My blue hippo needs your help

[swabe3618]

I have a blue hippo and im not sure at this point what would be wrong with it. My water parameters are fine in the main tank, it has now been in QT for about two weeks with several water changes and i am not sure of the levels as i change the water every few days so i stopped checking. I dont believe the hippo has ich as i see no white salt-like spots on him, however he appears to have HLLE, as you can see it developing on his head and sides of face. He scratches all the time on the rocks etc. Sometimes very furious too. His appetite has gone down hill and although he still eats not as much as he was and his breathing is rapid. I dont have a good digital camera and the pictures i have taken are aweful so i will do my best to describe his skin appearance. His blue color is not as vivid as it once was, the best way to describe the skin is dry. If have every had dry skin then it looks something like that. I had a yellow tang with black ich and treated it successfully with formalin dips and tank transfer. I have tried the freshwater dips, formalin baths and tank transfer with this fish along with a copper run and i can not for the life of me find a solution to the problem. Does HLLE make fish itchy? The freshwater dips where no more than three minutes each and the formalin baths where 60 minutes in duration. Can anyone offer any advice or suggestions. Thanks much

[unleashed13]

due to the symptoms your describing it sounds more like it could a case of marine velvet which is treated with copper .. as for your water changes in the qt you must make sure the water quality stay in check .this is very important. not knowing your parameters after each water change could be stressing your fish more than you know .lowering his chance of recovery significantly .. are you running any type of filtration on the qt ?i personally have no experience with many of the copper medications such as cuprimine and other copper products ..i have used coppersafe which is a chelated copper form..in which i would use for 30 days along with myricin 2 for secondary infections..others may suggest the cuprimine(spelling) which is more widely used in marine tanks than coppersafe is ..check all water par before any dosing is done with any meds be sure levels are not elevated
ammonia ..nitrates..ph 8.2-8.4 is best sg 1.021- 1.024..


im sure others will chime in on the procedure of copper dossing by their experiences and brands. i hope this helps