the sickness

[out]

I recently purchased a hippo tang, <1", about a week and a half ago. He acclimated well, begin eating the first day, and was rid of obvious ick by day 3. However, he has developed to gray patches. They don't appear to be ick, but possibly another parasite.? Today, my female clown's fin has a small area which appear's to be "rotting". I feed frozen Brine soaked in Zoe, flakes, and nori. What can I do to remedy the situation. I know hippos get streesed, but mine doesn't appear so. I've heard garlic could do the trick. Can anyone explain it's usage. Any help is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I also have a cleaner shrimp, should I wait until the hippo allows himself to be cleaned?

 

[jmeader]

It sounds like you may be having a bacterial outbreak. It is quite often a secondary invader after an ich attack. Put them in the hosp and treat with a gram negative + a gram positive antibiotics, like Maracyn and Maracyn2.

 

[jaydse]

be careful hippos arn't that strong they can't withstand strong does of anything very weak fish this my experiance.

 

[danmhippo]

Once the hippos break-in, they will be as hardy as any tang. I have a small school of hippos in my tank, starts out with 5 but lost one during the tank move. The remain 4 starts out just a little bigger than 1", is now almost 2 inches, Very hardy IMO.

 

[out]

Thanks for the help, but I don't have a hospital tank or quarantine tank. I know I should. However, given the current situation, what should I do?

 

[Terry B]

Maracyn-Two is a good choice, Maracyn is not. Since you don't have a quarantine tank you could try Melafix. It is supposed to be safe with inverts and it does help with some bacterial infections. It's just less effective than a couple of other antibiotics.
Feeding them garlic won't hurt and it does have mild antibiotic properties. Another alternative is to add antibiotics to the food or use a dip with antibiotics.
Treating ich in a reef is another matter. The so-called reef safe treatments usually don't work. Garlic does seem to work for ich sometimes, more so with light infections.
Terry B