Help my blue tang hippo

[kouma]

Hi,
Please help my 6-7" blue tang hippo. This started over a week ago. The fish doesn't move, eat, or anything I even picked it up with my hands and it didn't resist. My water parameters are perfect, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate. He is in a 90gal tank with a 5" yellow tang and a 6" koran angel. I believe the fish has Lymphocystis but from what I read this is not lethal. How can I help him and make him better.

 

[errattiq]

Looks like ich to me. He needs to be immediately moved to a quarantine tank. From what I've experienced he's too far gone to risk stressing him with hyposalinity. Treat with an antibiotic medication, I've had good luck with instant ocean lifeguard. It comes with a little float and you drop a pill in it depending on how much water you have in your quarantine. MAKE SURE when you move him, the water parameters are very near your tank's parameters, or even better just use some of your tank water, don't worry if there is bacteria in the, the meds will kill it. Keep your hippo there for a solid 2-3 weeks AFTER you notice substantial recovery to make sure he's ok. Once you notice he's better then I'd do a water change in the quarantine. If those little specks are still there or show back up, you have some options now that he's active again . I'd go with either hyposalinity or an aquarium copper/formalin type of regimine (i dont know how well he'll do with hypo and copper simultaneously, might stress him too much). But anyway, follow the lifeguard boxes' instructions and you'll be ok. By the way, it is imperative you do this NOW. If he's at this state he won't last much longer. Your best bet now is to get some antibiotics in him. PM me and let me know how this goes. good luck!
-Josh P

 

[beth]

It does look like lymphocystis to me as well. In which case, no need for a QT. How long have you had this fish? Are these spots as big as they seem, or is there any way that this could be ich and the size of those spots just appears rather large in the picture?

 

[kouma]

Hi Beth,
The spots are big and they look like fungus (i.e. white fat tissue stuck to the fish). It can't be ick because he and the whole tank just recently underwent hyposalinity for 1.5 months. I have had him for 3 months.

 

[kouma]

This fish was eating like a piglet even when infected..first to battle, then suddenly it just stopped doing anything. It doesn't breath heavily, just stays in its spot like its waiting to die. I thought it was aggression from other fish (i.e. yellow tang), so I moved him to sump for a 4 days, then put him in DT again but same thing. I am worried I fed him something bad before this, I started adding zeocon and entice to their food which is comprised of formula two flakes/pellets and mysis shrimp. There is always algae sheet in the tank.

 

[beth]

It does look like a pretty bad case of lymphocyctis, which is a virus. Did he do better in isolation?

 

[jaime0jerry]

well, I have a blue hippo tang that is doing the exact same thing. Crazy I know. You better do something fast because mine took a turn for the worst this morning. I don't think she's gonna make it.

 

[kouma]

Hi Beth,
When isolated i think he was doing better because it is less stressful and there is barely any light, however I cannot confirm 100% whether he was eating the food I was giving him.
One note, in increasing salinity back to the normal after the hyposalinity treatment, I did not leave the mixed water overnight, I simply mixed and put it in (i know bad move but I was impatient). I did however take a week to get salinity back to the norm. The point I am trying to make, is that everytime I poured the new water in it was from the side where the blue tang hid in the rocks.
You think maybe the new salt irritated the fish to this point?

 

[beth]

Yes, that was a very bad way to handle water change, and could well have been a contributing factor here. If you had a QT, I'd probably recommend moving him just for the isolation, and perhaps a course of treatment with Maracyn Two, just in case a secondary infection was occurring.
What are using to measure salinity?

 

[kouma]

Hi Beth,
I gave the blue tang a FW water dip and to my surprised all the weird things fell from him and he was totally clean. I have moved him to a QT tank, however I don't have Maracyn Two because they don't sell this at where I live. I have SeaCure (copper) and MelaFix at my disposal. The fish still stays in one spot and barely moves/eats. However, its stomach is pretty big. I would expect after all that time not eating he would get thin, but he still has thickness and his stomach looks like its too full from over eating.
Let me know how I should act further, I really don't want to loose him.
Thanks

 

[eorwar]

If you are noticing that he has a bulging stomach yet is not eating, I have experienced that this can be worms/nematodes. I had several tangs with this (actually comes out of them) and Prazipro cured it. Just a thought.

 

[beth]

If all those spots fell off during a FW dip, then they are ich. HUGE ich granted. The spotted pattern certainly looks more like ich. Can you do hyposalinity on this fish? QT?