help with ich

[ECFENCING]

Woke up this morning to find my hippo and YT have ich.

All other fish are fine (Two ocellaris clowns, royal gramma, and a pygmy puffer).

May have to give back the puffer to it's original owner since cleaner shrimp and puffers generally do no coexist and I definitely need a cleaner shrimp now.

I've had the hippo for over two years since he was a baby and the YT for over three years.

I think the move primarily stressed out the tangs+ the two new inhabitants (RG + puffer) may have had something to do with stessing the hippo.

Not sure if I should wait it out and see if the other fish are affected. The hippo is still very hungry and ate well this morning nudging the other fish away.

Any suggestions welcome.


Thanks.


E

 

[ECFENCING]

I should add the two new fish (RG and the puffer) were from local established systems.

 

[michael stern]

You could try cleaner shrimp and or wrasses, and start adding garlic to your food. But, you will always have ich in your system. The only way to get rid of it totally would be copper, or removing all fish for 6-8 weeks.

 

[ECFENCING]

Thanks Mike. I still haven't set up the 75 starfire cube yet so will contact you about adding fish to them when I get it set up.

I was thinking about going fallow but I have no place to put them.

 

[multivit]

Do you have a Quarantine/Hospital tank? Any medical treatment or hyposalinity should be performed separately.

 

[ECFENCING]

multivit: Don't have a hospital tank set up.

Upon closer inspection it's actually a lot worse. The YT has ich as well and the other fish while I can't see the ich on them (clowns, puffer, RG) may also be infected.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Never ever ever ever ever medicate your display tank. Grab a small tank and set that up with 75% tank water and 25% new water. Then medicate the hospital tank. All you need in the HT/QT is a heater, a powerhead and some PVC hiding places. That's the best way to do it.

Search the site for ich and you will find the same things repeated numerous times for treating it.

 

[ECFENCING]

Chief

Thanks. I have a 20 gallon long so I'm going to use that as a hospital tank.

 

[Sean]

Do you have any inverts in your main display?
how did you introduce the fish?
what is the temp.?
has the temp. been consistant?
Where did you get the fissh from? Did you check the other inhabitants in the system for ich?
Are the other fish chasing the Hippo around or not letting it go where it usually likes to go?
Any dramatic changes to your system that you can think of? like large water change or even a small water change with different SG or temp.

 

[ECFENCING]

Sean: I had inverts (two cleaner shrimp). Both gone. Eaten by the puffer and hippo.

When I broke down the 70 I kept about 50 gallons and made 50 gallons of new water.

The salinity did change from 1.025 to 1.023 as I didn't monitor the new saltwater closely enough.

Temp has been about 79-80 consistently but high as 82 when I had the heater plugged in.


Ph=7.8 now before about 8.0

I got the fish from two MR members in Jersey.

 

[ECFENCING]

I think my plan is:

(1) Move the puffer and royal gramma (RG is a bit agressive and can't have puffers and inverts living together)
(2) Get a cleaner shrimp.
(3) Mix garlic in food

I don't want to stress out the tangs by trying to catch them and placing them in a 20 long even though it would be temporary.

 

[michael stern]

that's fine, but you will ALWAYS have ich in your system. It will come back at the first sign of stress.

2 tangs can live a while in a qt. better to move them out, treat with copper, and let your display lay fallow.

 

[basiab]

I agree, get the fish out and treat. I waited and lost 3 out of 5. One that made it was a clown goby and he looked more dead than alive but the copper saved him. But the longer you wait the sicker the fish get and less chance to survive. I also did a fresh water dip before putting them in hospital tank just to kill of as much as possible. It will not kill parasites that are dug in but will get rid of topical ones.