ive been quarantining this hippo tang for 2.5 months now and everything else ive quarantined (in different tanks) that i bought at the same time as the hippo had been fully cured and are now in the DT. sadly i cant say the same thing for the hippo. the hippo has been a pig, eating alot, since ive got it. im suspicious it has ick since the second day i had it, i saw 2 really tiny dots that went away not long after (the dots were too small that i cant see if it was just bubbles or ich/velvet). First, i tried treating it with cupramine (cant find any other good branded copper where im from) slowly ramping it up with a hanna checker. after a few days in, it started developing scars (which i know is common for hippos when in copper) the hippo started to hide more and more (usually always out) and became more skittish, wont even come out for food. I became worried and moved it to a new qt tank with freshly mixed saltwater and this time i tried the Hybrid TTM. after i finished it i checked with black mollies like i usually do and they start looking unwell after a few days so i switched them back to fresh. I tried TTM once again which didn't cure it. im starting to think it might not be ich/velvet or i just did something wrong. the mollies after just a day or two started to gasp, tried 5 different mollies all did the same thing. ive stopped treatment since the start of january and the fish has been active and eats a lot. im scared of introducing ich to the tank because i have 2 sailfin mollies and dont want them to get sick. im sure what it could be and how to treat it.
Torn on hippo tang treatment
- Thread starter Diveks
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Jay Hemdal
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Have you ever dosed the tang with praziquantel?
I’m not a big fan of using black mollies as “canary in the coal mine” - that is a good theory, but has issues with good implementation...mollies often have issues when moved to seawater, and that messes with their use in bioassay.
Jay
I’m not a big fan of using black mollies as “canary in the coal mine” - that is a good theory, but has issues with good implementation...mollies often have issues when moved to seawater, and that messes with their use in bioassay.
Jay
will general cure work? i have some on hand. i had several black mollies from the same batch, i put some in the clownfish quarantine and the tang, in the clown qt it did very good (3 of them). the one with the tang would have perished if i didn't move it back to the freshwater. a few mins in fresh water and they are back to normal, swimming about. Could it be flukes?
Jay Hemdal
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Yes, it could be flukes, and General Cure has praziquantel in it. It isn’t reef safe of course. I’m just thinking what else you might try....
Jay
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Jay Hemdal
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I re-read your post, I'm unclear as to how the the tang was actually in Cupramine? No way you can get some coppersafe?
Jay
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the tang only spent about 5 days in cupramine. and it looked more and more lethargic each day so i stopped it. ive been trying to get my hands on coppersafe although they don't import them here even when i look online. and all the other coppers here i don't trust (un-branded copper)
Jay Hemdal
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That's tough - the issue is that copper takes 14+ days at full strength in order to really work. It is very easy to confuse copper toxicity symptoms with that of disease issues that the copper hasn't controlled yet. People then back off on the copper, which just allows the disease to progress even faster....
Jay
Jay
should i go along with cupramine and dose furan-2 if problems come up? i feel nervous putting the tang in the DT without ich treatment cause ive had both velvet and ich in this hobby and would like to keep my tank ich free as much as i can. im suspicious it has flukes though cause it keeps on shaking its head but i know it can still be ich.
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