Tang in Hypo - Help With Treatment!

[deneed4spd]

I have a kole tang that has ich. I have been doing hypo for 10 days now at sg of 1.009.

But every few days when ammonia starts climbing the tang looks like he gets covered with really small white dots. Then when I change the water which is approx every 3-4 days, the white dots fall off and make a pile at the bottom of the tank. The fish right now doesnt look to good.

Do you think this is ich or something else. Also the tang's cheeks look sunken.



Odd how the small white grains are everwhere.

[sandwi54]

ich is microscopic and cannot be seen by naked eye. the white dots on the tank bottom are not ich. are those white dots sand? i can't think of any parasite that looks like that.

FYI, the white spots on the fish's body is actually not ich itself, but the cyst that the skin forms when it's attacked by ich. ich stays inside the cyst.

[levischilz]

IMO looks like remains from mixing salt or sand.

[deneed4spd]

No sand in tank. Its bare bottle tank so im just a bit confused where the dots appear on the fish, fall off and then its everwhere on the bottom of the tank. Do fish loose or shed scales before they die or something odd like that?

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by levischilz

IMO looks like remains from mixing salt or sand.

I'm sure that's what it is. it isn't from the fish. Ich wouldn't disappear immediately after a WC. Are you keeping the SG exactly on 1.009 after WCs? Using a well-calibrated refractometer, not a swing-arm hydrometer? Ich can easily start the life-cycle all over again if SG stays above 1.009 for any period of time.
The fish doesn't look good to me either, is he eating, have a good place to hide (like a piece of PVC); how high is ammonia getting before a WC? As long as you aren't using copper; you may want to use an ammonia-neutralizer (Prime, Am-Quel, etc.) if the the QT hasn't been cycled and ammonia is a problem.

[deneed4spd]

fish is RIP. I used a refractometer to keep it at 1.009. used prime. fish just stopped eating and done. i kept ammonia pretty low. have one of those ammonia alert badges and tried to change it before it got to alert.

One thing I saw is that the fish had sucken cheeks when i got it. maybe it was doom from the start?

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by deneed4spd

fish is RIP. I used a refractometer to keep it at 1.009. used prime. fish just stopped eating and done. i kept ammonia pretty low. have one of those ammonia alert badges and tried to change it before it got to alert.

One thing I saw is that the fish had sucken cheeks when i got it. maybe it was doom from the start?

Sorry to hear it. I think you may be right; when a new fish just doesn't acclimate, it can be impossible to bring them back. it happens. If I lose a fish in my QT; I usually can predict it within a day or two.

[sandwi54]

sorry for your loss, and yeah like MrTusk said, some fish just don't make it from the get-go. Picking a healthy specimen to begin with will give you a much higher chance of success. I usually wait at least a week after a fish arrives at LFS and observe its swimming and eating behaviors, before deciding whether I should buy it. It helps to ask the LFS how long they've had the fish and see it actually eating vigorously before you buy it. If the fish only eats a couple of bites or doesn't seem very interested in food, don't buy it.

[MrTuskfish]

Originally Posted by sandwi54

sorry for your loss, and yeah like MrTusk said, some fish just don't make it from the get-go. Picking a healthy specimen to begin with will give you a much higher chance of success. I usually wait at least a week after a fish arrives at LFS and observe its swimming and eating behaviors, before deciding whether I should buy it. It helps to ask the LFS how long they've had the fish and see it actually eating vigorously before you buy it. If the fish only eats a couple of bites or doesn't seem very interested in food, don't buy it.

Good advice. If I had a decent LFS within 100 miles of me, I might try it. I've bought all my fish on line (mostly LA/DD, some BZ) since Drs F&S got into the live fish biz. I sometimes can split shipping with a group we've built up. I have never received any fish from any of these dealers that I wouldn't have picked out myself. The price, quality, ease of getting to the free-shipping minimum, no sales tax, no gas expense and the incredible customer service and guarantee make this an easy decision for me. IMO, the Drs F&S Companies are the best at what they do, in any industry, period. (BZ is great too.)

[deneed4spd]

Yah, i was thinking maybe i should get it from DD. I heard they QT pretty well so i wouldnt have to QT that much longer.

Its just odd how these small grains of white specks appeared everywhere on the bottom of the tank. I wonder if the fish just started losing scales or something. odd..

[sandwi54]

Yes, getting from DD is a very good idea. Though, since we don't know exactly what the kole tang had, I would recommend that you drain the QT completely and let everything dry out to kill any possible parasitic/bacterial/viral infections, before getting the next fish.

[MrTuskfish]

DD has great fish; but even they recommend you QT in the normal manner.

[deneed4spd]

Yup, I am emptying the tank and throwing some bleach in the tank and parts to kill everything.