Hippo with ich

Like everyone else here has already said, its not uncommon for a fish to go on a hunger strike after being moved to a new tank. Some stores (like mine) quarantine fish for some time (my local store quarantines and treats all fish for a week before listing them for sale) but even fish that are treated that way can go on a hunger strike after being purchased and moved for a second time, its not an easy process for the fish to go through

You should NEVER buy a fish sight unseen, unless its coming from a reputable place that will stand by the purchase (LiveAquaria.com comes to mind here) and you always want to see the fish eat before taking it home

The tang is likely picking algae off the rocks when you aren't looking at it, and I would make sure to keep fresh seaweed in the tank at all times for him, I would change the sheet out once or twice a day though to keep it fresh. Ocean Nutrition makes seaweed sheets that are pre-soaked in garlic. They have worked very well for me, especially when I introduced a very finicky Achilles Tang to my tank.

If you've had issues with other fish getting disease in your display tank, you really should not add any other fish to the tank until you get the illness sorted out. A week running a UV is not going to be sufficient. The only way to really get rid of any fish disease/parasite in a tank is to allow it to run fallow (without fish) for 6-8 weeks to interrupt the life cycle of the disease causing organisms
 
Even if the ich isn't showing up, he's still got it. It will always be in your tank now unless you leave the tank fallow for 6-8 weeks. But most of us have ich in the tanks...but as long as you keep your fish healthy and happy, they'll fight it off.

And I'm sure, after this, you've learned your lesson about buying newly-arrived fish ;)

Like everyone said, just go about your feeding routine. You might want to try tying a piece of algae to a rock w/ a rubber band and putting it near where he sleeps. Just leave it there for a few hours.
 
Ok so the Hippo is now roaming the tank, swimming everywhere instead of hiding behind the heater. He also spends a lot of time with the two cleaner shrimp I have in their now. He constantly goes in for a clean! He loves it!

Also I noticed all my seaweed was gone after I left it their for the night. I don't now if the tang ate it or not.

Only other habitants are a chromis, two skunks and 8 hermits.

So I don't know. I put another strip in their today and tang didn't pay attention to it at all. So I wonder if it was him.
 
What are you using? An algae clip? Over time (and not a long period of time either) the algae just sort of disintigrates away from the clip, also depending on the size of your CUC, they will crawl up there to much. But just because you dont see him eating it doesnt mean he is not. Put some more in there. You can also put things like lettuce in there. But the algae (and I believe the lettuce as well) in their diet is what keeps their colors vibrant and them healthy enough to fight things like ich :)
 
Good to hear! Like I said, most of us don't qt our fish, and we most likely have ich in our tanks. But as long as our fish are eating, they fight it off :)
 
Dang it,

Today I noticed he has 2 reflective spots neat his eye. They are shiny. When he goes in a cave you can't see it. When he is out in the light you can see it and it's reflective. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Update:

Sooooo pumped today! After days of him just looking at food and literally being scared of it, he finally took the plunge and went for it. I seen him eat a Formula 2 Flake (3 actually) and a Formula 1 Flake as well. He still doesn't do seaweed or fronzen brine shrimp. But this is progress. I was soooo happy to see him take a bite of of the flakes. He now kinda stares it down for a while and eventually goes for one. He's really slow when it comes to eating it's like he's trying to make up his mind and when he does make it up, it's too late, the food has passed him. Anyways I'm totally pumped he's eating.

Also the relective spots I think are almost two little "see-through" areas that really shine under the light. So far, not worried, because we finally made progress on the eating!!!
 
Update:

Sorry for all the updates but I'm sooooo happy at his progress. Today he had a lot of formula 2 again. He's going after it. Also I was pulling the seaweed out of the tank because he won't go for it. The seaweed broke up into little pieces in the tank and he started to go after the little pieces that floated by him and ate some of that too. Today he's also looking for food and picking around! He's a whole new fish!!!! Only downside is his color faded a bit, but I think it's due to all those days of him not eating.

So glad he's eating and sooo happy he's still around!

The other downside, which is no biggie, is that he hangs out in the same spot behind a big rock and he won't leave that area. So the food has to float to him. He won't just smell it and come out and grab it. It has to float by him. I think he'll grow out of that soon and his comfort zone will expand hopefully!!
 
Thats awesome news! Eating is a good sign!!! He will come out of behind the rock eventually, I think hippo's are the sissys of the salt water tank personally. How long were your lights on before you fed him? Their color fades when they sleep so that may be why he wasnt as vibrant as usual
 
The best treatment i have found for ICH is a fresh water dip ..... Dip your fish is Fresh RO Water for about 45 seconds a day untill all ICH is gone ..... I was very sceptical at first but it works and I have no ICH problem anymore..... As far as your hippo tang eating that has to do with the ICH .....
 
It does make the ich fall off...but it still has ich. Ich is an internal parasite. By the time you see it, it's already progressed. Maybe once the external ones drop off, they feel better, start to eat, and helps him fight it off better. But be aware that the ich is still there, and in the tank. The fish is just fighting it off better.
 
Final update: Hippo eats like a tank. Hardly goes to the cleaner shrimp now and looks great.

Only think is, people say this fish needs lots of room to swim, but all he does is hide behind a rock and come up once in a while.

I use to have an outgoing chromis and ever since the hippo was introduced, the chromis started hiding behind the rock with him too! The hippo made my chromis shy. What a goof!
 
Mine was very shy for several weeks, now he's constantly swimming the entire length of the tank, make no mistake - this fish DOES require room to move
 
Ok, so the last few days ICH returned to my Hippo Tang in a BIG way. When I first posted this thread it was just 1 spot. 5 days ago, he had like 10-15 spots and it looked bad. Since then his spots have cleared up and became same coloured bumps. Than yesterday a bunch of white sports appeared again. He gets better, than worse, than better again. But he eats normally, swims normally and doesn't even use the shrimp or rub against the rocks anymore. It's like he doesn't care and it's second nature for him to get ich. Will this ich ever get better? I'd like to see him with clear skin soon
 
Well, if he fights it off, it will just make him stronger for it later. He'll always have it though (as will your tank, unfortunately). Just keep feeding him. Unless you plan to qt everyone in the tank and leave it fallow for a few months, not worth pulling just him out to treat it. He'll just get it again.

It's like people -- you get sick, but next time, your body's better equipped to fight it off better if you get the same sickies again.
 
I dont think the spots changing color is normal. If the fish breaks out in ich, then loses the symptoms and then breaks out in ich again - something is stressing the fish out. Fish in an otherwise healthy environment should be capable of fighting ich off enough that you do not visibly see the symptoms on the fish. I would analyze the requirements of keeping the fish, and compare those to the requirements you're providing and figuring out what's missing
 
I noticed he started to get ich again when I did a water change.

Than he got it again shortly after I purchased a gopro camera and tested the underwater capabilities in my tank.

Than he got it again after I started to clean the glass.

I'm starting to think everytime I put my hand in the tank he gets stressed and gets ich. Makes sense?

What scares me this time around is that he has black spots now mixed with the white spots.
 

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