Ich Treatment for a Hippo Tang

[Hugh Mann]

Unfortunately I don't have access to those. Closest store (6-8 hour round trip), isn't currently shipping frozen.

Fortunately it ate a bunch of nori I put some selcon on. I'm hoping it will eat some brine or mysis, but I haven't had luck with that before it broke out with ich. All I have is purple and green nori, brine, mysis, krill and an assortment of grocery store shrimp/clam/squid/shrimp I grind up to make my own cubes.

Still alive as of this morning, not a spot to be seen on it that I saw. Lights turned real low. Other tank has been washed/sterilized, will be filling it once dry.

I'm thinking about stopping the copper to reduce stress on the fish. And to save my copper for QTing future fish that would be impractical to TTM. Copper is banned in my parts, a miracle I got what I have, and I would use about half of it for this treatment.

More reading tells me TTM alone is extremely successful done properly and the full course. If the Hippo takes to it without copper and eats better, I may do one extra transfer before going into the Display.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Unfortunately I don't have access to those. Closest store (6-8 hour round trip), isn't currently shipping frozen.

Fortunately it ate a bunch of nori I put some selcon on. I'm hoping it will eat some brine or mysis, but I haven't had luck with that before it broke out with ich. All I have is purple and green nori, brine, mysis, krill and an assortment of grocery store shrimp/clam/squid/shrimp I grind up to make my own cubes.

Still alive as of this morning, not a spot to be seen on it that I saw. Lights turned real low. Other tank has been washed/sterilized, will be filling it once dry.

I'm thinking about stopping the copper to reduce stress on the fish. And to save my copper for QTing future fish that would be impractical to TTM. Copper is banned in my parts, a miracle I got what I have, and I would use about half of it for this treatment.

More reading tells me TTM alone is extremely successful done properly and the full course. If the Hippo takes to it without copper and eats better, I may do one extra transfer before going into the Display.

My only issue with stopping the copper is it being yet another change the tang is going to have to contend with. While not having to deal with the copper, another change could stress it out more. But I would like to hear what the QT pros have to say about that.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Fortunately it's only sitting ar a 2/3rds dose, so over the next transfer I can drop it slowly, but I would figure going to zero copper would be more beneficial than not.

I put fresh nori in this morning, so after work I will see how much, if any was eaten, as that is one of my primary concerns, as I am told copper suppresses appetite.

 

[Brew12]

Fortunately it's only sitting ar a 2/3rds dose, so over the next transfer I can drop it slowly, but I would figure going to zero copper would be more beneficial than not.

I put fresh nori in this morning, so after work I will see how much, if any was eaten, as that is one of my primary concerns, as I am told copper suppresses appetite.

I would have no concerns going to 0ppm copper immediately.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Excellent. I have 8 hours to go for the next transfer, so it will be copper free water. I just saw it this morning and it looks great, no spots, colour is good and it's eating!

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Excellent. I have 8 hours to go for the next transfer, so it will be copper free water. I just saw it this morning and it looks great, no spots, colour is good and it's eating!

Yay!!!! I’m sooo happy it’s doing well!!! Looks like you got a little trooper on your hands!!!

 

[fishguy242]

good news!!

 

[h2so4hurts]

TTM is super stressful, but tangs are very hardy fish and have tolerated it well when I've done it with them in the past. Best of luck!

 

[Hugh Mann]

Thanks. I'm starting to be hopeful this is actually going to work just fine.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Hippo is successfully in the clean tank!
Already looking much better now than it did days ago.

 

[vetteguy53081]

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.

Garlic good feeding enticer and boost for immune system but as you said . . Not a remedy

 

[vetteguy53081]

Freshwater dip and formalin bath is highly effective except formalin is near impossible to find right now
Cupramine would be next bet dosed at 80% of recommended

 

[Hugh Mann]

Even more so in Canada is it hard to find. At least of a quality I would feel safe using on fish.

No cuprimine unfortunately, only Coppersafe. Because our laws suck.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Aaaand it appears the TTM failed, despite all efforts. I think.

Hippo is once again covered in the distinctive white spots, except this time it's in my display. And it also has a cloudy eye. Son of a...

I genuinely don't know what to do now, as I leave for a once in a lifetime, bought and paid for vacation on Monday, and won't be back until October 1st, with an inexperienced tank sitter.

The weird thing is the black mollies, which should have zero resistance to it, aren't showing anything.

 

[ichthyogeek]

That's really bad, and I'm sorry you had to go through that. At the same time, I'm really curious about your sterilization methods...

I know I took pains to keep everything as sterile as possible when doing my TTM method. I'd mix the new water in one room, and when draining the tank, the drained water would be flushed into a toilet with the bathroom running the fan to simulate a vacuum environment, and the buckets would then be put through a bleach session (.5 cup bleach/bucket, filled to the brim). The tank, and literally everything that came into contact with the infected water was also put through bleach sterilization as well, and everything left to dry for 48 hours (I ran a 48 hour TTM just to be safe instead of 72 hours). This included stuff like the hose I used to drain the tank, the airline tubing for aeration, and all the cover (PVC pipes and flowerpot caves). And anything that even remotely came into contact with other water (like from other tanks) was bleached again in order to maintain integrity.

How rabid did you go on the sterilization protocols?

@Jay Hemdal ?

 

[KrisReef]

Aaaand it appears the TTM failed, despite all efforts. I think.

Hippo is once again covered in the distinctive white spots, except this time it's in my display. And it also has a cloudy eye. Son of a...

I genuinely don't know what to do now, as I leave for a once in a lifetime, bought and paid for vacation on Monday, and won't be back until October 1st, with an inexperienced tank sitter.

The weird thing is the black mollies, which should have zero resistance to it, aren't showing anything.

Amazing how these kinds of events routinely occur on the eve of a great vacation or other planned event. Nothing left to do really. Here's what I suggest:

Tell that tang you expect it to be waiting for you when you get back from vacation. Then say a prayer and enjoy the vacation. I'll be praying for the tang and you and anticipating a positive report in October.

Amazing things happen in the darkest circumstances. Sweating what you might have done poorly won't change what has happened but it could cloud how you go forward.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Oh, something that might help would be making sure the tang gets quality food going forward. Lots of nori, lots of vitamins, etc.

 

[Hugh Mann]

For sterilization I used vinegar, washed, rinsed, dried and left dry for 36+ hours. Same with the tanks and all other reused equipment. Clean airlines/stones. Would have liked to use bleach, but it's actually surprisingly difficult to find for me right now. Waste water gets dumped down a drain far from the tanks.

The part that worries me is the cloudy eye, I know that's not ich, so what is it? Maybe it scraped itself during one of its "OMG BOLT INTO A CREVICE" runs, as for whatever reason it started hiding from me when it was fine after introduction. But I don't know how to treat that, or if I even can with what's available in Canada.

And that none of my other fish are showing anything. Which is a good thing, but not even the mollies, which are supposed to have zero resistance to ich! And it's been over two weeks!

I have been feeding nori every day, along with spirulina, omega one flake, selcon+ brine and selcon+mysis.

Protein Skimmer so my water is quite clean, if not super clean (Nitrate 25), no new additions. I don't know what triggered it even. And I really don't know what to do if/when it spreads to my other fish while I am away. If I lose my current livestock (again) I will be leaving this hobby to never look back I think.

 

[fishguy242]

this lil guy has been a trooper!! hopefully just a scrape on eye ,spot stress,hope spots will just be gone in a day or two without affecting anything else,from my exp w hippos ,can pop up w spots,then gone not affecting any other fish in tank,just out of the blue ,i may be scientificly wrong,but have seen this occur for over two year period ,tank is gone now,hippo is still alive and well w new owner at approx 4 yrs old..best wishes

 

[Hugh Mann]

this lil guy has been a trooper!! hopefully just a scrape on eye ,spot stress,hope spots will just be gone in a day or two without affecting anything else,from my exp w hippos ,can pop up w spots,then gone not affecting any other fish in tank,just out of the blue ,i may be scientificly wrong,but have seen this occur for over two year period ,tank is gone now,hippo is still alive and well w new owner at approx 4 yrs old..best wishes

Thanks. I really hope so too. I wonder if the mollies are stressing it out, or if it's stressed because I've been spending more time around my tank due to reduced work hours?

Will keep you posted up until I leave.