Blue Hippo

ironnie7i

Reefing newb
My Blue Hippo keeps on scraping against the LR like if she's itchy. What could that be? I hope my tank doesnt have any diseases or anything. :shock:
 
It could be the beginning of ich. Hippo tangs are very susceptible to disease, and unless you quarantined and treated the fish before adding it to your tank, it is probably carrying the disease. Most fish can have ich and never get sick from it or show symptoms, but hippos are not one of those fish. They tend to get stressed and get ich very easily. Do you have any other fish in the tank? If you want to catch the fish and treat it for ich, you will have to treat every fish in your tank, as they have all been exposed to it. If you only treat one fish, as soon as you put it back with the others, it will catch it again. Have you seen any white spots on the fish?

Is the fish still eating healthy? If it is, you can also try soaking its food in garlic extract and vitamins prior to eating. Lots of times, fish can fight it off on their own as long as they continue eating. But if that happens, ich will still always be in your tank.
 
I do not see white spots on the fish and he is eating like he usually does. I also have a long nose hawkfish and a yellow watchman goby. The two other fish look healthy and act normal. The only one scraping is the blue hippo.
So how do I do the garlic and food thing?
 
You can make your own garlic extract by pressing garlic and mixing the resulting oil with some water. Or you can buy garlic extract at pet stores, fish stores or health food stores. Before you feed your fish, just soak their food in a few drops of garlic. As in humans, it helps boost the immune system and it is also believed to be an appetite stimulant in fish (even though I don't think that has been proven).
 
I do it for every meal. Garlic extract is pretty cheap (I've always bought mine on sale at Petco for $2.99 each, and they last about 6 months).
 
how did you blue tank make out? i seem to have the same thing all my fish are ok but the small blue tank scratches on the rocks like your did???
 
I have a blue hippo tangs as well.. Depending on how long you have had them changes a lot of things... Blue hippos are very shy. They like to Wedge and scrape against things usually when they are new to a tank or get spooked by something or scared of some sort. Im not saying that it doesnt have an illness which is possible accpecially if it is under 2" in lenght they are more suseptable to Ich. But this could just be its natural behavior. My hippo has been in my tank for 6 months and still scrapes and wedges. All my other fish are fine and without Ich. Just thought i would toss that in there as an option to it being the worst case type of thing.
 
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