I think my tang is dying!!! Please help!!

T

td3259

New Member
my first post on here was about a sick clownfish I was presuming had ich... I didn't know for sure because his spots were only present for 1 day and didn't seem exactly like ich.

well after the ich moved on from him it went to my blue hippo tang...and bad. My tang was covered in it. I knew I should move him immediately to a hospital tank but all I had was a 5 gal hospital running. So I want to the store I work at and grabbed a 20 gallon tank. We were out of premade salt so instead I filled the 20 with 50-60% water from my display tank and the rest I mixed at a lower salinity since I had heard hypo-salinity helps with ich.
since my tank was at a high salinity (1.027) I didn't want to immediately jump TOO far down, So i lowered it to 1.020.

In the hospital tank I have a marineland penguin 150, a 50w heater preset to 78 degrees, and a hiding spot for my tang. The tank is barebottom.

HERE IS WHY I THINK MY TANG IS DYING!

I did a quick, ten second freshwater dip and my tang began to thrash around like crazy after 5 short seconds. After putting him back in the hospital tank he started breathing insanely rapidly, lost color, and kept swimming on it's side and laying flat for 10-20 seconds at a time. He started swimming a little better, found his way to his hiding place, and is now inside the hiding spot somewhat tilted instead of swimming upright and breathing at an insane speed and losing more and more color. He has been in the hospital tank for about 50 minutes now and his breathing has not gotten any better.

PLEASE leave tips on how to help this! I don't want to lose him, I really, really like him.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
That certainly looks like ich. Hypo works very well but you have to go down slowly and take it to 1.009. And keep it there for about 4 weeks. You need a calibrated refractometer not a hydrometer to do it correctly. You need to test it at least once a day to make sure you don't go above 1.009.
Your problem now is it is in your tank and all your fish have it even if it isn't visible. You will need to remove and treat all your fish then leave the tank fallow (fish free) for 72 days.
If you don't have at least a 6 foot long 125 gallon tank I'd suggest rehoming the hippo.
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
How many fish do you have? What is the size of your display tank?

Did you bring the freshwater bath water up to correct pH to match you display tank? Was the temp the same?

There is not much to do about the shock for the tank except wait and see. Just leave him alone. Leave tank lights off with some room lights.

Hypo is your best choice of treatment but you do need a refractometer. Here is an explanation of the procedure.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/c/index.php/articles/content/100
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I take salinity down to 1.009 over 2-3 days. I drain about half the water in the tank then drip RO over several hours each day so there are no sudden drops. I take it back up very slowly over 2 weeks by adding salt water every day instead of RO for top offs.
 
T

td3259

New Member
lmforbis said:
That certainly looks like ich. Hypo works very well but you have to go down slowly and take it to 1.009. And keep it there for about 4 weeks. You need a calibrated refractometer not a hydrometer to do it correctly. You need to test it at least once a day to make sure you don't go above 1.009.
Your problem now is it is in your tank and all your fish have it even if it isn't visible. You will need to remove and treat all your fish then leave the tank fallow (fish free) for 72 days.
If you don't have at least a 6 foot long 125 gallon tank I'd suggest rehoming the hippo.
Click to expand...

I'll be upgrading to at least a 150 if not bigger after I move, the 70 gallon is only extremely temporary and while he is only 2 inches for now I felt like it wont do much harm short term. I'm starting to slowly lower my salinity, I invested in a refractometer and waiting for it to come in the mail. And I've moved all my fish to qt so I'm hoping this goes well! thank you for your tips!!
 
T

td3259

New Member
beth said:
How many fish do you have? What is the size of your display tank?

Did you bring the freshwater bath water up to correct pH to match you display tank? Was the temp the same?

There is not much to do about the shock for the tank except wait and see. Just leave him alone. Leave tank lights off with some room lights.

Hypo is your best choice of treatment but you do need a refractometer. Here is an explanation of the procedure.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/c/index.php/articles/content/100
Click to expand...

He made it through his shock from the dip. I had the temps the same but not the pH, that's where I went wrong. The person who educated me initially about freshwater dips insisted that wasn't necessary, made me pretty angry to find out he gave me false info.

I only have 1 juvenile ocellaris clown, 2 chromis, and my baby hippo tang who is proving to be quite the fighter as he's made it days now without me starting treatment. Ever since his shock from the dip I wanted to give him time to recover, but his ich of course only got worse during this time. I also have one small anemone but no corals or anything. I'm going to start doing hypo now :)
 
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