Ich Treatment for a Hippo Tang

[Hugh Mann]

Observation QT for 3 weeks, everything was going great. Eating well, if very shy. Looked great the odd time I see it, until tonight.

If I know my fish diseases, I do believe this fish has ich. I was told it showed spots at the lfs but they treated with copper. Evidently it only suppressed it, as my own livestock just completed copper+fallow.

I already have my vacation time booked for exactly 30 days with travel and everything already arranged and paid for. I am hoping can have a treatment option that will work in that time.

Tank Transfer - I believe takes 14 days, but can be stressful on fish, one that is likely already pretty stressed.

Copper- I have Coppersafe and a Hanna Checker. What I don't know is how long the treatment should last for ich. I have also heard Hippos are sensitive to copper and it can harm them.

Kent Marine Rx-P - One of the few meds actually not banned in this country. Says it works for ich, but requires a protein skimmer. My skimmer is a reef octopus 1000 hob, and is way oversized for a 20 gallon tank. Don't know if that is a bad thing, but I'd also rather not need to decontaminate my skimmer for 3 months.

The two pictures are 4 days apart.

 

[Hincapiej4]

Remember, copper safe needs a higher dose to be at theraputic levels I believe.

 

[ichthyogeek]

It looks less salted than mine did! Mine's going back into the tank after two rounds of TTM (I forgot to do a change, so I had to redo it). My hippo tang didn't seem to do super horribly in TTM, and I'd recommend doing it! If I were to redo it, I'd probably use the velvet procedures just in case instead of just for ich though.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

I hate to say this, but, that looks much finer spotted than ich. That looks a lot like velvet to me. Add in the fact that in your other thread you mentioned it only comes out the most after lights out. That in itself is a sign of potential velvet all by itself.

 

[JR Bodyman]

Had the same issues that started with the same kind of fish. Tried to treat it in my DT with reef safe meds. Didn’t work and took out all my fish. I learned the hard way. Now I have med tanks, a 10 or 30 gallon available that I quarantine any new fish. The hippo I have now showed white spots days after I got him. Gave him a fresh water dip and quarantined him for about 28 days. I did use Coppersafe exactly as directed. He’s never had any more issues and is doing really well in my DT.

 

[Hugh Mann]

@fishguy242 tagged as per request.

It does, 1.75-2.0ppm is the therapeutic range.

TTM, it would have to be a pretty improvised setup with bins and airstones. I don't have anything to generate flow that won't potentially carry over encysted ich.

I had velvet before, I don't think this is it, if just for the fact the tang is still alive after 3 weeks. Velvet would have killed it after a couple days. Spots can be counted, velvet numbers in the hundreds of spots. I have also seen this fish out during the day, I just had to be really sneaky approaching the tank.

 

[ichthyogeek]

If it helps, I've just been rotating between two 20H's that I've been sterilizing like crazy upon removal of the fish, and I think it worked pretty well. You don't have to use airstones, I've just been using flexible airline tubing and finagling it to the bottom of the tank using eggcrate/whatever I can get my hands on that will keep the dang airline down.

 

[fishguy242]

here,what about fw dip,and hypo ?

 

[Hugh Mann]

I am prepping a FW dip as I type, just waiting for the temp to match.

I haven't read much about hypo, other than it requires maintaining a salinity of 1.009. I don't have a refractometer, and my hydrometer, good enough for fish only, has way too much variance depending on how precise it needs to be.

I'm thinking for tonight it's going to be a dip, and in the morning I'll start TTM. My bins I have on hand hold 15 gallons of water, which should suffice. Unless a better option presents itself.

I'll only have 2 heaters to work with, what's a good way to sterilize between transfers?

 

[Hugh Mann]

The other side of the fish.
No expert, but it does not yet seem to be a very bad infestation.

 

[fishguy242]

bleach or vinegar to clean things

 

[Hugh Mann]

Perfect. Thank you.

I will give everyone an update in the morning.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Here’s what I’ve been doing:
Drain tank of all water.
Lug to bathroom
Fill tank w ~ 15g tapwater+1.5 cups bleach
Let sit for a few hours
Pour in 5 gallons +.5 cup bleach from sterilizing buckets into tank from time to time
Drain tank of water
rinse with tap water
Let air dry under large fan for as long as possible

 

[vetteguy53081]

No bleach - Vinegar or epsom salt. Silicone is porous and may retain bleach.
That Is ich and freshwater bath followed with cupramine- best treatment

 

[Hugh Mann]

No cuprimine, only coppersafe unfortunately. Sucks being Canadian some days. Will that work, or too harsh to use on a Hippo?

Freshwater dipped, which I am sure the Hippo didn't like. Been up for nearly 20 hours at this point (beats finding a dead hippo riddled with ich!) so not exactly the most coordinated.

Got a 10 gallon bin filled, heating and bubbling. No matter what I do the Hippo is going in there in the morning I think, just for peace of mind while I am at work.

And because it always pours, not drizzles, my power filter defecated the bed on me.
Times like this makes me want to dismantle and sell everything, but I know this will pass. Probably overreacting a little bit, but I have heard the horrors of ich. I've been battling and dealing with the aftermath of velvet and now ich since April...

 

[vetteguy53081]

No cuprimine, only coppersafe unfortunately. Sucks being Canadian some days. Will that work, or too harsh to use on a Hippo?

Freshwater dipped, which I am sure the Hippo didn't like. Been up for nearly 20 hours at this point (beats finding a dead hippo riddled with ich!) so not exactly the most coordinated.

Got a 10 gallon bin filled, heating and bubbling. No matter what I do the Hippo is going in there in the morning I think, just for peace of mind while I am at work.

And because it always pours, not drizzles, my power filter defecated the bed on me.
Times like this makes me want to dismantle and sell everything, but I know this will pass. Probably overreacting a little bit, but I have heard the horrors of ich. I've been battling and dealing with the aftermath of velvet and now ich since April...

Dose the copper at 75% of dosage

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

The other side of the fish.
No expert, but it does not yet seem to be a very bad infestation.

This looks much more like ich to me. The first photo still looks like the begin of velvet to my eyes though. That said as unfortunate as it is I have seen fish live for much longer than you’d think fighting velvet(not in my systems!). The adversity to light is often a dead giveaway of velvet compared to ich. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Dose the copper at 75% of dosage

Will that still work? That's what my lfs did, or what they told me they did, and evidently did not work. Unless I have ich in my display, which I don't know how it got there, and this exercise is moot.

 

[Hugh Mann]

This looks much more like ich to me. The first photo still looks like the begin of velvet to my eyes though. That said as unfortunate as it is I have seen fish live for much longer than you’d think fighting velvet(not in my systems!). The adversity to light is often a dead giveaway of velvet compared to ich. Just my 2 cents.

Fortunately the treatment is pretty much the same, just less forgiving timescales for Velvet. I will do the Velvet/Ich TTM just in case.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Fortunately the treatment is pretty much the same, just less forgiving timescales for Velvet. I will do the Velvet/Ich TTM just in case.

I’m pulling for you! And your slimy baby! Keep us posted!!!