hippo tang with ich

[josh10]

Today my hippo tang got ich what should I do to help her just leave her be and let her fight it on her own or should I try to medicate or freshwater dip, hypo, what I'm just freaking out she's my favorite fish and I really don't want to see her go.

 

[DaveK]

There are more questions about treatrment of ich than any other disease. What you need to do has been well covered in these threads -
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/57175-fish-white-spots-went-away.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/52236-curing-fish-marine-ich.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ents/23130-copper-treatment-use-problems.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...nts/23131-hyposalinity-treatment-process.html

To summarize -
You must treat all the fish in the system
You must remove all the fish to a quarantine tank, and treat there.
The effective treatments are hyposalinity or copper. Don't use both at once.
Treatment time is 8 to 10 weeks.
There are no shortcuts.
There are no "reef safe" medications that are effective.

 

[Oxylebius]

DaveK is correct on all the above. Unfortunately, if you have Ich in your DT, you are gonna want to treat all fish and let the DT go fallow for 8-10 weeks. This parasite has a fairly long life cycle and the only way to get rid of it from your DT is to starve it to death (no fish).

If you have a fish only DT you can do hypo-salinity in your DT (I would not use copper in DT no matter what).

Ich sucks. Sorry to hear your tang has it.

 

[josh10]

I'm going to start hypo this weekend I'm waiting for my refractor to come in. I just want to know since I don't have a tank big enough to house all my fish for 2 months without the water going bad every day or someone finally snapping and killing his neighbors is it safe to do hypo in the DT without killing beneficial bacteria?

 

[DaveK]

... is it safe to do hypo in the DT without killing beneficial bacteria?

No, it is not safe. Always treat in a quarantine tank. If you don't have one, get something. Never ever treat the display tank to deal with a fish disease. While we are on the subject, don't even bother trying any of those so called "reef safe" medications. There are none, zero that are "reef safe" and also effective, despite what other may tell you.

When you lower your SG to treatment levels, you kill off a lot of the bacteria in the system, and a lot of other good things to have on the live rock. This can cause a big ammonia spike, which is the last thing you want.

 

[josh10]

I can't really get a QT tank anytime soon since it would have to cycle and I would need a pretty big QT tank for my fish with filters and such for it it would be like starting up a whole new tank and I don't have the money or the space for such a tank and the only live things in my tank are my fish so I pretty much have to treat the DT I'm not even considering useing chemicals since the only one that work are to harsh on fish but if it's a problem with it killing my rock I can move them out for the hypo period would that work?

 

[Frankie]

If you don't have any corals go for it. do it in the display tank.
Be prepare to start over when it comes time to raise the salinity.
Be sure you read all the instructions on how to raise and lower salinity

 

[josh10]

By start over do you mean recycle? But what if I take out most of the rock and add it back after the hypo would it prevent it from having to cycle again or just a mini cycle? I have nothing but fish, rocks and sand in my tank so I'm not worried about the hypo killing anything but beneficial bacteria

 

[josh10]

I just read one of leebca's ich posts and he said if you don't introduce new life to tank for 11 months the icy will go away on it's own is true has anyone tried this?

 

[DaveK]

Could you refer us to the specific post? I can't find it offhand.

Yes, to some extent, fish do seem to develop an immunity to the disease, after many months. I wouldn;t consider this as a method of treatment. You can loose a lot of fish over those 11 months.

 

[josh10]

It's in one of the links you referred me to marine ich myths and facts. Here's the part I was talking about. "14. INTERESTING FIND: If no new MI is introduce into an infected aquarium, the MI already there continues to cycle through multiple generations until about 10 to 11 months when the MI has ‘worn itself out’ and becomes less infective. A tank can be free of an MI infestation if it is never exposed to new MI parasites for over 11 months". http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/fish-diseases-treatments/23132-marine-ich-myths-facts.html

 

[Snid]

That is an interesting observation, but I have to wonder is it worth leaving fish that are infected be. In nature, fish would not receive medical treatment, this is true, but they also have 1,000,000 times better diluted, circulated, and filtered environments in oceans. So the real question is, which is better for the fish leaving them stew in a cooking pot of disease for almost a year or frighten them with hospitalization? I think the answer best lies in the conditions and parameters of the hospital tank itself; Is it big enough? Do they have shelter? How is the dosing of medication done? How are they fed and nourished? I don't have the correct answer for this, but I do know that I would be researching as much as I possibly could and contacting everyone I could if I were in this situation myself. (I am already doing this research now just in case )

Good luck, josh10!

 

[Wolffman64]

With the risk of being "killed" in the forum, another thing you can also try is Hydrogen Peroxide. You need to get food grade HP, and 35% strength, and you can do this directly in the tank. This is what I did on recommendation after I got Ich in my DT, and had no QT or any chance of getting all my fish out (unless I ripped my whole tank apart). You can read some of what I did in my tank thread.

What has been suggested above with a proper QT, copper treatment, and fallow tank is of course by far the best and the proper treatment, but the HP worked really well for me when I didn't have that option.

Let me know if you want to know more. Best of luck mate, Ich is not fun.....

 

[josh10]

Wolfman I'm very interested in HP cure if you don't mind sharing is love hear about it. And if I were to just wait it out the 11 months I would step in with either hypo or copper if the fish don't look like they'll make. I'm trying to do as much research as I can before I start messing with tank since my fish are still eating and acting normal so I'm going to do anything drastic yet.

 

[Snid]

Keep in mind, animals are different than people when it comes to illness. All animals will naturally try to pretend like they are healthy even when they are near the brink of death because it is a survival mentality. As an animal, when you show any signs of weakness, you are looked at as easy prey for predators, undesirable for mating, and the weak link of the group. This is why so many deaths in fish happen almost overnight, they had been really sick for a while (often times unknown) and lost the battle.

 

[josh10]

That's true but there are signs and symptoms to ich that I'm looking for and right now my fish seem strong enough to kick it them selves I'm also going to look into the hydrogen peroxide method suggested by wolfman and if I have I'll just hypo the tank.

 

[Snid]

As long as you know what you're looking for. With Marine Ich, when you see the white spots on the fish, the disease is already well on its way within the fish. The white spots are cysts, part of the reproduction process of the disease, that will fall off and spread throughout the tank.

 

[josh10]

I haven't seen them in a few days and there's not much scratching she's breathing normal and eating like a pig I have two UV sterilizers going now too to try and keep the ich population down.