Hippo with ich

T

Tango

Reefing newb
Hi guys,

So I just purchased a Hippo Tang. Acclimated him for 2 hours drip. During acclimation I noticed him doing the twitch dance. Got in the tank, started to do the twitch dance and rub his one side against the glass. So I looked and there was a small little white spot!

I heard Hippos always get ich and it's normal for them to get ich when first introduced to the tank.

Am I in danger of losing him?

Also I have a cleaner shrimp in there so I hope he helps out.

Finally I put some seaweed in there but he literally just put his face in it and never took anything. Is it normal for a hippo to not eat his first day in tank? If so, how long will it take to eat?

The cleaner shrimp is the first thing I ever put in my tank that started to eat right away!
 
Tangs are very susceptible to ick. Since he is now in your tank, the best thing to do is to keep him in there. Reduce the stress as much as possible. Feed high quality food. Maintain good water quality.

You could also try soaking the food in garlic extract. It is supposed to help stimulate appetite.


Hope he pulls through.
 
Yah I feed him some good seaweed and he didn't have any. Also put garlic on the seaweed and he didn't go for it.

I'll try again today.

How long should I leave seaweed in tank?
 
Not all Tangs get ich, they are susceptible to it because they are easily stressed out. How big is your tank? (Sorry I cant remember)

Wasnt this the same fish that had the stringy poo, the one that little fish thought could have an intestinal parasite?

You should always have seaweed available, but maybe get the stuff soaked in garlic before hand

***edit to add***

after 24 hours pull any remaining seaweed out and put new stuff in
 
It's a 125g right? If you can get him eating, he should be able to fight it off. Keep the lights off for a while to reduce stress. Is this the same tank that had the clownfish with brook?? I hope it's been empty a good long while, otherwise your tang might become sick with that, too.


Edit: Yeah....I just reread your brook post.....you still have chromis in there right? So brook is most likely still in your tank. In any case, if you can get your tang to eat, then like I said, he should be able to fight it off.
 
Marines_Wife said:
Not all Tangs get ich, they are susceptible to it because they are easily stressed out. How big is your tank? (Sorry I cant remember)

Wasnt this the same fish that had the stringy poo, the one that little fish thought could have an intestinal parasite?

You should always have seaweed available, but maybe get the stuff soaked in garlic before hand

***edit to add***

after 24 hours pull any remaining seaweed out and put new stuff in
Click to expand...

It's a 125. The one with stringy poo was the chromis and he's been good for a week now!

I soaked mine in garlic as well and no dice :(

I also found my chromis didn't eat the first day.

Do people notice when a fish is first introduced that he won't eat for the first day or so?

wontonflip said:
It's a 125g right? If you can get him eating, he should be able to fight it off. Keep the lights off for a while to reduce stress. Is this the same tank that had the clownfish with brook?? I hope it's been empty a good long while, otherwise your tang might become sick with that, too.


Edit: Yeah....I just reread your brook post.....you still have chromis in there right? So brook is most likely still in your tank. In any case, if you can get your tang to eat, then like I said, he should be able to fight it off.
Click to expand...

What can I do to get him to eat? I literally held seaweed in front of his mouth for 10 mins straight and all he did was swim and rub against my finger.

yah I had the UV light running for a full week, so hopefully that killed the brook.

He doesn't show symptoms of brook. Just one white spot on his body. He had it before I put him in the tank. He keeps trying to rub it off on the sand, on the glass.
 
Tango said:
He doesn't show symptoms of brook. Just one white spot on his body. He had it before I put him in the tank. He keeps trying to rub it off on the sand, on the glass.
Click to expand...
Wait he had an Ich Pile BEFORE you put him in the tank??? Honestly there isnt a lot that you can do for it now. The ich is in your tank and will always be in your tank, so you dont have a lot of options to getting rid of it. The best you could do is keep offering food and hopefully he pulls through. I personally never had a problem with my fish not wanting food, even when they were new to the tank, however I do know that blue hippos are pretty shy when they are new, so I would assume he has picked a hiding spot he likes to hang out at, maybe tie a piece of the algae sheet near him so he doesnt have to choose between hiding and eating??
 
Also running a UV light wont totally get rid of any disease, it only can reduce the amount of spores/viruses or whatever is in the water column.
 
It's normal for a new fish to not eat at all for a few days...all that stress....and not eating will of course make them more prone to getting sick. I might've only had 1 or 2 new fish that didn't eat the first day. All the other fish I've gotten (especially from this one LFS) have eaten very well since day 1.
 
little_fish said:
Did you make sure the fish was eating at the store before you bough it?
Click to expand...

Nope, heres the reason.

I walked into my LFS and there was a ton of floating bags. I asked them if they had a hippo in stock. They said, no, but about 3 or 4 of those bags have a hippo. If I find one I like I could have it for a good deal he said because he hasn't acclimated them yet. I thought, well good deal AND the fish doesn't have to be acclimated twice...hmmm...So I did that.
 
The LFS I go to do a great job acclimating and screening for sick fish, so I never buy fish that just arrived because you never know how the fish handled being shipped.
 
To be honest, that is probably the worst possible way to buy a fish, considering many of the new fish wont make it.

You should never buy a fish without giving it a complete checkout. Make sure its swimming and acting normally, it has bright eyes, and its eating.

You might have a gotten a good deal now, but how much more are you going to spend when you have to buy the fish twice?
 
Tango said:
Nope, heres the reason.

I walked into my LFS and there was a ton of floating bags. I asked them if they had a hippo in stock. They said, no, but about 3 or 4 of those bags have a hippo. If I find one I like I could have it for a good deal he said because he hasn't acclimated them yet. I thought, well good deal AND the fish doesn't have to be acclimated twice...hmmm...So I did that.
Click to expand...

Risky move my friend. Honestly, and please dont take this the wrong way, I think your reasoning and want for the fish overcame logic here. There is no way the LFS would take the fish back now and you have put a parasite into your tank there is really no getting rid of.

I would STRONGLY urge you, from here on out, to thoroughly research all of the fish that you would like to have and prepare yourself for it. Its not a coincidence that your fish all have some sort of illness and can really discourage you later on down the road. Did the clownfish and the tang come from the same store?? Someone is going and getting these fish, and believe me there are those who go to the wholesalers and always pick out terrible looking fish and coral at these places. I would think about going to another fish store if I were you.
 
Marines_Wife said:
Risky move my friend. Honestly, and please dont take this the wrong way, I think your reasoning and want for the fish overcame logic here. There is no way the LFS would take the fish back now and you have put a parasite into your tank there is really no getting rid of.

I would STRONGLY urge you, from here on out, to thoroughly research all of the fish that you would like to have and prepare yourself for it. Its not a coincidence that your fish all have some sort of illness and can really discourage you later on down the road. Did the clownfish and the tang come from the same store?? Someone is going and getting these fish, and believe me there are those who go to the wholesalers and always pick out terrible looking fish and coral at these places. I would think about going to another fish store if I were you.
Click to expand...

No the clowns were from a different store, that has a great rep and doesn't sell until the fish are eating.

I always wanted a blue tang, but around here they are all 69.99. So I got this one for 30 and he was a good size.

Also side note!

I had the lights off the tank for 2 days now and I'm pissed and decided to tell the hippo to SUCK IT UP SALLY!

He's been hiding behind the heater for the past two days and not eating. So I escorted him from behind the heater and turned on the lights. He has no signs of ich anymore but still isn't eating.

Noticed the chromis and him were hanging out so I feed the tank so the chromis can show him how it's done and than I noticed the hippo moving around more often and kind of approaching the food. But didn't notice him taking any food in. However, this is a bit of progress because he is no longer parked behind the heater and is swimming around with the chromis.

Hopefully I can get him to eat in the next few days. He looks beautiful, his skin is clear of all ich. However, his chin is starting to get pale.

Hopefully this Hippo stops being such a lil pain in the ass and starts getting his appetite back.
 
by escorting him out of his hiding place probably stressed him even more just let him do his own business and offer a little bit every day near him on a clip or rubber band and try to keep your hand away from his as much as possible big meaty hands are scary to sum fish..........and others will bite you
 
Update:

Since I escorted him out of his hiding spot, he's been actually swimming and exploring and going in and out of caves. His color is great. He has no visable ick spots anymore.

However, he's still not eating. I even turkey basted brine shrimp right in front of his face and not even and open mouth.

Also, he chases around the cleaner shrimp to clean him and the cleaner shrimp wants none of it.

I put my finger in the tank and the shrimp cleans it, however, he doesn't want to clean the hippo for some reason. I seen the hippo chase him in circles around the rock and the cleaner just keeps backing off.

Also what does the cleaner shrimp use to clean? is it it's antler antennas they have or their front claws close to their body?
 
You've only had him for a day so far, some fish will go up to 2 weeks without eating after being moved into a new tank. Just stick to your normal feeding routine and when he's ready/hungry he'll eat.

He may not want to be cleaned, he may just be chasing the shrimp just because. I know not all fish do this but, it's been documented in the wild and I've seen my fish do it, when my tangs want to be "cleaned" they'll change to a different color to signal the shrimp.
 
BL1 said:
You've only had him for a day so far, some fish will go up to 2 weeks without eating after being moved into a new tank. Just stick to your normal feeding routine and when he's ready/hungry he'll eat.

He may not want to be cleaned, he may just be chasing the shrimp just because. I know not all fish do this but, it's been documented in the wild and I've seen my fish do it, when my tangs want to be "cleaned" they'll change to a different color to signal the shrimp.
Click to expand...


Really 2 weeks? How long can a Hippo Tang go without eating?

He looks fine now and he swims around now, he does twitch/flash once in a while, but still won't eat!

And he has been chasing the shrimp all day, he'll hover beside the shrimp and even turn his body to the shrimp, but the shrimp just walks away and the hippo will readjust and present himself to the shrimp and the shrimp just walks away. This goes on for like a good half hour straight.
 

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