Blue Hippo Tang with Ich?

[eliaslikesfish]

Hello! I have a baby blue hippo tang (about 2 inches in length) that I got about a week ago, let me start by saying that she seems to be doing really well, swimming around all day (until someone walks by the tank, she’ll hide but then come right back out after you leave) eating great, in fact she’ll steal food from my clown’s mouth if the clown got a big piece of the frozen brine shrimp. Anyways I woke up this morning to find a couple very small white dots. I’ve attached pictures as a reference. I’ve never dealt with ich before and am wondering 1. if it is indeed ich. and 2. what is the best way of treating without killing my cleaner shrimp in the process?

note: I am aware blue tang’s are prone to ich.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello! I have a baby blue hippo tang (about 2 inches in length) that I got about a week ago, let me start by saying that she seems to be doing really well, swimming around all day (until someone walks by the tank, she’ll hide but then come right back out after you leave) eating great, in fact she’ll steal food from my clown’s mouth if the clown got a big piece of the frozen brine shrimp. Anyways I woke up this morning to find a couple very small white dots. I’ve attached pictures as a reference. I’ve never dealt with ich before and am wondering 1. if it is indeed ich. and 2. what is the best way of treating without killing my cleaner shrimp in the process?

note: I am aware blue tang’s are prone to ich.

Thank you all in advance!

It could be ich, or it could be mucus plugs that this species is known for. You need to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst:

First thing, you'll have a couple of days to confirm that this is ich or not. Watch the exact location of these three spots. If they go away in a day or two and new ones appear in different locations, it is probably ich. If the numbers increase, you'll need to treat all of the fish in the tank - so prepare for that. If the tank has invertebrates in it, you'll need a treatment tank that can hold all of the fish - and then treat them there with coppersafe. If you tank does not have any invertebrates in it, or if you can move them out, you can treat the tank with hyposalinity.

Jay

 

[eliaslikesfish]

It could be ich, or it could be mucus plugs that this species is known for. You need to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst:

First thing, you'll have a couple of days to confirm that this is ich or not. Watch the exact location of these three spots. If they go away in a day or two and new ones appear in different locations, it is probably ich. If the numbers increase, you'll need to treat all of the fish in the tank - so prepare for that. If the tank has invertebrates in it, you'll need a treatment tank that can hold all of the fish - and then treat them there with coppersafe. If you tank does not have any invertebrates in it, or if you can move them out, you can treat the tank with hyposalinity.

Jay

Hi Jay!

Thank you for the quick response, the day after i took those pictures the white spots were gone and don’t seem to have returned. Since then she seems great, swimming around all day and eating like a champ still but I did notice this morning that she went down to the bottom so my cleaner shrimp could clean her (assumed that is perfectly normal) but then she seemed to rub herself on a rock afterwards.

I know whenever a fish is rubbing it usually means they’re trying to get rid of a parasite.. I’m just confused because she seems to be doing great and not acting stressed out at all. Not even hiding when I come close to the tank anymore..

Thanks again in advance,
Elias

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi Jay!

Thank you for the quick response, the day after i took those pictures the white spots were gone and don’t seem to have returned. Since then she seems great, swimming around all day and eating like a champ still but I did notice this morning that she went down to the bottom so my cleaner shrimp could clean her (assumed that is perfectly normal) but then she seemed to rub herself on a rock afterwards.

I know whenever a fish is rubbing it usually means they’re trying to get rid of a parasite.. I’m just confused because she seems to be doing great and not acting stressed out at all. Not even hiding when I come close to the tank anymore..

Thanks again in advance,
Elias

Scratching and posturing for cleaner shrimp are both symptoms of external parasites, most often flukes. Flukes don’t kill fish quickly, so you could observe for a few more days to see if these symptoms get worse or better. If you do decide to treat for flukes, you can use Prazipro, dosed twice, 8 days apart with good aeration. Turn off any UV, and run your skimmer, but don’t collect any skimmate during the treatment.
Jay