Help with my hippo

Ashley13 · Feb 1, 2022

So i bought a hippo about 10 weeks ago from a very reliable lfs. They had the tang for 2-3 month before i bought her. In the LFS she was eating, acting and looking very good. When i bought her she had to stay in a 5 gallon bucket with heater and aerator for about 4 hours before i could get her home and this stressed her out. Since she was in a QT while in hold for me at the LFS i didnt QT at home i put her straight into my DT. 2 days later she is covered in what i assumed to be ich. I immediately put her in my QT and treated her and did 15% water change every few days. 4 days later all white spots are gone and did a 100% water change with half new water and half from my DT. For 2.5 weeks she was spotless. I returned her to my display tank 2-3 days later it comes back. Repeated the whole process again and after almost 4 weeks of not spots i put her in my DT again. Well she has been in there for 3 days now and it's back again! Please help on what should i do and is this really ich or something else. Btw she is eating great (frozen brine and nori strip everyday) and acting like her goofy self. I had read moving to the DT can cause them to get stressed and ich come for a couple days and then go away and everything is fine..is this correct info or completely wrong? All parameters are steady temp 79, salinity. 25, 0 amm, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, 8.2 ph, 500 cal, did have a phosphate spike a couple weeks ago but it's slowly dropping everyday.

Paul B · Feb 1, 2022

I am sorry. That diet is not a good diet for any fish. That fish needs real food from the sea like shellfish, clams, mussels, oysters or even live worms. If you can't get any of that at least something like LRS frozen food.

Throw out the brine shrimp. Fsh, even tangs don't need nori although I realize many people feel they do.

This guy is about 3 years old and has never seen nori or seaweeds. He eats clams, worms and mysis. My last one was 10 years old and also never saw nori. I also don't have to medicate or quarantine any fish which is also due to diet to a large degree.

They are beautiful fish, one of my favorites and I wish her well.

Ashley13 · Feb 1, 2022

Paul B said:
I am sorry. That diet is not a good diet for any fish. That fish needs real food from the sea like shellfish, clams, mussels, oysters or even live worms. If you can't get any of that at least something like LRS frozen food.

Throw out the brine shrimp. Fsh, even tangs don't need nori although I realize many people feel they do.

This guy is about 3 years old and has never seen nori or seaweeds. He eats clams, worms and mysis. My last one was 10 years old and also never saw nori. I also don't have to medicate or quarantine any fish which is also due to diet to a large degree.

They are beautiful fish, one of my favorites and I wish her well.

Okay thanks, my tank is over 2 year old and she grazes on the live rock all day as well. I do feed mysis and a frozen cuisine mixture..just didnt add it to the post. I rotate everyday.

zheka757 · Feb 1, 2022

Definitely ich,

Ashley13 · Feb 1, 2022

Paul B said:
I am sorry. That diet is not a good diet for any fish. That fish needs real food from the sea like shellfish, clams, mussels, oysters or even live worms. If you can't get any of that at least something like LRS frozen food.

Throw out the brine shrimp. Fsh, even tangs don't need nori although I realize many people feel they do.

This guy is about 3 years old and has never seen nori or seaweeds. He eats clams, worms and mysis. My last one was 10 years old and also never saw nori. I also don't have to medicate or quarantine any fish which is also due to diet to a large degree.

They are beautiful fish, one of my favorites and I wish her well.

Do you think it's ich? Repeating the process every few weeks is getting annoying. I always QT a sick fish but what do you think about letting her stay in the DT a few more days to see if it clears up or do you think i would be crazy not to take her out? Lol Her tank mates are 2 snowflake clowns, 2 green mandarins and blue spotted jawfish.

Ashley13 · Feb 1, 2022

zheka757 said:
Definitely ich,

Whats your opinion on what i should do, this switching tanks and showing no sign of ich for 3 weeks and then 2 days after shes in the DT it comes back is kinda old.

Gtinnel · Feb 1, 2022

You said you put the fish in qt but what did you use in the qt to get rid of ich in such a short time?

Also, the best solution is one that you likely don't want to hear. All of the fish in the display tank need to put through qt with something to kill the ich (copper usually) while the display goes fallow.

If you are not willing/able to do that then your only option IMO is to leave the tang in the display and hope for the best. They're known for getting ich and even if you qt just the tang and properly treat it to get rid of ich you will be putting it back into a tank that has ich. I know uv sterilizers supposedly can help, but I'm not sure to what extent since I've never used one.

ehealy13 · Feb 1, 2022

+1 on ich. Did your LFS tell you what their QT process is/was? 2.5 weeks of treatment is less than recommended in most studies I've read, and I've always treated for 30-45 days, confirming the levels remained at therapeutic with a Hannah Checker. I fear the ich is now in the display, and I'd recommend quarantining all fish and treating for ich, while allowing the DT to remain fallow for 76 days (I believe is the current recommendation.) I've tagged some of the resident experts for a more professional diagnosis and recommendation. Also, certain species do not do well with certain treatments, so look for a safe remedy for your livestock.
@Jay Hemdal and @vetteguy53081

vetteguy53081 · Feb 1, 2022

ehealy13 said:
+1 on ich. Did your LFS tell you what their QT process is/was? 2.5 weeks of treatment is less than recommended in most studies I've read, and I've always treated for 30-45 days, confirming the levels remained at therapeutic with a Hannah Checker. I fear the ich is now in the display, and I'd recommend quarantining all fish and treating for ich, while allowing the DT to remain fallow for 76 days (I believe is the current recommendation.) I've tagged some of the resident experts for a more professional diagnosis and recommendation. Also, certain species do not do well with certain treatments, so look for a safe remedy for your livestock.
@Jay Hemdal and @vetteguy53081

Although new industry standard is now 45 days I tend to go 59-69 days if fallow
Coppersafe is my treatment of choice as well as ruby rally pro

Paul B · Feb 1, 2022

Ashley13 said:
Do you think it's ich? Repeating the process every few weeks is getting annoying.

Yes,it's ich. I would leave her there as she would get much healthier in that tank than any quarantine tank. The tank already has ich in it and if the fish is still eating I would leave her there. No guarantees though.

I would still like to see that fish eating something not from an LFS like fresh or freshly frozen clams. The immunity of a fish is dependent on it's gut bacteria and LFS food probably won't have any.

Good luck

KrisReef · Feb 1, 2022

I brought home a sick Blue tang (slimy white skin issue) from the LFS and put it in my tank and fed it some whole chopped clams from the grocery and mussels I gathered from the jetty. I feed frozen mysis also, but long story short none of my other fish got sick and the tang is well. Paul B is giving you wholistic natural health advice and you will have a better chance of saving your tank and your tang if you dare to feed the fish and avoid trying to kill the ich that you have in your display. Seems likely the tang was ok until it hit your system and because of stress the ich appears. Happens all the time and fish get well if you feed them whole natural foods, routinely.

Don't let that fish die a miserable death in copper. Give it a chance to thrive in your dt.

Also, if you want to treat the dt, the only thing that makes sense in your scenario is to add a UV sterilizer or maybe a Oxydator?

Paul B · Feb 1, 2022

KrisReef said:
Seems likely the tang was ok until it hit your system and because of stress the ich appears

I always said copper and quarantine actually cause a fish to become infected with ich, not the other way around.

Good luck

Jay Hemdal · Feb 1, 2022

Ashley13 said:
So i bought a hippo about 10 weeks ago from a very reliable lfs. They had the tang for 2-3 month before i bought her. In the LFS she was eating, acting and looking very good. When i bought her she had to stay in a 5 gallon bucket with heater and aerator for about 4 hours before i could get her home and this stressed her out. Since she was in a QT while in hold for me at the LFS i didnt QT at home i put her straight into my DT. 2 days later she is covered in what i assumed to be ich. I immediately put her in my QT and treated her and did 15% water change every few days. 4 days later all white spots are gone and did a 100% water change with half new water and half from my DT. For 2.5 weeks she was spotless. I returned her to my display tank 2-3 days later it comes back. Repeated the whole process again and after almost 4 weeks of not spots i put her in my DT again. Well she has been in there for 3 days now and it's back again! Please help on what should i do and is this really ich or something else. Btw she is eating great (frozen brine and nori strip everyday) and acting like her goofy self. I had read moving to the DT can cause them to get stressed and ich come for a couple days and then go away and everything is fine..is this correct info or completely wrong? All parameters are steady temp 79, salinity. 25, 0 amm, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, 8.2 ph, 500 cal, did have a phosphate spike a couple weeks ago but it's slowly dropping everyday.

That does appear to be ich. What did you treat it with? It is borderline being at the level of infection that can be managed without copper or TTM or hyposalinity.

Jay

threebuoys · Feb 1, 2022

Ashley13 said:
Whats your opinion on what i should do, this switching tanks and showing no sign of ich for 3 weeks and then 2 days after shes in the DT it comes back is kinda old.

Ashley, you can see hobbyists are passionate about this topic.

Basically, you are faced with two choices, ich management (Paul_B et al. approach) or ich elimination (Jay Hemdal et al. approach)

Jay offered a couple of alternatives for your current situation with the hippo. But, Your DT has ich in it, Until it is eliminated from the DT, anytime you add a fish to it, particularly weakened ich magnets, you will have to accept the fact that ich may appear. You'll also run the risk that any current fish in the DT that weakens for other reasons will be at risk to develop ich.

Fish can survive under either ich managment or ich elimination. FWIW, and contrary to what some have said above, if done using the guidelines in the stickies for this forum, I do not believe Copper Power or CopperSafe QT ares a danger to fish survival.

Good luck with your decision.