I bought a hippo tang a little over a week ago and noticed small spots on it that looked like air bubbles. I also got a cleaner shrimp the same day and he has been cleaning my fish in the past few days. I noticed an increase in the spots; now on the hippo's face so I read the threads and I'm pretty sure it's ich. The most convincing tidbit of info I found was that the hippo tang is know as the "King of Ich" :twisted: I mentioned to my husband that the best approach is a quarantine and he resonded with much huffing, and puffing, and eye rolling. We really just can't afford to get a new tank and set it up. I need to try one of those medications that is safe for my snails, crabs, starfish, and shrimp. or do I need to get another cleaner shrimp? I need a longshot to come in... one minimal purchase to fix this problem. help???
Ich looks like grains of salt scattered on the fish. Unfortunately, there is no really safe way to treat in your main tank except cleaner shrimp which probably won't eradicate it. Check out this thread: http://www.razorbackreef.org/old/phpBB ... .php?t=560
I am not a fan of using any medication in your main tank. You have definitly seen first hand the benefits of a quarantine tank which took me about 5 years in the hobby to get through my skull. I recently quarantined a purple tang for about a week and once in the main tank developed a pretty good case of ich. One of the hardest things to learn about the hobby is patience and weeding through the wealth of information that is out there about whatever you are having trouble with. I did not go to the trouble of stress my tang out trying to catch him and I did not treat my tank either - there is just to much to go wrong when adding chemicals, no matter what your good intentions are. I did purchase a cleaner shrimp but only a week later when the ich was almost gone. The ich did not spread to my other fish and gradually disappeared. I watched closely for the next several weeks to see if the ich returned as it completed its life cycle in the substrate but it did not. I feel that improving water quality is your best chance of getting rid of ich once you have introduced a fish that has acquired it. There are many people that have done freshwater dips - and I do employ them when I can- but catching a fish in a display tank puts alot of added stress that I do not feel is worth the effort. I have had flat worms for years and refused to use Flatworm Exit to try and irradicate them. While in Pittsburgh at the national conference I spoke with the Salifert rep who advised me to not use the product that he is charged with promoting. His comment was that if they are not hurting anything, and they are not, then leave them be and not risk the adverse effects of attempting to get rid of them. I see them as part of the life cycle in my tank, however Marti would see them as nightmares in her sleep and rather cut off her right arm than risk ever having a flatworm within 10 miles of her tank.
You can treat the tang in a 5 gallon bucket. Marti and I had a couple of clowns that we treated in a 5 gallon bucket for Ich. All you need is a bucket, air pump, air line tubing and a heater. If you don't have a submersible heater then a hang on heater will hang on the bucket. Make sure that the saltwater in the bucket is the same temp. as in the tank. If you are going to do a water change in your tank then put 5 gallon of your tank water in the bucket. Hook up the pump and put the other end of the tubing that has a airstone on it in the water. You might have to clip the airline to the bucket to keep the airstone in the water. Then you can add your Ich medication. Any equipment that you use that has been in the Ich water, like the heater, you will not be able to use again in your tank so when you are done treating the Tang just put everything back in the bucket to use again if you need to. Treating in the bucket will work until you are able to set up a quarintine tank.
The best and safest way to cure ich in my opinion is hyposalinity in a quaranteen tank. No Chemicals, and no metal added. It takes some effort and time but is pretty close to 100% effective.
well. I've kept an eye on the hippo tang and the ich doesn't seem to be getting any worse. I have seen the cleaner shrimp a little more active with the tang, so I think I'll just keep an eye on that for progress and keep my fingers crossed - quarintine equipment is just not possible right now. I've carefully studied the other 3 fish and I've seen no signs of ich on them yet. Thanks so much for your advice, I certainly don't feel comfortable adding any chemicals or medication to my tank which would have been my first reaction - dogded a possible bullet there. So glad I found this forum! Thanks!!!
