blue hippo died last night

Force4000

Member
Hello guys and gals, this morning I found my blue hippo dead floating in my sandbed being mauled by a hermit crab. She was fine last night when she went to sleep in her normal rock at the top at the top of the tank. I have had her for two weeks. I know I should not have put a hippo in a 55g but I went against everything the internet said and did it anyways :headwalls: . Well lesson learned. I did not have a QT tank set up at the time and she came down with ich within a few days of being in the tank. I fed her dori and Mysis and she ate great every day. The last few days I noticed she would swim around like normal but then go rest in the sand bed then swim around again. I tried very hard to avoid stressing out the tank and thought I was doing a good job but I am not sure what happened. The tang was only 1 1/2 inches across but I feel terrible now. I grabbed her body from the crab and tried to see if she was sleeping but no response, hard as a rock and turning brown. I had to flush her :headwalls: I have not had a chance to check my water parameters in a few days but when I get home today I will take some readings.
 
Do u have any other fish in the tank? If the tang had ich what treatment were you doing to cure the fish?

I have 2 clowns, a flame angel, and a cardinal bangel. I was in the process of getting 2 29 gallon QT tanks set up. The other fish do not show signs of ICH but I am aware its in the tank. I was not dosing anything in the tank. I was adding garlic extreme by kent to there Mysis shrimp. I know its not a cure but they seemed much more interested in the food with the garlic. My tank temp is steady at 79f and salinity of 1.025. I did change my pump for my HOB Skimmer yesterday though. I went from an annoyingly loud Marineland maxi-jet 1200 to a Colbalt 1200 and now my tank is silent. Unless somehow its leaking voltage I don't think this is related. I will be checking all parameters when I get home.
 
Well, small hippos are delicate to start with. Add in a case of ich and I don't think you need to look any further for cause of death. Absent a proper QT, success with ich susceptible fish like a hippo is very low.
 
Well, small hippos are delicate to start with. Add in a case of ich and I don't think you need to look any further for cause of death. Absent a proper QT, success with ich susceptible fish like a hippo is very low.

As I have learned the hard way. :( I can tell you I will never attempt a blue hippo tang in this tank again especially without a QT.
 
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