Ich Treatment for a Hippo Tang

[Acskippy]

Some may disagree but.... if its eating, i would feed nori that has a few drips of garlic AND vitamin c. Copper in hospital tank with a good place to hide. Fresh water dip every 4-5 days for 5 mins MAX. Keep its stress level to a minimum by covering tank and leaving lights off or very dim... its never 100% for me but this method has worked the best on the ones i have treated. I use the blue magnetic feeder from IM and both supplements from brightwell. Good luck hope he make it!!

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Some may disagree but.... if its eating, i would feed nori that has a few drips of garlic AND vitamin c. Copper in hospital tank with a good place to hide. Fresh water dip every 4-5 days for 5 mins MAX. Keep its stress level to a minimum by covering tank and leaving lights off or very dim... its never 100% for me but this method has worked the best on the ones i have treated. I use the blue magnetic feeder from IM and both supplements from brightwell. Good luck hope he make it!!

I’m sorry but garlic has no quantified evidence that I know of to treat ich or velvet and has even been shown to cause organ failure in marine life. I guess that makes me one of those that disagrees. But I truly am not trying to be rude.

 

[Acskippy]

I’m sorry but garlic has no quantified evidence that I know of to treat ich or velvet and has even been shown to cause organ failure in marine life. I guess that makes me one of those that disagrees. But I truly am not trying to be rude.

I hear that alot, just puttin my 2 cents in... has worked for me.... never soaked or used for long periods... but yes i do agree long term use and organ damage seems to be the consensus.... looks like hes running out of time tho

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

I hear that alot, just puttin my 2 cents in... has worked for me.... never soaked or used for long periods... but yes i do agree long term use and organ damage seems to be the consensus.... looks like hes running out of time tho

Fair point! And it has been shown to entice appetite. Personally I stick to selcon for that. And even use that sparingly.

 

[Acskippy]

Ps no offense taken

 

[Redfoxtang]

Copper safe needs to be at least at 2.0ppm for 14 days in QT to work it’s magic. Check with your Hanna every other day to make sure that 2.0ppm is solid. It is ok to go a little higher or lower with copper safe is has a decent window. Copper safe is less harsh on sensitive fish like the Hippo tangs and wrasses. So the 2.0ppm must be met to ensure the parasites cannot reproduce.

 

[Brew12]

Copper safe needs to be at least at 2.0ppm for 14 days in QT to work it’s magic. Check with your Hanna every other day to make sure that 2.0ppm is solid. It is ok to go a little higher or lower with copper safe is has a decent window. Copper safe is less harsh on sensitive fish like the Hippo tangs and wrasses. So the 2.0ppm must be met to ensure the parasites cannot reproduce.

I would agree with this, with one exception. You can treat a fish in 8 days at 2ppm with an extra 2 or 3 days to ramp up copper levels if you transfer the fish to a clean tank before you drop copper levels. That should give more than enough time for any feeding parasites to drop off while protecting it from reinfection.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Coppersafe should be alright to use then?
Most excellent. I think I will do that then, as I don't trust myself not to bungle TTM at some point.

A couple days of ramp up, great 8-14days, then transfer to a clean tank.

What about the tank that it is in right now? Can I leave it in there? It's the only actual spare tank I have.

 

[Brew12]

Coppersafe should be alright to use then?
Most excellent. I think I will do that then, as I don't trust myself not to bungle TTM at some point.

A couple days of ramp up, great 8-14days, then transfer to a clean tank.

What about the tank that it is in right now? Can I leave it in there? It's the only actual spare tank I have.

Any treatment with copper can be harsh, and not all fish of the same species will react the same. But... before I decided to stop doing prophylactic QT my Hippo made it through Coppersafe fine.

Whatever clean tank you move him to must be disinfected prior to re-introduction of the fish after the copper treatment. It is best to bleach it and dry it completely between removing the fish and re-introduction. It also means establishing a new biofilter.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

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

Yes - that looks like Cryptocaryon to me - defined white spots, not too many of them. Remember though - this parasite reproduces exponentially - when you hit a certain point, the fish gets overwhelmed - your fish is right at that point. I've found that Coppersafe works well as a preventative, but is slow to act in acute cases like this. Same with low salinity. Chloroquine works quicker, but tends to have more side effects. I've not done a lot with tank transfers (due to the effort involved) but if I read your post correctly, you might be able to try that avenue.

Jay

 

[Hugh Mann]

I dosed the first bit of copper this morning. Meant to transfer, but the salinity was 2 points off. What I think I am going to do is on my lunch break, transfer it to the new water I made up after dosing that water.
Clean and sterilize the 20 gallon, and move it back to that tank for the duration of the copper treatment.

Jammed a bunch of extra filter floss into my display filter to get seeding.

 

[Hugh Mann]

So my lfs recommends running both Tank Transfer and copper at the same time, just in case any free swimmers get brought over with the transfers. Run a fresh air stone with each transfer, cleaning, sanitizing between, etc. Should take 14 days, leaving just two weeks before I have to take off.

Thinking 1.5 weeks post QT observation/recovery, then move to the Display.

I'd leave it in QT, but I'm gone September 4th to October 2nd and will have a total novice looking after my tank, and I want to make it as easy as possible, not having to look after 3 tanks. Plus 2 months in a 20 gallon is probably a bit much for even a small hippo. Ich really threw a wrench into the works.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Uhhh...isn't the entire point of TTM that you do transfers before any free swimmers -> cysts hatch? Therefore eliminating any encysting parasites with the proper bleach/sterilization protocols? Dosing copper + TTM seems like overkill to me.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Definitely overkill. However it does eliminate the possibility of contamination if I don't sanitize well enough, little bit of water gets transferred or what have you. Especially since I don't have the luxury of a long observation after treatment.

 

[Hugh Mann]

So update one.
I dosed what was supposed to be a 1/3rd amount of coppersafe this morning. Didn't have time to test as I was already going to be late for work. Got home and tested the water.
Somehow, and I don't know how the heck it happened, Hanna read 5.0ppm, dark purple solution. Was in that for 11 hours, give or take.

Luckily I had already mixed up the water for the 1st transfer, and it matched sg+temp, so in went the tang along with clean pvc, airstone, and a veg clip of selcon soaked nori. I looked the Hippo over when I transferred. Maybe 1/2 the spots it had previously, so I think the early transfer was a good idea anyways.

I very carefully measured and dosed and tested, so it's sitting at 0.5ppm, as my lfs recommended to have it up to therapeutic levels by day 3.

I'm really hoping I did not permenantly harm this fish with that initial dose. Seriously no idea how that happened.

If this Hippo survives my blundering attempts to treat it, nothing can kill it.

 

[Hincapiej4]

I've done worse than that and lost no fish. Story time later, working.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

So update one.
I dosed what was supposed to be a 1/3rd amount of coppersafe this morning. Didn't have time to test as I was already going to be late for work. Got home and tested the water.
Somehow, and I don't know how the heck it happened, Hanna read 5.0ppm, dark purple solution. Was in that for 11 hours, give or take.

Luckily I had already mixed up the water for the 1st transfer, and it matched sg+temp, so in went the tang along with clean pvc, airstone, and a veg clip of selcon soaked nori. I looked the Hippo over when I transferred. Maybe 1/2 the spots it had previously, so I think the early transfer was a good idea anyways.

I very carefully measured and dosed and tested, so it's sitting at 0.5ppm, as my lfs recommended to have it up to therapeutic levels by day 3.

I'm really hoping I did not permenantly harm this fish with that initial dose. Seriously no idea how that happened.

If this Hippo survives my blundering attempts to treat it, nothing can kill it.

Did you retest? Could have just been an anomaly with the tester? Rare but it happens. At any rate I’m glad to hear the fish is okay! And half the spots are gone!!! Good news so far!!!

 

[Hugh Mann]

I wouldn't say okay, it's laying on its side, which I know is 'normal' for this fish, but has be worried a bit anyways. Also hasn't eaten anything today, so I am sure it is pretty stressed out. It's also quite dark, as it's in an opaque bin with an improvised glass lid, so may have been sleeping. I should probably set up a light, not too intense though.

I didn't retest the water, no. Don't have a ton of reagent, have some on order. Saved some water to test when I do though.

 

[Aquavaj]

I did 3 weeks with coppersafe and mine came out fine. Fed on the heavier side to help boost immune system.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

I wouldn't say okay, it's laying on its side, which I know is 'normal' for this fish, but has be worried a bit anyways. Also hasn't eaten anything today, so I am sure it is pretty stressed out. It's also quite dark, as it's in an opaque bin with an improvised glass lid, so may have been sleeping. I should probably set up a light, not too intense though.

I didn't retest the water, no. Don't have a ton of reagent, have some on order. Saved some water to test when I do though.

Lightly selcon soaked black worm may entice a feeding response.