Blue Hippo Tang Problem

benningtondt

Reefing newb
I have had a blue hippo tang for about 6 weeks, he contracted ich so I put him in a qt tank and treated him with copper. After 6 days of treatment all signs of ich are gone, but today i noticed he has some kind of cloudy film around one of his eyes. Do anyone know what this could be. Is it a fungus or some sort of side effect from the copper treatment. Any ideas would be great.
 
Is this hippo still in QT?Or did you place him back in a possible ich infested DT?Cloudy eyes is one of many signs of ich.
 
Hmm,i never had a fish with pop eye,so i can't help you there.Just curious ,what made you go with copper?Plus,is 6 days a long enough treatment?I never used it so, IDK.I also read that dosing can be difficult.
Also wondering what your plans are for your DT,because if the hippo was in there when he got the ich,your DT has it.
 
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Popeye can also be caused from physical injury and poor water quality. It will usually go away on its own, but it can kill a fish indirectly if they are unable to see food and starve. Sometimes they'll lose the eye. I have a one eyed pajama cardinalfish that lost his eye to popeye.
 
The hippo tang was never in my 75g DT, he was in a 29g I use for a QT, then when he showed signs of ich I moved him to a medication tank. I went with the copper method because ive had success with the method before. The tang also was still pretty strong and i knew it would survive the stress of the move. As for how long copper treatment lasts, the directions on the bottle say to continue use 3 days after the last sign of disease. It took about 2 days for the spots to disappear and I continued the treatment an extra day just to be sure.

As for the popeye, I changed probably around 50% of the tank water today, and will continue changing 50% for the next few days. Hopefully that will clear up any water quality issues, and will see if there is any improvement.

Sadly it has lost some of his appetite, I hope it hasnt taken a turn for the worst.
 
The hippo tang was never in my 75g DT, he was in a 29g I use for a QT, then when he showed signs of ich I moved him to a medication tank. I went with the copper method because ive had success with the method before. The tang also was still pretty strong and i knew it would survive the stress of the move. As for how long copper treatment lasts, the directions on the bottle say to continue use 3 days after the last sign of disease. It took about 2 days for the spots to disappear and I continued the treatment an extra day just to be sure.

As for the popeye, I changed probably around 50% of the tank water today, and will continue changing 50% for the next few days. Hopefully that will clear up any water quality issues, and will see if there is any improvement.

Sadly it has lost some of his appetite, I hope it hasnt taken a turn for the worst.
Thats good to hear. Is it possible to run carbon also on your tank.That also helps with removing any medications and should help clear up your water.
 
good news after not eating yesterday, the tang did eat some food today. Its eye is also looking somewhat better.

After doing more research on ich treatments i think ill try hyposalinity next time. Have any of you had positive or negative experiences with hypo?
 
Glad to hear it.I'm in hypo process now.Fish were fine at 1.007,then1.008 and finally 1.009.They also seem to be fine with the raising of it.I look to be done by mid week.I took it a bit longer than i planned.I too read a great deal and thought hypo was just a better overall way to do it.Do you have a refractometer,it is a MUST when doing hypo.
 
Im planning on buying a refractometer today.

The tang is looking even better today.

How fast should you lower the salinity? Ive seen some sites say by 48hrs and other say around a week.
 
I did mine over the course of 3 days.The lowering is not as much as a shock to them as bringing it back up.I think 72 hours is enough time,just bring it back up slowly,maybe 7-10 days.
Glad to hear your hippo is doing better.I would still keep him QT'ed for another week,JMO.
 
Are there any other fish in the tank?

If so, the ick might come back because the life cycle of the parasite was not broken. If there are not, then keep the tang out of the tank for a total of 8 weeks or so. That will break the life cycle of the ick.
 
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