10days in hypo...Hippo still has ich.

fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
I started hypo for ich on June 27th....used a refractometer to bring salinity to 12ppt at 81 deg. (SG of 1.008). Today (July 7th) The hippo tang still has about 30 or so white spots on his face and body which appear to be ich. None of the other fish have any symptoms (achilles tang, LN butterfly, yellow box).
Ph is 8.0
Alk is normal
I've been feeding garlic soaked nori as well as Zoe and Selcon soaked frozen brine.
Could this be something other than ich? I dont think its velvet only because after 10days the fish should be dead.
Would a formalin dip help get the spots off the tang?
Is there something that i'm missing?
any help would be appreciated.
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
Thanks Terry, i'm assuming that by "something other than ich" you mean another type of protozoan. if i remember correctly formalin won't treat bacterial infections. when i've formalin dipped in the past i've used 2 teaspoons per gallon of tank water for about 20mins or sooner if the fish shows signs of stress. Is this what u would recommend?
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
I just did the first formalin dip today (July 8th) according to Terry's reccomendations....the hippo looks a little better but most of the spots are still there.
When would you recommend i do the next dip?
Should i do them daily or every other day until the spots dissappear?
Thanks again
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
Are these "spots" protruding, like salt specs attached to the fish, or are specs white dots that are smooth against the fish's flesh? Take a magnifying glass out and take a really close look at the spots to see if you can make this distinction.
Are the spots mostly around the face? Have they consistently been there throughout the hypo treatment?
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
Beth,
The spots on his face (about 10 or so) are protruding...the majority of the spots are on the body and most appear to be prodruding as well...although some are flat against his skin.
IN regards to the spots being there throughtout the hypo there is a timeline problem...I first started hypo about 4 weeks ago (using a swing hydrometer) for what i am positive was an ich outbreak in all of my fish.
After about 5days all the fish showed no signs of ich. I kept the SG the same using the hydrometer.
About 2 weeks later (which brings us to the beginning of this thread) these spots showed up only on the hippo tang.
Thinking it was ich again a bought a refratometer and measured the water (SG 1.008, salinity 12ppt at 81 deg).
SO to answer your question these spots have been there, with no change, for almost 2 weeks in hypo using the refractometer.
Hope this helps :)
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
i performed one dip on July 8th. The spots are still there with no change in size or amount. I will perform another dip today. The spots on the face are raised off the skin surface and most of the spots on the body are also raised. However, some of the spots on the body are smooth against the skin's surface. could this be bacterial as well?
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
here's a couple pics. there was some sand in the holding container in this pic so you have to distinguish between that and the spots on his body.
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
Thanks Terry,
The formalin that i am using is made by Kordon (i got it at the lfs) on the bottle it says "formaldehyde less than %3" so i'm not sure if this is the right stuff..
I did a second dip yesterday (july 11th) and he does look a little better ( now all the spots on his body are smooth against the surface, devoid of pigmentation) however the spots on his face are still there (same amount and size and raised against surface).
I too think he might have a bacterial infection so i will do a Maracyn-Two cycle.
I have only seen what HLLE looks like in advanced cases...could the raised bumps on his face be the start of HLLE?
I do have a grounding probe and use Zoe and Selcon on a regular basis so i hope its not HLLE.
Whatever the ailment is it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much...he eats like a pig and is still dark in color so i think he will pull through just fine..after we find out whats wrong of course ;)
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
Well I'm back..
After doing some research and looking at some previos posts on this board I'm thinking that the mysterious illness might be lymphocytis...I'm basing this conclusion on the following:
the spots haven't gone away in over 3 weeks of hypo,
the spots are raised from the surface,
there are only about 6-10 spots on the fish and they are irregular in size and shape,
some are at the base of his caudal fin and on the face
the formalin dips didn't seem to help
the fish is acting normal (eating well, no scratching, no heavy breathing)
i have two questions....
since there is no real cure (other than a clean stable enviroment)for lympho should i start raising the SG back up to optimum levels and put in a couple cleaner shrimp?
It also appears that my achilles has 3-4 of the same spots on his face, is lympho contagious?
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
Terry,
I did another formalin dip yesterday according to the bottle. it says to add 2 teaspoons of formalin per gallon of water for 50mins. this will equal 200mg/l of formaldehyde...is this a correct concentration for our purposes?
 
fishtanker

fishtanker

Member
well its been a while since my last post...i've raised the SG to normal levels and did some water changes becasue i'm sure it was a lymphosytis outbreak....all the fish have improved dramatically (achilles tang spot free, hippo tang no more spots on body but spots on face still there, just not as many) my LN butterfly does have a large lympho spot just under his mouth but that seems to be improving.
I've never dealt with lympho before...it definately is resistant to medications and only improving water quality is the solution.
Beth and Terry thanks again for your help
 
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