Help diagnosing! Blue Hippo Tang Ich?

tpv · Apr 22, 2024

Hey all! Looking for some advice on if this could be the beginning stages of Ich on my new Blue Hippo Tang. Fish has been in the tang 3 days and was bought from a LFS that does a full quarantine on all fish prior to selling. No signs of stress in the tank, and is eating everything I put in the tank to include music shrimp, seaweed extreme pellets, krill flakes, and I have seaweed on a clip inside the tank. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Jay Hemdal · Apr 22, 2024

tpv Welcome to the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Forum!

The #fishmedic team and other knowledgeable members of our community will do our best to help you resolve your questions. Please provide as much of the following as you are able:

Brief description of the issue you are observing and answers to the following questions:
- How long have you had the fish with the condition?
- Did you quarantine with medication when you first acquired the fish? (If Yes, which medication?)
Current water quality measurements
Clear photos of the issue taken using WHITE light and/or a short video of any behaviors (post in your response or on YouTube).

If you can help us by providing as much of the above info as possible, it will make diagnosing and providing recommendations for treatment MUCH easier! The Fish Medic team will get back to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, other members of our community may also share their experience with similar situations and advice that they may have regarding your situation.

You may also feel free to provide a more detailed description of the condition if you wish to share more info than the above list.

Additionally, these links may be useful while you await a response:

vetteguy53081 · Apr 22, 2024

tpv said:
Hey all! Looking for some advice on if this could be the beginning stages of Ich on my new Blue Hippo Tang. Fish has been in the tang 3 days and was bought from a LFS that does a full quarantine on all fish prior to selling. No signs of stress in the tank, and is eating everything I put in the tank to include music shrimp, seaweed extreme pellets, krill flakes, and I have seaweed on a clip inside the tank. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Looks like mucus cones mixed in with Ich and will need to be treated in a separate quarantine tank using coppersafe or copper power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
As this is not always spreadable. keep an eye on other occupants for symptoms

tpv · Apr 22, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
Looks like mucus cones mixed in with Ich and will need to be treated in a separate quarantine tank using coppersafe or copper power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
As this is not always spreadable. keep an eye on other occupants for symptoms

What could’ve been the cause of this? Hippo showed no signs of anything when I picked it up Friday and put it in the tank. All other fish currently show no signs

vetteguy53081 · Apr 22, 2024

tpv said:
What could’ve been the cause of this? Hippo showed no signs of anything when I picked it up Friday and put it in the tank. All other fish currently show no signs

Often starts with skin irritation and even exposure to an infected fish at LFS tank

tpv · Apr 22, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
Often starts with skin irritation and even exposure to an infected fish at LFS tank

LFS does a full quarantine on all their fish prior to putting in their “cleared quarantine” tanks. LFS advertises “we offer fully quarantined, treated, and conditioned fish, as well as invertebrates and coral”.
Is it possible the tang cleared their quarantine period and it not show signs until in my tank?

attached is a picture of their “cleared quarantine” tanks and coral tanks

vetteguy53081 · Apr 22, 2024

tpv said:
LFS does a full quarantine on all their fish prior to putting in their “cleared quarantine” tanks. LFS advertises “we offer fully quarantined, treated, and conditioned fish, as well as invertebrates and coral”.
Is it possible the tang cleared their quarantine period and it not show signs until in my tank?

attached is a picture of their “cleared quarantine” tanks and coral tanks

many stores quarantine their fish at therapuetic level base ( Coppersafe ay 2.0 - where treament begins to work and best at 2.25-2.5) or ionic copper at .4
The question also is how long they had it in any copper

tpv · Apr 22, 2024

vetteguy53081 said:
many stores quarantine their fish at therapuetic level base ( Coppersafe ay 2.0 - where treament begins to work and best at 2.25-2.5) or ionic copper at .4
The question also is how long they had it in any copper

Thanks for the info! I’m going to be reaching out to the store tomorrow when they open to see what they say in regards to this. Thanks again I always appreciate your input!

Jay Hemdal · Apr 23, 2024

tpv said:
Thanks for the info! I’m going to be reaching out to the store tomorrow when they open to see what they say in regards to this. Thanks again I always appreciate your input!

I agree, this looks like ich. Very often, simply moving the fish stresses it enough so that ich starts up. Many stores that "quarantine" their fish simply don't have the time and resources to do a full quarantine run (that takes 45 days or more).

That said, there is also the possibility that one of your earlier fish brought ich into your tank, but it was there as a chronic infection - until you added a more susceptible species (the blue tang),

tpv · Apr 23, 2024

Jay Hemdal said:
I agree, this looks like ich. Very often, simply moving the fish stresses it enough so that ich starts up. Many stores that "quarantine" their fish simply don't have the time and resources to do a full quarantine run (that takes 45 days or more).

That said, there is also the possibility that one of your earlier fish brought ich into your tank, but it was there as a chronic infection - until you added a more susceptible species (the blue tang),

This was also something that crossed my mind wondering if it could have been in the tank. Anyway to treat the tank without killing corals?

Jay Hemdal · Apr 23, 2024

tpv said:
This was also something that crossed my mind wondering if it could have been in the tank. Anyway to treat the tank without killing corals?

Not many options that are safe for corals you can try a mixture of techniques called ich management, but be forewarned that it often doesn’t work:

"Ich Management"

Because this topic continues to come up, I wanted to create a sticky thread so that it is more easily referenced. Please understand that I am NOT presenting this as an optimum method for controlling marine ich, just putting it out there for people who want to try it. Also, do not pick and...

www.reef2reef.com

tpv · Apr 27, 2024

@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal I got the hippo tang quarantined and start coppersafe, however now I just noticed this during feeding, does it look like my goby caught ich as well?

vetteguy53081 · Apr 27, 2024

tpv said:
@vetteguy53081 @Jay Hemdal I got the hippo tang quarantined and start coppersafe, however now I just noticed this during feeding, does it look like my goby caught ich as well?

Yes as it and any other fish have been exposed to ich and should as well be treated and display tank be kept without fish for 6-8 weeks to assure the parasites have died off without a host fish