hippo has eye problem

[scotty]

hi there....i am new to saltwater fish keeping.....tonight i noticed that my hippo tang has a small off-white speck attached to his eye....at least it looks like a foreign body and not actually part of his eye....does anyone have any idea what this is? he appears as if he is trying to brush it with his side fin...the hippo and a baby spiny box puffer are the only fish in a 75 and seem to be getting along very well with this one exception....any advice is greatly appreciated.
scott

 

[beth]

Could it be a grain of sand? Hopefully it is not an abrassion. How does the eye look otherwise?

 

[scotty]

it is difficult to tell what it is exactly(esp. since i am a novice at this). he does not stay still long enough for me to get a really good look. it is off white in color and looks like it is something that has attached itself there...there is another spot now under the eye near the gill....could this be ick???? i have never seen ick before so i don't know what i am looking for...can fish get ick on the eye itself??? i am at a loss.....thanks for any help you can offer...scott

 

[beth]

Why don't you give some tank specs and tell us how long you've had the tank up, and how long you've had tang. What kind of set up do you have going there.
Take a good look at the fish. Ich looks like tiny white dots, as if the fish has been sprinkled with salt. Sometimes it is not real noticable until you take a very close look. Do you have a magnifying glass? Try looking at the fish thru the mag glass if you have one.

 

[scotty]

these fish are in a 75 gallon fo tank with a dsb, emperor400, emperor260, cpr skimmer, and 2 powerheads. it has been up and running for 6 weeks and these two fish have been in there for almost 2 weeks...these dots are larger than grains of salt...for reference the dot on his eye is approximately half the circumference of the eye....both of these dots are irregular in shape and whittish in color....thanks for responding, beth....scott

 

[beth]

Is it a solid white, or does it look like the eye is cloudy?

 

[scotty]

well, after a weekend away, he now has a few more of these spots near his gills.....without ever seeing ick, i am starting to presume it is...i am going to treat it after researching that a bit more.....what is this "green x" i have heard a bit about? does it work, or is hyposalinity the way to go?
thanks, beth, for your help in this.....scott

 

[scotty]

thanks for the response.....what about fresh water dips? i think i remember seeing something about that on here for treating ick...is it advisable? thanks....scott

 

[beth]

Hyposalinity is all you need to treat ich.