5" Blue Hipo Tang stung by Carpet

[Neogenocide]

Hey everyone,

I've had my first bad experience with my carpet tonight. I picked up a 5" Blue hippo tang from a fellow reefer tonight. Upon putting him into my tank, he tried to swim into the rocks right next to the carpet and got stung. I can see tentacles still stuck to it, but besides looking stressed doesn't look to worse for the wear.

What can I expect from here on out? Will there be any adverse effects from the stick? Do I need to worry about the tentacles still stuck to it?

Thanks for the replies in advance.

Scott

 

[Toddrtrex]

What type of "carpet" ?

If it is an S. haddoni, there is a very good chance that the fish won't make it -- seen it myself.

At this point, it is just a waiting game; if it is still alive on Sunday, I would say you (( it )) are out of the woods.

When introducing a new fish that has an S. haddoni, it isn't a bad idea to make it retract into the sandbed -- If I just touch mine it will do that.

 

[Reefing Newbie]

That doesn't sound too good... I had an S. handdoni, it never retracted into the sand no matter what I did. It didn't care if I bumped it with tools while feeding or doing maintenence... Good luck with the blue hippo tang, how big of a tank do you have? If it is a really big tank, it is very odd that a hippo tang would swim into your nem I would think.

 

[Neogenocide]

Yes....it's a Haddoni.....and that's not what I wanted to hear....it was a really gorgeous fish. I Can't find it in the tank right now, it's amazing how small of a crevice they can fit it. I'll keep my eyes peeled and keep the thread updated. I only saw two tentacles attached to the fish, so it wasn't a horrible sting.

Scott

 

[Neogenocide]

T If it is a really big tank, it is very odd that a hippo tang would swim into your nem I would think.

180g tank, rock work is pillars. It happened two seconds after I put him into the tank, and he swam the length of the tank, then tried to swim into the rocks right next to the carpet.

Pic of tank right after I put the nem in, it's a lot larger now.

Pic of nem now

 

[garygb]

A beautiful haddon's. Good luck with the tang. Assuming it recovers, surely it won't go near the anemone again. I've read that some people run moonlights in an attempt to prevent fish from wandering into their anemone.

 

[elegance coral]

How's the fish doing this morning?

Like the others have said, only time will tell. It's like a human getting bit by a venomous snake. Their survival depends on their health, and the amount of venom that was injected. Hopefully, the anemone is relatively good shape, and didn't get a large dose of venom.

A healthy haddoni should be responsive. If you pinch the edge of the oral disk, the anemone should retract under the sand/rock. I do this every time I add a new fish to the tank with my haddoni. I haven't lost a healthy fish to me haddoni since I started doing this, quite a few years ago.

 

[Neogenocide]

The anemone and blue hippo are both in great health. I haven't seen the hippo since he went into hiding after the sting, so the health of him right now is unknown. My lights don't come on until the middle of the afternoon, so I will update then.

I wish I would have thought about making the nem contract before adding fish, it could have prevented this. It's good to know for the future though. I guess the good news is that the mandarin I added at the same time hasn't gone near the nem.......yet.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[elegance coral]

I would be just as worried about the mandarin. They simply aren't strong enough swimmers to escape, even a slight brush with a haddoni. IMHO, with a haddoni, you have to be very selective in the species of fish you buy. There are some fish I simply will not attempt. Dragonets, Hawkfish, basically any of the slow moving bottom dwelling fish are off limits for inclusion with my haddoni. Strong, open water swimmers are much safer.

 

[aidan0217]

nice carpet...

 

[Reefing Newbie]

Would mandarins be in danger with a BTA in the tank?

 

[mussel and hate]

I hope your hippo makes it. About 15 years ago my Haddoni grabbed a 3" hippo in my tank. The nem closed up on the fish like a catchers mitt and there was nothing to do but watch the show and resolve not to buy any more expensive anemone food.

 

[Neogenocide]

The hippo is still alive, sitting in the rocks, but only the blue LED's are on at this time. I will update again later if it comes out when the rest of the lights come on. As far as slower bottom fish, I've got a pink spotted goby and a starry blenny, both are smart enough to keep their distance. Fingers crossed the mandarin has the same sense.

 

[aleonn]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I wonder if you can entice the hippo to come out with a sheet of Nori. Whenever my blue hippo gets scared, she comes right out when the Nori is on the clip.

 

[Neogenocide]

Thanks for the well wishes, it was only in the tank for 5 to 10 seconds before it got stung, so I'm not it's not comfortable in the tank yet. Seeing it came from a fellow reefers tank, I expect it to do better than from a store or mail order, but not sure how it will react yet. Will update when all the lights come on around 4.

 

[james-lee]

Its past 4 pm what happened? Hope all is well!

 

[Neogenocide]

Nothing has changed from what I posted earlier......unfortunately. It's hiding in a spot that I can't see in while the nem is all expanded. I have peeked in a few times since by pulling the nem away from the rocks.....but haven't seen it since this morning. I've also chummed the waters with rods food, 3 kinds of flake, and have nori in the tank.

All I can do at this point is wait until the lights go off this evening and then I can monitor the cave it's hiding in once the nem shrinks up. In thought about pullifng some rock out....netting it.....and putting it in quarantine so I can monitor.....but not sure if it's worth it at this point. I'll decide later once the lights are off.

 

[Neogenocide]

Well,

I have some great news. The anxiety was killing me, college football is looking good this evening, so I decided it was time to find a perfectly healthy fish, a sick fish, or a dead fish. I started to rip apart the rock work where it was hiding earlier, and then I saw the beautiful yellow tail floating in front of me. Color in the tail....that's a good sign. It was sticking close to the rock I was lifting out, so I took it extremely slow not wanting to spook it back into the anemone. Remember, it's hiding 6 inches behind the nem. Slowly he left the rock I was pulling out, gracefully swam to the other end of the tank, and found a crevice there to hide in. I had my wife watching since I had my hands full of rocks, and from everything we could see, it looked no worse for the wear. We never got a good look at the spot it got stung, but it did feed a little after the fact and I'm seeing him exploring his new cave. Fingers crossed that I'll see him out in the open swimming soon so I can inspect the site of the sting a little more closely.

Whew.....hoping I'm outta the woods here.

Scott

 

[Neogenocide]

another update. The Hippo Tang is zipping all over the tank now. It seems he just needed a little nudging to get back out into the tank. He is no worse for wear....eating like there is no tomorrow, just loving life now. The may be a little of a white spot where he got stung, but it's very light if there is actually one. I'm calling this crisis officially over. My skimmer is going to be working overtime for the next couple of days as I think I've fed the tank like 5 times today.....lol.

 

[james-lee]

Nice and glad to hear!