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Has anyone had success using hypo w/ the larger angels??? I have a 7" Emperor that continues to shows signs of ick. He was added to the tank 12 days ago. This is a curious case as identifying the cause of stress is very difficult but I believe that it is related to the tank only being 3 months old as all chemistry parameters are excellent, i.e. PH 8.3, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <5ppm nitrate(LaMotte) salinity 1.024, ORP 325. Before you criticize me for adding an angel so soon you must realize that the other fish I wish to add to this tank the angel must be added before any of the others. The tank is a 180 w/ 240lbs of Fiji rock, 200lbs of oolitic sand, a good skimmer (EuroReef CS8-3), a 30W UV(only used for new fish introductions, ground probe(JIC), however, I have it running constantly since I added the Angel).
The two other inhabitants are a 6.5" foxface and a 3.5" dragon goby for sand sifting. These fish are doing great and show absolutely no signs of any parasites.
I tried the obvious which included a cleaner wrasse and Greenex. The wrasse worked for a day and then bothered the Angel to the point that he would no longer come out of the rockwork(removed wrasse immediately). The Greenex(Machelite green) worked but several days after the final treatment the parasite began to reappear again.
The Emperor is eating well but will only accept the dried algae and spinach (more nutritional value that romaine) of which he eats a ton. He will not eat any frozen foods including the angel formulas or spirulina mixes.
Their does not appear to be any interaction issues with the fish, in fact, the angel and the foxface seems to make it a point to follow eash other around the tank(buddies?).
Setting up a quarantine tank for a 7" angel to live in for several weeks would be tremendously expensive. I have a std 20gal hospital but there is no way I am going to put a 7" emperor in there...
I know, treat the cause, not the symptom. For the life of me I cannot figure out what the cause of stress could be...
This tank is going to be a FOWLR until I get bored of the fish and then I will convert it to a strictly SPS tank.
 
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Anonymous

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batman:

It sounds like the Emperor wasn't quaranteed before its introduction to the tank. Ick always came to my tank this way.

I've a 300g FO tank and treated twice with hyposalinity. The last treatment was done about a month ago, and everyone seems to be happy, with 1 casualty -- a cleaner shrimp. I tried to catch the shrimp w/o success. Salinity was lowered to 1.010 in about 2 days, didn't bother the fish at all. By the way, I've a French, Emperor, Blue Face, Paser & a Maculosis. Not only the low salinity got rid of the ick, but also black pepper from yellow tang, and a few fungus spots. Emperor no longer scratches against the corner overflow.

Very important to buffer freshwater to at least pH 8.0 initially and buffer it again every 2 days if necessary. To bring the salinity up takes longer time, be sure to spread it out over 5-7 days.

I did another hyposalinity to my friend's 220g tank last Sat (w/o casualties) to eradicate ick & fungus. There're angels & tangs in her tank.

By the way, I feed Hikari pallets, dried seaweed, and prawns to my angels, ooh ... also OSI Spirulina flakes.

good luck!
 

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