ICH!!!

[Euclid]

I just noticed that my Blue Hippo Tang has what appears to be ICH!!! She's got probably a dozen white spots on her. I don't think she had this yesterday and the only thing that I've done different in the past day or so is feed them Bio-Pure Mega-Marine Algae as opposed to frozen krill. The Snowflake has been mroe active than usual today as well, swimming all around instead of just hiding in a rock. I put Liverock in the tank about a week ago. What can I do to cure her? Do I need to worry about my other fish getting it? Any help/suggestions?! Thanks!!! :(

[hammondegge]

i'd say wait it out. ich likes hippos and they usually get over it. just feed it well and add soak the food in garlic juice

[Euclid]

28-Jun 30-Jun 7/6/2006
pH 7.6 7.75 7.86
Nitrate 80 8 0
Nitrite 0.25 0.6 0.25
Ammonia 0.25 0.15 0

[Texreefer]

how old is tank? if your nitrates are zero you probably shouldn't be reading that much nitrite. you might be seeing a small cycle in your tank.. i would do a couple small water changes and feed sparingly over next couple of days
(just feed it well ) make sure no uneaten food is left in tank

[GaryP]

I think the low levels of ammonia and nitrite you have been experiencing are the culprit here. Not enough to kill any fish, but enough to cause enough stress to result in an outbreak of disease.

I have an opinion contrary to what was stated previously. Good nutrtion is necessary to overcome disease. I would suggest several small feedings a day, again so that there is no left over food.

[Texreefer]

gary, you are correct! that is what i meant by feed sparingly but did not state it as well and thus it sounds a bit misleading

[Euclid]

The tank was set up almost 3 years ago. I transported it to my place on the 28th of last month. I introduced some liverock last week.

[Texreefer]

aahh , the transport and the addition of the live rock probably caused the NH & NO readings. follow garys advice and you should be fine

[GaryP]

gary, you are correct! that is what i meant by feed sparingly but did not state it as well and thus it sounds a bit misleading
"Even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while."

I wouldn't be surpirsed at all if the LR was the source of your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Be glad that's all it did. I have seen uncured LR totally crash a tank. In the future I would suggest making sure its well cured before bringing it home. If not, ask the LFS to allow it cure there before bringing it home to your tank. Unfortunately, some LFS aren't very good about letting your know how "fresh" the LR is. There is a reason why they keep it in a tank seperate from their livestock. I think you just found out why.

[Richard]

You really should never rely on a shop or anyone for that matter to TELL you if liverock is cured or not. They could be lying that it is or more likely they could just be plain wrong. Either way it can be a costly mistake to put uncured rock in a tank. There is a really easy way to tell if it is cured...just smell it. The nose always knows ;) .

[Euclid]

I bought the liverock from 'Duc' on these forums. It's been in his tank for some time now and it even has some mushrooms/anemones growing on it. I'd say it's pretty 'live'. It seems to me that the LR caused my nitrate/ammonia levels to drop, see the dates on the readings? The most current reading is farthest right.

[GaryP]

I just went back and re-read your original post. DuH! Moving the tank is the source of your high nitrogens. Whenever a tank is moved it goes through a mini-cycle just like when its first set up. You lose a certain amount of the bacteria in the move as well as stirring up a lot of the nutrients that may have been trapped in the system. It looks like its starting to settle down now and the LR is probably helping.

Sorry about the confusion.

[GaryP]

There is a really easy way to tell if it is cured...just smell it. The nose always knows ;) .
The good ole Mark I Model I live rock analyzer.

[Euclid]

The ich didn't show up until probably a week after transportation, though. Any thoughts on that?

[Richard]

There is often a delay between the stressor(s) and an outbreak. In your case it's probably the cummulative effect of the move and the following ammonia spike. With the ammonia spike being the biggest stressor. The nitrite isn't as big of a concern since it is not very toxic in saltwater.

If it were me I would go get some instant bacteria culture (biospira or tlc are good ones, TLC is much cheaper though) to beef up your bacteria population. Then start feeding very frequently (like 10+ small feedings per day) with a variety of quality foods.

[GaryP]

It can take a while to show up. Ich goes through a couple of different life stages before it becomes infectious. It really is a fascinating critter from a biological standpoint. Not so fascinating when its on your fish. That's why some shops quarantine fish. They wait for the fish to develop ich and then the copper in the quarantine tank zaps it. Sorta. As I recall, on the free swimming stage is actually killed by copper. Neverthe less. My point is that like any disease, there is an incubation period. Infectious lesions don't appear over night. The stress that started the infection could have occured weeks ago.

[Euclid]

It looks like it's gotten really bad today. She almost looks like she's covered in snow. There are a lot more bumps now and they stick out more and theyre almost fuzzy. I really don't want to lose her! Does anybody have any reccomendations?

[Bill S]

Is she eating? Feed the HECK out of her - Richard recommended 10 x a day to me. And, it worked for me.

[Euclid]

I feed them a lot at one sitting. I work all day so feeding a lot in one day isn't very easy for me. I've been alternating between green algae food and frozen krill. She is eating very well and she is very active. Every now and then she'll hide in a cave and she seems a little more timid than usual but other than that and her fuzzy bumps she seems fine.

On another note, my lionfish is very dark in color comparatively speaking. It also looks like he has some kinf of a film over his eyes and he hasn't been very active at all. He just kind of sits in a corner and acts all ****ed off.