worried about my hippo tang

I wrote a few weeks ago about my hippo tang having ich after I moved him up from the QT. That bout of ich lasted for about 2 days, then seemed to clear up. However, I noted over the last 2 weeks that the hippo tang still did not eat with the other fish when I fed, either with flakes or frozen mysis shrimp. The only thing he would eat was the nori I would put out on the clip. I didn't worry much, since at least he was eating something (and I smeared some minced garlic on the nori occasionally).

Well, today I noticed white spots all over the hippo tang again (more than before). He still eats the nori strips with garlic (and nothing else). But I don't know why he got the outbreak all of a sudden, out of nowhere. None of the other fish have it. Tank parameters as of now: Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, phosphate 0, salinity 1.025, temperature ranges from 77 F at night to 81 F during daytime, pH 8.2, alkalinity 5 mEq/L. Any suggestions?

 

Hippos are well known for ich... the owner of my club had a huge one. Every time he did a water change, moved the rock around, etc the hippo would break out. Just treated and moved on. Maybe use a cleaner shrimp?

The hippo is now huge... and he took him out of his display and moved him to the store he owns because the hippo would pick up his $80 clam and carry him to the top then drop him... was a fun game for the hippo

 

There are many that will disagree with me, but then again, what good would it be without varying opinions?! ;D

I have had a hippo for four years and I have learned a great deal about these wonderful fish. However, what you are dealing with is an infestation of the DT. Your other fish may not show outward syptoms, but they are all now hosts for the parasite. To eradicate the parasite from the entire system, all fish must be removed and treated (whether showing visible syptoms or not). The DT must remain fallow for at least 6 weeks to starve the parasite of hosts. It doesn't sound like fun, but that is how it is.. I've done it twice... I will detail the most recent issues with my tank in an upcoming thread. The parasite can live in the substrate for up to about 30 days before hatching. One parasite can turn into hundreds when it drops off the fish and hatches. I won't bore you with all of the details of crypt, but if you are curious let me know and I will tell you all about this evil scourage. BTW I have found that the most effective method for treatment is copper for 30 days, and then observe for 30 more days. Then reintroduce them, slowly (over the course of weeks), back into the DT.

Good luck.

 

What lotzo says is true. If he's still eating I wouldn't worry about it too much though. This is very common with hippos. Neon gobies and cleaner shrimp will ease his discomfort. Plus it's fun to watch the gobies clean the fish.

 

I understand what you are saying, lotzofish, although it would be very difficult for me to remove all my fish into my 10g QT (2 tangs, 2 clowns, 1 hawkfish, and 1 damsel fish in 10g with only a sponge filter will not make for very happy fish!). Is there no other way?

 

bump

 

My hippo gets it on and off, havent had any other problems, always clears up. To me it is something that the fish have to deal with, thats why they have immune systems. I wont dismantle my tank for a few spots. But what i am curious about is that if ich is present in the oceans why we dont take all the fish out of the ocean and let is starve itself out.

 

I'm looking foward to ur upcoming thread. I just posted a question in a thread pertaining to ich.... I understand hyposalinity is stressful for fish...but fish will survive it....right?
so isn't a bit of stress thru hypo worth it to completely eliminate from your system? My thought was automatically giving hypo treatment as a precaution during the QT phase..
In JJK's case, where it wouldn't be prudent to transfer all his fish to a 10g, would hypo to all is fish, and all his tank(provided its a FOWLR) be out of the realm of possibility? I mean, if ich is present on one fish, it is highly likely it's present in all, and the substrate... meaning all should be treated to some degree??

 

Can't hypo the whole tank. It would kill all the inverts - the CUC, the coral, everything in the tank that is not algae or fish.

 

Like many are saying, your fish may make it through, and get it off and on.. It will almost certainly reduce the life of the fish, but how much would certainly be an issue of debate. No matter what others say, you can run a crypt-free system, and your hippo does NOT have to "just get it" somtimes. I only had crypt when I first hot my hippo, and I treated it with copper per the above regime; when my son dumped an entire can of fish food into the system.. Other than those two times I have had the fish for four years, and never had an outbreak.. I agree with you, a 10 gallon QT would certainly be more stressful than crypt. Perhaps waiting it out will work, but I would be wary of future difficulties (especially with new arrivals).

Crypt really causes no issues in the ocean due to the vast volume of water.. What are the odds of a couple thousand single-celled organisms finding a fish in a seemingly infinite volume of water (within a day of hatching)? Not very high, but due to the small confines of our aquariums crypt has a very easy time finiding hosts.

hypo is not as stressful as some of the other conventional treatemts for crypt, but a very precise specific gravity (SG) of 1.008-1.009 must be maintained during the entire treatment. The salinity must not be lowered by more than .001 per day, and it is highly recommended to use a refracotmeter due to the necessity of precision when measuing the SG. Hypo will kill ALL invert.. Not just the parasites. So, typically, it is not implemented in primary systems because it kills snails, crabs, corals, etc.. Crypt only lives on the fish for a few days. Generally, crypt attacks the fish's gills first and then the body. The spots that you see on fish are actually just a skin reaction to the burrowing crypt parasite. When crypt is attached to a fish they are COMPLETELY safe from all outside factors. This is because the fish protects the crypt (not intentionally) with its skin and slime coat. After a few days the crypt falls off of the fish into the substrate. While in the substrate, the crypt cell divides and hatches anywhere from 2-30 days later. It is ONLY during this "hatchling" or "free-swimming" phase that the crypt can be killed. That is why we must treat for at least 30 days.. The positive side is that the crypt only has a day to find a fish after it hatches, and then it dies. Here I go ranting again.. sorry. I hope this helps you guys.