Blue hippo with ich?

[fishyone]

I have a blue hippo tang that I got in a previously established tank. When the tank was moved the lfs said that the blue hippo would get ich from the stress. It appears they are right. Any way they told me not to worry about it that it would go away and wouldn't spread to other fish. To this point they have given me advice pretty consistent with what I see here buit I am a bit skeptical of this. If I need to worry, how should I treat it. I have a fowlr with some mushrooms but no real other inverts. I don't have a hospital or qt as I'm new to the hobby. H ave seen the posts on garlic but couldn't find how to actually do it. any recommendaations appreciated.

 

[fishyone]

In my tank (a 58 gallon) I have the blue hippo, a yellow tang, two cardinal pajamas, a convict goby and a false percula. I know that this is probably overstocked and that most peolpe don't like tangs in this tank size especially two of them, but it was an already established tank and the fish had been in over a year without many problems. Any way, how would I set up the hospital tank. Would I have to have all my fish out for three weeks? That would have to be a big QT wouldn't it? I will probably try the garlic as that seem to be the most viable option for me at this point. When will this start to spread to my other fish? I apprecaite the advice and will let you know how things go.

 

[beth]

If the fish just got ich and you have not added any new fish, but the hippo just has a few parasites, then it may be that you can get away with treating using the garlic soaked food. You'll know within the next 3 weeks what will happen and whether all your fish get sick.
There have been a good deal of discussions regarding setting up hospital tanks. Do a quick search with our Search feature for info and feel free to post back if you have additional questions. Yes, with that number of fish, you will have to either set up a large hospital or get a couple of small ones.

 

[fishyone]

After the questionable advice from my LFS I decided to make sure it was even ich. I looked at several sources for pictures but I don't know if those are the worst case scenarios or typical. The blue hippo has some pale areas around his eyes mainly they also extend almost linearly down past his eyes to his mouth. They are somewhat pale with almost flourescent purple edges. Some of them are very small small and some are apparently larger or coalescent. They are all flat and almost look like they are depressions but the surface is intact. No spots anywhere else.Doesn't look like any of the pics I've seen. Could this be something else? Dont have a digital camera so can't post pics unfortunately. I went to get the garlic extract thinking it cant hurt to try but all I could find was powder, will this work or do I need liqiud forms. Thanks in advance for the info

 

[beth]

No, that doesn't sound like ich at all. This just started when the tank was moved? Hippos are nortorious for fading colors depending on stress. Is the the color simply faded a bit?

 

[fishyone]

The color is faded. Right around the eyes and mouth as I mentioned in my previous post. The LFS is insistent that this will not cause a problem. They are a "professional service" that does many tanks in town in offices etc.. I have been very happy with their advice to this point. They even have discouraged me from buying some stuff from them -said I didn't need it or it wouldn' lt thrive in my tank yet (mandarin goby). I'm hoping they maybe dont realize this is not ich. It started about the time the fish was moved, it has seemed to become a little more extensive on the fish but he is not acting strange or anything. If it is hypopigmentation will it return to normal and should it be increasing in size since that time.

 

[fishyone]

Thanks for the moral support-as a neophyte in this hobby its hard to challenge the ideas of the "pros" but I am almost entirely convinced this is not ich. Beth or anyone else do you have any pictures of hippos with depigmentation that I could look at for comparison. Thanks