head to tail the next morning. I was a little nervous and not sure what to do.
The first thing i did was immediately searching "ich" word in this forum trying to get some help out. (There are 162 related threads out there, :fear
Thankfully i read this thread and realized this tang type is prone to ich infection and it's just quite common.
After reading a few more related threads, I decided to follow the treatment method as what ReefmadScientist recommanded.
I will closely monitor the health and performance a few days before setting up a QT tank if thing gets worse.
Thank you guys here sharing your knowledge and experience! Appreciate.

Good to hear keep us updated!

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Hello everyone,

I'm a totally SW novice and have my first FOT 1.5 months ago.
Yes, i have the same ich issue on my powder blue tang which I bought last night. It having ich all over the body from head to tail the next morning. I was a little nervous and not sure what to do.
The first thing i did was immediately searching "ich" word in this forum trying to get some help out. (There are 162 related threads out there, :fear
Thankfully i read this thread and realized this tang type is prone to ich infection and it's just quite common.
After reading a few more related threads, I decided to follow the treatment method as what ReefmadScientist recommanded.
I will closely monitor the health and performance a few days before setting up a QT tank if thing gets worse.
Thank you guys here sharing your knowledge and experience! Appreciate.

Awesome man glad we can help! Yes, Powders are very prone to Ich. How is your fish doing?

I totally agree with the op and basically everyone else that has posted, I could care less if any of my fish get ich because it's so easy to cure, If I'm shopping for fish and I see one with a little ich I don't think twice about buying it all because I know it will be fine and that's the honest truth.And I'm happy to see more and more people are starting to leave there fish alone instead of stressing them to death trying to catch them and put in a hospital just for them to breakout soon as they are reintroduced back into the display.Everytime I add a new fish to my tank I know it's gunna break out with ich and I know it will be gone within a few weeks,As soon as the fish settles down and realizes the tank Is his new home it will likely never break out with ich again.I will be doing a video series on new fish I add to systems just to show the best way to treat for ich and how fast it goes away if you leave it alone.No it's not scientific proof but it works

Exactly DSP. There is a lot more to Ich than most think. When I removed ALL my fish and QT'ed them for a good 2 months+, I thought I knew everything and the QT solution would cure the problem. But that was not the case.

Overall, keeping your fish healthy, happy, and with a nice rounded belly is the key IMO.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Just to update this thread, my hippo is still alive and kicking.

 

[ETORRES477]

This method worked for me. Kept my water parameter pristine, fed my fish well (Live California Black worms and White worms along with some nori and high quality frozen food to supplement) , and just waited it out. Did not lose a single fish and nothing has popped up since. Funny thing is you bring up this method up as an alternative to breaking down the tank, catching all your fish then placing in a QT for almost 3 months while you treat with copper (which imo is more harmful/stressful to the fish), and some people on here lose their minds. Some will go as far to call you irresponsible.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

^ Glad it worked man!

Yeah copper and most other treatments are pretty bad for fish. I try to use the natural lazy method lol.

 

[zoechance]

sorry to chime in so late here but I do want to add my 2 cents.
the exact same thing happened to me about a year ago. My 10yo clown developed ich again after many years. The first time I treated a FOWLR tank with kick ich and it worked. Now I have a reef. So I did the same as you removed all fish and set up a QT and I am convinced I MURDERED every fish in that QT (about 4 other fish including and huge healthy watchman goby). I must have overdosed the cupramine or something. I tried so hard but all the fish perished. I have tremendous guilt and mourning from this.... and this post brought back my PTSD.... I almost left the hobby. I am still here but now I purchase quarantined fish that have been tank breed.... I know this is no guarantee though.... but next time I may not panic...

Hello everyone,

I would first like to introduce myself as not a expert reefer but not exactly a rookie either. I guess we can say I am a novice. I have had my tank going for a couple of years now and have witness and experienced the menace parasite that is Ich. I want to share some of my experiences with you to help you through your process..maybe

So the first time my Hippo Tang got Ich, I was running around the house like a mad man thinking the fish just swam through a radiation zone and that I needed to perform some sort of CPR quickly. I've read the horror stories, the disastrous tank wipe outs, and I was a scared little boy about to kiss a girl.

So that initial time I took my hippo in a sandwich bad and drove him to my LFS and he verified it was Ich...due to the white bumps it left. I quickly spent $200 bucks on a 40g breeder, heater, Overflow, you name it trying to defeat this parasite. I removed ALL my fish (3 hours later) and was able to nab them into the new breeder and started to slowly dose Copper Power.

Long store short, 10 weeks later I placed them all back in the DT feeling happy I did not lose one-single fish. A few months later....YOU GUESSED IT....it was back on the Hippo.

That was over a year ago and this morning I woke up to my hippo, yet again, having Ich and it made me think that I should comment on here on my methods now....I say WHO CARES!

My mentality and actions are to keep all fish Happy, Healthy, and Fat. I got some Garlic Extract SeaWeed and put more drops of Garlic Power on it. Fed the fish and walked away.

I believe sometimes we can get carried away with freaking out and making matters worse. I know as long as I keep my fish happy, healthy, and fat, they will be able to defeat the parasite.

*Note - My Hippo has had Ich maybe six times thus far since that initial terror.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

sorry to chime in so late here but I do want to add my 2 cents.
the exact same thing happened to me about a year ago. My 10yo clown developed ich again after many years. The first time I treated a FOWLR tank with kick ich and it worked. Now I have a reef. So I did the same as you removed all fish and set up a QT and I am convinced I MURDERED every fish in that QT (about 4 other fish including and huge healthy watchman goby). I must have overdosed the cupramine or something. I tried so hard but all the fish perished. I have tremendous guilt and mourning from this.... and this post brought back my PTSD.... I almost left the hobby. I am still here but now I purchase quarantined fish that have been tank breed.... I know this is no guarantee though.... but next time I may not panic...

Sorry for your loss man. You're not alone. I killed a clown the same way. I overreacted, thought I was doing the right thing, but then came to my census I was too OCD about fixing the problem: Ich. Sucks your experiences ended up this way but at least now you understand what to do for the next time. Prazipro, Copper Power, etc. are very powerful.

 

[zoechance]

Thanks! I was so devastated to lose my clown. Had her over 10 yrs and the goby was so fat and big….. truly a tragedy… nice to chat with someone that understands…. BTW I am Barbara…LOL… a woman reefer ("Sorry for your loss man") LOL...

Sorry for your loss man. You're not alone. I killed a clown the same way. I overreacted, thought I was doing the right thing, but then came to my census I was too OCD about fixing the problem: Ich. Sucks your experiences ended up this way but at least now you understand what to do for the next time. Prazipro, Copper Power, etc. are very powerful.

 

[makingbubbles]

I agree with bad company. I had ich once from a Yellown tang. It nearly wiped out every fish in my tank. Every fish in the reef tank was removed except a scooter blenny. My blenny was fat and would eat tons of pellets both f1 and f2. Had no signs of ich. I let the tank set for 3 months with nothing but the scooter blenny and corals in it. At the end of the 3rd month I bought a Nason tang to test the water. A monah later I added a yellow tang. I never caught ich again after that. I had that tank up for about a year after that and never had any signs of ich again.

 

[Badfish83]

I have an achilles and powder blue, and due to proper quarantining, have never seen ich in my DT. It's a lot of work, but I guarantee the fish are happier for it.

 

[Mimmrfr]

18 years in this hobby and I've come to realize that the "formulas" proclaimed by many to QT, run the DT fallow for X amount of days, weeks, or months don't always hold true. Treatments are often worse than the original problem and loss of life in a QT tank happens. Face it, fish prefer live rock and corals to plastic PVC pipe and pretend "toys". It is stressful. It is also true that panicking over a few spots of ich is not going to help the situation. If the DT is in an overall healthy state, inhabitants also fat and healthy, and other methods used to keep stress levels down, the chances of said fish fighting off the parasite are probably very good. It doesn't hurt to bump up the skimmer and throw on a UV lamp. I've also at times moved rock away from routine cave sites (carefully brushed it off in siphoned off water during an exchange) then subsequently leaning it away from the original site, in order to push the fish into new areas that may be less infested with parasites that have fallen off the night before. I have rearranged "bed" areas for 2-3 days at a time and watched the ich situation improve enough to allow the fish to fight it off. There is no one tried and true method. I there were, we would have conquered the problem at this point in time not having to be concerned about it ever! We can dream!!!

 

[Captain Billy]

Ich is almost impossible to prevent, it's better to live with it and have security that your fish are able to keep themselves healthy, than risk exposing fish that have been isolated from ich for a long amount of time and having them rapidly die.

Ich doesn't kill healthy fish, in most situations. Most healthy fish won't contract ich even if exposed to a fish covered in it. Those that do such as tangs are best left to deal with it on their own, of course with careful monitoring.

Sadly, quarantine probably kills more fish than it saves, but it's what everyone is told they have to do every time. Some fish don't handle quarantine well, and it's simply a death sentence for them. These fish require specialized quarantine conditions and are best purchased from vendors like live aquaria who have experience handling these fish. Truthfully, they kill quite a few during the process as well, I'm sure.

I have some very pricey, and even delicate fish. A gem tang, a black tang, numerous expensive wrasses, a sensitive pair of watanabe angelfish, all these fish are fine. I don't worry about ich, I just keep the fish healthy and it's not a problem.

 

[Badfish83]

Saying ich is always present in the tank, and that it's impossible to remove is living in the 90's. I'm by no means saying you HAVE to have an ich free tank, just that's it's possible. People have amazing reefs without all the quarantine work. I just like trying to give the best care I can for my fish.

 

[Captain Billy]

Of course we all do, healthy fish is paramount to a successful reef display.

You can quarantine every fish you buy, but inevitably you will introduce ich into your system, unless you are quarantining every single snail, crab, clean up crew member and coral for 10 weeks at a time. Of course you would have to make these additions all at one time because if you were to add another coral or clam to the quarantine tank after already adding livestock, your quarantine period would have to start all over again.

Some fish, inverts and corals simply cannot tolerate the types of quarantine necessary to theoretically prevent any possible introduction of ich.

It's a very novel idea that you can eliminate ich completely. I've been keeping reef aquariums far too long and seen the opposite far too many times to believe the fallacy that one can realistically prevent all possible instances of introduction. It's impossible to reef in a bubble no matter how hard one tries.

 

[Badfish83]

I do exactly as you said, quarantine EVERYTHING, and My tank is ich free. However, I do agree that it would be so easy to introduce it into my DT that it's almost not worth it. I just like to people to know that it is definitely possible and many people do it.

 

[Aquaph8]

There's much worse things than ich