jos3f Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 ugh... so after I've been up and running for a little over a month with my 75 gallon looks like I've got ich on my baby blue hippo tang. It looks pretty textbook, a couple white sand sized spots, one on his body and a couple on his fins. he's rubbed against the rocks a couple times which removed any doubt I had. Other than that he still looks healthy and eats like a pig. my only 2 other fish right now are 2 tank raised clowns, 1 orange and 1 black. So after doing hours of research it looks like there are 2 ways most ppl deal with it. They either A) treat the fish and accept ich living in the system, just reducing stress and boosting the immune system with things like garlic and supplements, or B) Quarantine the fish for 4-8 weeks ridding my Display completely of it. Being that I only have 3 fish I think I'm gonna go the route of quarantining and now need to decide which medications to go with. From what I've read copper and hypo salinity are the 2 only tried and true methods, but never do both at the same time. What brands of medications have you had success with? and do you guys recommend freshwater baths? if so for how long? Looks like this is gonna be a pain to deal with but I'm glad I didn't go crazy stocking my tank early on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 I wouldnt recommend any copper, and go with strictly hypo, it's the most guaranteed to work, they'll either be cured, as long as you do it right, or they'll unfortunately die, regardless, as long as you leave the DT fish free for the proper amount of time, ie, 6+ weeks, and follow proper QT procedures from here on out, you should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kris Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 My blue hippo got ich just after I got it. I went to a local fish shop and they had me get the brightwell aquatics garlic power and some flake food. With in a few days he he was not rubbing on the rocks and over a couple of weeks all the white spots were gone. Now every once and a while he starts to start rubbing again so I feed the flake food soaked in the garlic and he is good to go. I was also thinking of quarantining him but this seems to work great. Hope this helps Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 Your only going to waste time and money chasing Ich. Take Kris's advice and feed garlic. Fix the problem that caused the stressed fish to get ich to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jos3f Posted November 9, 2010 Author Share Posted November 9, 2010 Your only going to waste time and money chasing Ich. Take Kris's advice and feed garlic. Fix the problem that caused the stressed fish to get ich to begin with. You know the more I think about it the more I start to agree with this school of thought. Quarantining every fish I get for 4-6 weeks everytime just to make sure ich doesn't get in my system just seems like a really paranoid way of doing things and would take a lot of the fun out of this hobby. I still might take the tang out to treat it if it gets worse but going fishless for long periods of time just seems like such a waste. Hopefully I don't eat these words down the road after losing hundreds of dollars worth of fish.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 You know the more I think about it the more I start to agree with this school of thought. Quarantining every fish I get for 4-6 weeks everytime just to make sure ich doesn't get in my system just seems like a really paranoid way of doing things and would take a lot of the fun out of this hobby. I still might take the tang out to treat it if it gets worse but going fishless for long periods of time just seems like such a waste. Hopefully I don't eat these words down the road after losing hundreds of dollars worth of fish.. wise words. Everyone goes through the learning curve. I've already lost over 30+ fish to ich. You can do what you want, believe the snake oil anecdotes sold to leech your money from you. Believe me I've tried them all. LOL. An ounce of prevention is key in this hobby. It makes more sense to lose one fish to the parasite and focus on the health of the tank and other inhabitants. More than likely your hippo will come out of it. I would focus on water parameters, stability and feeding healthy. Read up as much as you can and ask a lot of questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 i agree with reefit. so lets say that you do quarantine your fish for 6 weeks and then put it back in your display tank again and low an be hold the fish gets ich again. this can happen and your fish can be more stressed out as well from being moved to a quarantine tank. just soak food in garlic and make sure there eating healthy and they should kick the ich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnkrcklives Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 Just went through this with my baby blue hippo. Feed only garlic foods, turned on my uv sterilizer, fresh water diped him, and he had no spots on him within a week. No other fish affected. And he even had some spots on his eye. He looked like he was gonna lose his sight. Now after the ordeal I think he is brighter and more lively than ever. Keep up on the parameters and water changes. I kept feeding with garlic(indefinatly) and after a month I still see no spots on any one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonBoy Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 Ever since i started soaking food in garlic and sprinkling some metronidazole on it i've never had ich since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.