Help needed! Whats this?

pangking · #1 02-02-2009, 04:07 AM

Hippo Tang, got some white spots on his body 2 days ago. Is this Ich? What do I need to do? Will it heal on his own? The fish looks doing ok.

Flash · #2 02-02-2009, 04:15 AM

looks like ich.. do ou have a cleaner shrimp in your tank? are thereother fish in your tank? I believe there are treatments you can get at most LFS

fkshiu · #3 02-02-2009, 04:27 AM

Yes, it does look like ich. Before somebody tells you to feed him garlic or dose Medication X please understand that the only two methods proven to actually KILL the ich parasite: hyposalinity and copper - both of which are very reef UNsafe.

So you have two choices:

A) Remove ALL your fish (because if it's on one, the parasite is most likely on the others) and place them in a QT and treat with either copper or hyposalinity. Then leave your display tank fallow (ie. fishless) for at least 4 weeks for the parasite to die because it lacks any fish hosts.

B) Learn to live with it in the tank. Feed well, keep up with water changes etc. etc so the fish are happy and unstressed.

Most people end up doing option B which leave the parasite in a chronic low level state of infection. Just because you can't see the spots does not mean it's gone. The spots are only one part of the life cycle just like you'll have the flu virus for several days before symptoms appear.

Everything usually goes OK until there's a major stressor in the tank and then the parasite will reappear with a vengeance.

Adding garlic to the diet does no harm and will stimulate appepite (which is good for any sick creature), but there's no scientific evidence that it actually kills ich.

pangking · #4 02-02-2009, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bean

looks like ich.. do ou have a cleaner shrimp in your tank? are thereother fish in your tank? I believe there are treatments you can get at most LFS

Thanks for your quick reply. There are 2 cleaner shrimps and some fish. Tank only 5 weeks old.

pangking · #5 02-02-2009, 04:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fkshiu

Yes, it does look like ich. Before somebody tells you to feed him garlic or dose Medication X please understand that the only two methods proven to actually KILL the ich parasite: hyposalinity and copper - both of which are very reef UNsafe.

So you have two choices:

A) Remove ALL your fish (because if it's on one, the parasite is most likely on the others) and place them in a QT and treat with either copper or hyposalinity. Then leave your display tank fallow (ie. fishless) for at least 4 weeks for the parasite to die because it lacks any fish hosts.

B) Learn to live with it in the tank. Feed well, keep up with water changes etc. etc so the fish are happy and unstressed.

Most people end up doing option B which leave the parasite in a chronic low level state of infection. Just because you can't see the spots does not mean it's gone. The spots are only one part of the life cycle just like you'll have the flu virus for several days before symptoms appear.

Everything usually goes OK until there's a major stressor in the tank and then the parasite will reappear with a vengeance.

Adding garlic to the diet does no harm and will stimulate appepite (which is good for any sick creature), but there's no scientific evidence that it actually kills ich.

Thanks for your words, learn a lot from you.
I don't really want to get another 30-40 Gal tank just for QT. Neither let the fish die, or let my wife kills me.
Does Ich will hurt my corals? Thats what most I care about.

untamed · #6 02-02-2009, 05:10 AM

No. "ich" won't affect your coral in any way. In fact, the only risk to your coral comes when you attempt to "cure" the "ich" with some miracle cure that you put in the tank.

zazzoo · #7 02-02-2009, 05:18 AM

uv sterilizer helps alot..... believe it or not ... i also use red slime remover and that killed off all the ich

Pan · #8 02-02-2009, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zazzoo

uv sterilizer helps alot..... believe it or not ... i also use red slime remover and that killed off all the ich

?

fkshiu · #9 02-02-2009, 06:22 AM

Things like cleaner shrimp and UV filters may be useful in controlling, but not eliminating ich.

Not sure about red slime remover - red slime (cyanobacteria) is a bacteria. The remover works because it is an antibiotic (erythromycin). Ich is not a bacteria and therefore should not be affected by the red slime remover.

Many so called ich "cures" are only claimed to be so because the aquarist sees the telltale spots disappear after usage of said cure. As mentioned, this is most likely the parasite simply cycling into another stage of its life cycle which is microscopic. It often remains so until another breakout when the fish become stressed for whatever reason and the parasite multiplies again and becomes visible.

rocketlily · #10 02-02-2009, 12:20 PM

I am in the process of adding finally adding fish to my tank. I hope you don't mind, but I'm trying to learn how people add fish to their tanks.

You said that your tank is 5 weeks old. How many fish do you have in it. Did you quarantine any of them? How long have you had the Hippo Tang?

Sorry I'm not any help, only questions.