[lilmommy412]

We recently bought a blue Hippo Tang, about 4/5 inches big. The owner said he was getting rid of him because his tank wasn't big enough, and we didn't notice any issues then. When we brought him home, we started noticing little white dots accumulating all over him. I thought it was "battle wounds" from the Yellow Tang being territorial. However, this morning, I noticed our Blue Tang laying on the sandbed, and our Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (if you dont have one, get one!) was PULLING THE WHITE THINGS OFF OF HIM. IF this is a parasite, will it harm the other fish? The white specks are floating in the water.. and the fish try to eat them. I tried to get a picture, but our Hippo hates the camera and hides as soon as he sees the "prep-flash". Please help! Thanks!!

[Mr. Tang]

sounds like ich but I thought cleaner shrimps wouldn't eat ich????

[aquasalt]

From what I have heard the cleaner skunk shrimp will pick off the white spots, but this will not cure the fish or the tank of itch. You have a lot of work ahead of you. It's time to start a quarantine tank for your fish. The objective is to run your display tank at least 6 weeks without any fish whatsoever to kill off any freefloating itch (it needs a fish host to survive). In the meantime you are going to want to treat the fish in the quarantine. There are several excellent threads on this if you perform a search. Two options for treatment are copper and/or hyposalinity. Best of luck!

[lilmommy412]

Wow. That really sucks. I hate people who sell livestock KNOWING the fish is dying/and or harmed by a parasite, etc. Do the hermits and everything have to go into the quarantine as well? We only have a twenty gallon quarantine tank, but the showtank is a 75 gallon.. so i'm hoping this works, because we are short on money at the moment and can't afford to get a new set up for quarantine..
thanks for the replies. I'm going to solve this issue today

[aquasalt]

I have been fortunate enough to not contract itch so you will definitely want to do your own research on this before jumping the gun. I merely wanted to give you a starting point. Hindsight is always 20/20, but you should always quarantine your fish for several weeks before introducing them into your display.

What's your stocklist look like?

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by aquasalt

I have been fortunate enough to not contract itch so you will definitely want to do your own research on this before jumping the gun. I merely wanted to give you a starting point. Hindsight is always 20/20, but you should always quarantine your fish for several weeks before introducing them into your display.

What's your stocklist look like?

Itch?

Some good reads can be found in the RB library that explain this phenomenom with the Hippo in great detail! Good luck and stay posted here at Good old RB! Like to know how you make out!

[Cowiebunga]

We have three emerald crabs, a porcelain crab, sally lightfoot, coral banded shrimp, skunk cleaner shrimp, thirty hermits, thirty snails, pincushion urchin, orange linckia star, 2 serpent stars, tubeworms, feather dusters, many varieties of corals/mushrooms, yellow tang, hippo tang, 5 blue/green chromis, lawn mower blenny, 3 occellaris clowns, cherub angel, and an haitian pink tip anemone.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by Cowiebunga

We have three emerald crabs, a porcelain crab, sally lightfoot, coral banded shrimp, skunk cleaner shrimp, thirty hermits, thirty snails, pincushion urchin, orange linckia star, 2 serpent stars, tubeworms, feather dusters, many varieties of corals/mushrooms, yellow tang, hippo tang, 5 blue/green chromis, lawn mower blenny, 3 occellaris clowns, cherub angel, and an haitian pink tip anemone.

Thats a nice stocklist you got there!

[Marine1]

lilmommy412 you only need to quarantine the fish. The inverts are not affected by ich. I had a hippo tang and he got ich. I quarantined him and use the hypo-salinity method. I don't like using chemicals on my fish. It worked great. You need a lot of patience though. No fish what so ever in the main tank for at least 6 weeks. Good luck.

After my hippo was cured he then contracted Head & Lateral Line Erosion (HLLE) disease. That is almost uncurable. The poor guy ended up kicking the bucket

I probably will never buy a tang again just because of the ich issue.

I had a friend that had a powder blue contract ich pretty bad. All he did to nurse it back to health was to give it garlic and feed it well. The fish looks great now. I have no idea how it was cured because garlic doesn't cure, it just entices fish to eat. Anyway, good luck.

[jimw369]

Anybody check the RB library yet on this issue? A lot of good info there.

[jgo1973]

Hey Nikki,

I don't know if this helps or not...I hope I am not to late.
P.S. This is only my experience... no hate mail please, I'm only sharing what worked for us

1. I would never put a Tang in a Q.T. (unless it is 90gallons or more). The stress alone will cause Ich to surface.
2. Ich is in ALL TANGS...it's like a "fungus" that is in the body and surfaces from time to time (kind of like some people I knew in high school...lol)
2. Here is sweet little (big) Dori and how we cured her.



I put some silversides and krill in the food processor and added some KENT GARLIC EXTREME drops and selcon drops and re froze. I also put in a TON of nori soaked with KENT GARLIC EXTREME and she was cured in 3 days...see below

Good Luck Friend Please keep us posted!!!

[Cowiebunga]

Hello. Just for all of your information, Lilmommy412 is my wife, so, I'll comment and add insight from time to time. We're establishing a 55 gallon QT, and plan on housing all of the fish there tomorrow. Only half of the water has been cycled, but we are hoping for the best. All of our fish are looking ok (other than the hippo) but I'm not going to risk it. I may actually try your advice Jgo! Thanks so much everyone for the information you have to give. I appreciate it tons! We'll keep you updated

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by Cowiebunga

Hello. Just for all of your information, Lilmommy412 is my wife, so, I'll comment and add insight from time to time. We're establishing a 55 gallon QT, and plan on housing all of the fish there tomorrow. Only half of the water has been cycled, but we are hoping for the best. All of our fish are looking ok (other than the hippo) but I'm not going to risk it. I may actually try your advice Jgo! Thanks so much everyone for the information you have to give. I appreciate it tons! We'll keep you updated

LOL...that explains the stock list you posted Dont quite understand when you say half the water is cycled? But anyway you might want to read some stuuf in the RB Library about Ich and a couple of remedies. The library is a great place to go and get answers to many situations that arise.

[Cowiebunga]

Yeah. I said half of the water is cycled (like, a tank should be cycled for 3 months before adding fish).. but half of it was just made and it may cause stress on the fish because the water doesnt have the necessary bacterias. I checked out the RB Library though. very informative.

[aquasalt]

Jgo: "1. I would never put a Tang in a Q.T. (unless it is 90gallons or more). The stress alone will cause Ich to surface."

Isn't that the idea? We want it to surface! I may be wrong, but I do not think that all tangs have ich. Many do have ich even though they are not showing signs of it--it is dormant if you will, or they can be considered carriers of the disease similar to HIV.

Again, I'm just trying to learn myself, but I have heard (from pogodzib/Brian) that hyposalinity is not as easy as it sounds and that you will want to use a refractometer if you are going to attempt this.

On a final note, I think a 55 would suffice for 6 weeks!

Please keep us posted on whatever you decide and of course the outcome!

[WhatReef]

i have heard this garlic method as well i heard that when they eat it, it works its way through and come out there pores and kills the ich much like cats and dogs if you feed them garlic is kills fleas and other snall things i might give this a try and just see if it works cause i have try hypo salinty and it only ever work on my yellow tangs everything else just died on me and i tried chemicals and that just kind off a few things to, the guy at the LFS told me it was safe to put in the main tank, what a mistake that was, but i have 3 cleaner shrimp in my tank and they seem to love eating the ich off the fish and i believe they do a great job and my fish have always had 1 or 2 ich spots on them and they havnt gotten worse so i dont think im going to pick them out of my 120 gallon take cause thats just to much work lol

[jgo1973]

I'm pretty sure they all have it...

Ask Krazy K. about the spots. He knows alot about Tangs He told me before that his Blue Hippo had white spots that was not ich.

[WhatReef]

well i looked at one of my tangs today and it has spots and some white film on its body any idea what that is?

[Jeremy0322]

If it is a film it may be velvet, which is no good.

[timb]

I have a brown tang he will show signs of ich from time to time. I was reading the advice found here on RB. I dont have access to a QT and all the sugestions I have read here, and I place a lot of trust in the opinions I have read on RB, all other opinions are taken with a grain of salt.

any way this is my first opinion offered.
I went to the produce section at the local store and picked up some raw garlic cloves. I put one in a garlic press and squeeze directly into my display tank. Wow all the fish went after it like they have not been fed in weeks. With in hours no more signs of ich. I give them a clove once a week for about three months now. I have had no signs of ich at all.

[WhatReef]

Originally Posted by timb

I have a brown tang he will show signs of ich from time to time. I was reading the advice found here on RB. I dont have access to a QT and all the sugestions I have read here, and I place a lot of trust in the opinions I have read on RB, all other opinions are taken with a grain of salt.

any way this is my first opinion offered.
I went to the produce section at the local store and picked up some raw garlic cloves. I put one in a garlic press and squeeze directly into my display tank. Wow all the fish went after it like they have not been fed in weeks. With in hours no more signs of ich. I give them a clove once a week for about three months now. I have had no signs of ich at all.

Thats alot, KENT has a garlic solution they sell and it comes with a medicine droppersi just put one drop in there food once per week and it keeps them ich free, plus garlic isn't good for any green plant life you might have. but ya i just soak there food for an hour of two before a feeding and it works great if you do it once a week. but if you put to much in i found that it stinks up your house and your wife or whoever won't enjoy it unles you have its vented off or near a window. but mixxing it witht eh food is your best bet in my opinion. thanks

[aquasalt]

Garlic is a great natural remedy, even for humans.

[Fishhead Junkie]

fresh minced garlic makes my shoulder/upper arm ache when i add it in my food...whats up with that? i thought i was having a slight heartattack.

[Mirkle]

Originally Posted by Fishhead Junkie

fresh minced garlic makes my shoulder/upper arm ache when i add it in my food...whats up with that? i thought i was having a slight heartattack.

i would go to the doctor aboout that...... or your just a vampire? either or id still get it checked out hehe

[Mirkle]

if it looks like little white balls my yellow tang also had it, only about 3 spots though.. and it went away on its own.. just feed it good and have good water.. i also bought a cleaner shrimp a couple of weeks later while observing my tang and a few days later the "lttle white balls" were gone... cowincedence?? maybe heheh