Marine Ich

[DeletedAccount]

I have a Hippo that has been being picked on by a Mimic Lemonpeel. The Hippo has developed white spots (looks like ich from my books). This would have to be from being chased all of the time since my H2O parameters are fine and there has been nothing introduced in over a month (coral) and no fish for almost 10 weeks. Ammonia, nitrates, pH, salinity all fine.
Now to the question.... He is still eating, still swimming fine, still breathing fine (no signs that he is having any sort of respiratory distress as would be related to the other white spot stuff). He has always been skittish and I have found no way to get near him, let alone net or catch him. With all the rock in my tank it will be horrible to try to take everything out to get him to treat him. What do I do?

[Texreefer]

i only have 5 fish in my tank but when one gets sick he is on his own.. lucky for me only one has gotten sick but recovered.. i had a coral beauty get cloudy eyes and a nasty spot on his head.. i just let him alone and he got better on his own... i'm not saying this i the best way to handle a sick fish... but it is certainly easier than tearing down a reef

[Tim Marvin]

That is definately the best way to handle it. Leave it alone, Hippo's will break out from time to time anyway even under the best conditions. Drastic measure will surely knock the tank out of balance. Try feeding garlic extract on some flake food.

[Chris]

I'm with Tim on the garlic extract. Just be careful where you spread that stuff... it can stink up your room pretty good. :D

[DeletedAccount]

OK. Are we talking garlic like from cloves in my kitchen or do you buy something special?

[Chris]

If you can grind up the garlic and use the juices I think that'll work just the same. Here's an article (http://www.geocities.com/horge1218/garlic.html) with more info on the subject. Likewise a link to one of the products (http://www.seachem.com/en_products/product_pages/017_garlicguard.html) sold for use in the industry...

Basically it provides beneficial nutrients and also does well at killing off the ich. ;)

[Hammer]

I found that with the pair of hippo I had before that keeping the temperature ROCK solid was the best way to keep them healthy.
The garlic method has worked well for me though. I have used it for them, and for other tangs I have added to other tanks with great success so far.
I am lazy, so I usually use Lowry's Garlic Extract. I just add it to some food, and let it soak in the fridge for a day or so. I found by letting it soak in that it reduces the amount of oil scum you can get on the water surface.
The way I do it reduces the effectiveness of it in treating ich. But it has always worked great for me, and causes little to no negative effects.
Note, I have tried feeding it in MANY different ways at first until I realized the temp changes at night played a bigger role.
The BEST method is to physically crush the garlic right before feeding. It is the actual desctruction of the cells within the garlic that releases the Allicin. And also note that in this form Allicin only has a certain effective time limit. I do not know what hte limit is though. And even the 'old' garlic extract works for me.

Just my 2¢
Ed