got ich

[dabudkrew]

my hippo got the ich today, and i dont have a qt, is it too late to make one out of a 10 gal tank? am i too late, will my tank crash cause of this? what can i do? thanks

[txstateunivreefer]

first of all hippos if you just look at them wrong will get ich they get it really easy most of the time on mine it would get over it a few things might help
UV sterilizer
food with garlic in it --- it is supposed to fortify thier immune system

those will help it out over time but if you want to try something immediate there are a few things you can do:

freshwater dip
copper treatment to kill the paracite
or put it in a QT tank

but with these you must realize that you will have to capture the fish and put it thru even more stress.

is the fish eating?

your tank will not crash just because of ich worst case is that it dies what other fish do you have in your tank?

a QT tank is a possibillity you will just need to do alot of water changes every 12-18hrs to keep levels down that should give you some ideas

can you catch the fish easily or do you have alot of rockwork?

[dabudkrew]

well first thanks for the quick reply, i bought some formula two frozen cubes, he's eating and swiming finre, just that scraping against the rocks, i have a yelow tang a foxface and a pair of clowns, i havent tried catching it cause i have no where to put it in, i was hoping my cleaner shrimp would take care of it but its molting right now, but i do want to try the garlic but dont really know how to do it, just read about it but i dont know how exactly to do it, but i do want to try the freshwater dip i heard that works but i dont want to kill it

[txstateunivreefer]

the FW dip is going to be VERY stressful for the fish and i would wait and use that if he stops eating or something like that what is your yellow tang doing? does it have it as well?

[Jeff]

don't worry about a uv sterilizer or any snake oil that is supposed to get rid of ick. all you have to do is feed a lot of live macro algea from somebodies refugium. tangs are vegatarian by nature and we feed mostly meaty foods and that leaves them suseptable to attacks by things such as ick.

go to heb and look for garlic oil in the spice isle and add one or two drops to your thawing frozen food. but mainly feed live macro to help (calurpa is the best).

[dabudkrew]

no my yellow tang is doing fine, he has no sign of ich *(yet), i feed then algea sheets and well now i fought those frozen cube made out of algea and suppose to be an immune booster so let see how that goes, as for garlic i have a couple of fresh garlic, should i use that to used with the food?

[MissT]

I saw something mentioned about copper, and nothing about NOT using it in a reef tank, so I thought I'd make that point. If you're using Kent's Garlic Extreme, soak a cube of frozen in a little bit of tank water with 2 drops of the garlic extract for around 10 minutes, then pour the while thing in. The UV would probably be too little too late but they're really good for preventative measures. FW dip would be last resort because it would freak him out pretty bad and probably just make it worse... also if you don't have any SPS you could get away with turning the temperature up to like 83 for a couple days to help him fight it off.

[MissT]

the fresh garlic can work, mince it, then I'd wrap it up in a little cheese cloth or put it in one of those tea balls and let that soak for a while.

[dabudkrew]

i will try that right now, yeah i knew about the copper, but i guess the garlic jucie is the good stuff right??

[emac]

if you do decide to do a fresh water make sure you use RO water and make sure the PH is the same as your tanks. btw i've never lost a fish from doing a fresh water dip

[dabudkrew]

yeah get a gallon of the windmill water, do know if you guys have then up in san antonio but im going to try the garlic first and go from there, thanks everyone for your input

[dabudkrew]

ok here's the updated, the white spots are going away, it only have like 2 white spot, not like before, is this good or bad?

[erikharrison]

It will change throughout the day. A cleaner shrimp will go to town on your tang, and would be a wise purchase if you don't have another inhabitant that will eat it. :) IME UV is the best preventative, assuming water quality and diet are a given.

[apedroza]

As stated earlier hippos are generally very suseptible to ich. They seem to always get it!!! Proper nutrition and good water quality should help lower future outbreaks.

[dabudkrew]

yeah i have a cleaner shrimp but its not doing anything, or maybe he did while i wasnt looking, and about the water qulity the only problem i have are nitrates due to no skimmer but its improving with water changes

[Bill S]

Mine is about 5 years old. Still gets it every once in a while, when he/she is stressed out. The BEST simple advice is this: If the fish is eating and fat, don't worry. Too much. Make lots of greens available to it, and all should be fine. Garlic may or may not help. I use it, just in case it works... But, to me it's like treating a cold. Let it run it's course, and it will be over in a week. Treat it, and it will be gone in 7 days...

[dabudkrew]

thanks bill, yeah its eating fine and swimming fine, if just the scatching against the rocks but i do hope it goes away