blue hippo tang ick problem

[Gilbert]

okay so today i discovered my new blue hippo tang aquired some marine ick. Whats the best way to do this without a hospital tank. Is there a dip?

[Gilbert]

will a cleaner shrimp do the job?

 

 

[TonyInVa]

Most ick treatments are copper based, which is not reef safe. Cleaner shrimp may help. In my experience, ick is a losing battle.

[GaryL]

a hospital tank is the best bet...but i would feed it a mixture of nori, flake and mysis all soaked in selcon and minced garlic(the jar that has the juice in it) this gives it a varied diet and a better chance of getting the nutrients that the other food is lacking. not saying garlic is a miracle cure but i think it helps. i have also added the minced garlic in the tank...alot of times the fish will bite it but spit it out.just dont put all that food in at once and use just a little bit of garlic.

 

my experience has been good with this method esp. with buying fish at petco that comes standard with ich.

Edited July 12, 2010 by GaryL

[angel not fish]

I like Ick attack from gordom lab. Do you can get at petco for like $18 and for me, is the only product that worked.

And best of all REEF SAFE.

[TonyD]

Hippo tangs are known to be ich magnets. That said, my hippo tang gets ich occasionally and I don't do anything other than feed and maintain proper water parameters. It usually goes away on its own without spreading to the other fish.

[Gilbert]

Hey TonyD! Your hammer is doing really well in my tank, unfortunately the blue mushrooms died off as soon as I put it in my tank :(. I'll have to get some more! so should I just leave my hippo alone? and keep the water clean? Yeah, my other fish are great, it's just the hippo tang. I'll wait a few more days and see if it worsens or not. I'll keep ya'll posted

[Coral Hind]

If it is just the hippo and it is only a few white spots I would do as Tony suggested. If it becomes worse and the fish is breathing heavily then I would remove and treat. Once the heavy breathing starts it means the gills are infested and it isn't long afterwards that they will die if not treated.

[TonyD]

Hey TonyD! Your hammer is doing really well in my tank, unfortunately the blue mushrooms died off as soon as I put it in my tank :(. I'll have to get some more! so should I just leave my hippo alone? and keep the water clean? Yeah, my other fish are great, it's just the hippo tang. I'll wait a few more days and see if it worsens or not. I'll keep ya'll posted

 

I'll get you more mushrooms....free of charge.

[Incredible Corals]

If it is just the hippo and it is only a few white spots I would do as Tony suggested. If it becomes worse and the fish is breathing heavily then I would remove and treat. Once the heavy breathing starts it means the gills are infested and it isn't long afterwards that they will die if not treated.

 

+1

[davelin315]

There is no hard evidence out there that I'm aware of that says a cleaner shrimp will help. Most evidence actually suggests that they don't help at all - ich is a subdural parasite and the spots we see on the outside that might be picked off are not going to help the fish out. IME, the cleaner shrimp only serve to harass the fish if they do in fact clean it.

[cabrego]

does the tang eat algae often? I notice if I go more than a couple of days without algae my powder blue starts showing signs of ich. I feed algae daily now.