Blue Hippo Tang

S

smoothie7

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I purchased a blue hippo tang about a month ago. He is about 1" big and very cute. lol. I put him in my biocube 29 gallon with the plan of putting him in my 90 gallon for the next year or so until the big tank gets set up. I feed him LRS Reef Frenzy Mon, Wed, Fri and Nori soaked in garlic on Tues, Thurs, and Sat. Over the past week he has broke out into a small case of ick. Hasn't changed his eating habits at all though.
I also have a pair of snowflake clowns in my cube. My question is, I know hippo tangs are ich magnets. Is this just part of owning this little guy or do you think he doesn't have enough swimming space and that is causing the ich? Ideally I was planning on adding him to the 90 gallon in about 6 more weeks or so. All parameters are spot on in the cube. Any thoughts?
 
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While ich can certainly be exacerbated by external stressors, your fish either has the parasite or it doesn't. If you are seeing spots, then the best course of action would be to treat all of the fish in your cube, and leave it fallow for 72 days. Once treated, I'd move the hippo into your 90. Hippos, particularly, can get psycho if they don't have adequate swimming room.
 
Back in the 90's a LFS (that is long since out of business), told me I could put a Hippo about that size in my 30g. I don't think RC existed back then & the forum that did (Aqualink) indicated I would need to move him to a 55 or larger as he grew. So I sympathize with your situation.

I struggled with that fish for a year before losing him. I successfully treated ich with hyposalinty and garlic, but he eventually succumbed to HLLE. Absolutely the worst fish experience I have had and soured me on tangs for good.

I strongly recommend treating the ich and then moving straight from the hospital to the 90g when you are sure the ich is gone.
 
The problem is I don't have a hospital tank and the cube has corals in it as well so not sure how to treat the tank other than continue feeding it garlic.
 
Blue Hippo Tang

Silly clownfish said:
I strongly recommend treating the ich and then moving straight from the hospital to the 90g when you are sure the ich is gone.
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Agree with post above. Unless you are willing to risk losing your fish to Ich or donating them to the fish store, you should treat for Ich as has been suggested.
 
smoothie7 said:
so what should I treat the ich with in a reef tank with LPS corals?
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Sorry to say, there is really no cure for ich in a reef tank. You can try a cleaner shrimp or cleaner wrasse or both.

I have always in the past had a blue hippo tang. But my new setup, I decided to stay away from them because of Ich problems. These tangs are just too nervous, and they get ich very easily. Just my 2 cents...
 
I have a blue at an inch never left the rock he picked out towards the top of the tank more than four or five inches to get food. Now its about an inch and a half leaving his rock up to a foot some times for food as it goes by. In an eight foot tank its not using much of the room at this point. I think the relation to the bigger tank that tangs do better in is the amount of water changes temps slower. The smaller the tank the quicker the temp change causing ich.
 
You got 2 options remove all fish to a QT and treat the ich. Cleaner shrimp or wrasse, garlic will not get rid of ich. all fish can be treated with Tank transfer method, or copper. leave the DT fallow for 72 days to be rid of ich in it.

Second option is do nothing and just try to manage it.

There are some great in depth stickies in the fish disease forum.
 
smoothie7 said:
The problem is I don't have a hospital tank and the cube has corals in it as well so not sure how to treat the tank other than continue feeding it garlic.
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A buddy of mine swears by floating a potato in his tank as a foolproof method for treating ich; though he pretty much stopped talking reef tanks with me after I asked him whether it was important to peel the potato or not.

Does that seem ridiculous? That's pretty much how I feel about garlic. It isn't going to do anything. You can try to 'manage' ich through good feeding and water quality, but in most cases the parasite ultimately wins.

Maybe find somebody locally who is willing to treat your fish. I've done this a few times for local reefers.
 
I feed both LRS Reef frenzy and Nori to the tang. When I go to some of the LFS stores they have what appears to be lettuce in the tanks on a clip? Is it romaine? Does leaving nori or this "lettuce" in the tank affect nitrates or any other levels?
 
smoothie7 said:
I feed both LRS Reef frenzy and Nori to the tang. When I go to some of the LFS stores they have what appears to be lettuce in the tanks on a clip? Is it romaine? Does leaving nori or this "lettuce" in the tank affect nitrates or any other levels?
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Lettuce is useless to tangs, no nutrition. Feed the algae sheets you buy at the store. They do not affect nitrates or other levels.
 
smoothie7 said:
I feed both LRS Reef frenzy and Nori to the tang. When I go to some of the LFS stores they have what appears to be lettuce in the tanks on a clip? Is it romaine? Does leaving nori or this "lettuce" in the tank affect nitrates or any other levels?
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LRS is a very good food, I swear by it as my main daily feeding. Nori is dried seaweed, so much better for your fish than any terrestrial leaves would be. Any kind of food you put in your tank will end up contributing to nitrates, whether it gets eaten right away or rots on the clip. You just have to have ways of removing the wastes.
 
ca1ore said:
A buddy of mine swears by floating a potato in his tank as a foolproof method for treating ich; though he pretty much stopped talking reef tanks with me after I asked him whether it was important to peel the potato or not.
Click to expand...

By far the best response to a cure Ich question. I love it. :thumbsup:
 
goreef170 said:
They do not affect nitrates or other levels.
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To add something constructive to the thread, nori sheets are mostly protein and definitely add to the DOC levels and therefore directly affect the nitrate levels in the tank.

Smoothie7:

The Hippo tang will have to be moved to a larger tank as you state in your plan as it grows. A 90 gallon will be good for a temporarily move, but for the long term health of the fish, it's likely you have to keep moving up or re-home your tang at a certain size.

It may have already been infected with ich or you have an ich infestation in your current tank. The fish disease forum has a number of good stickies written by Snorvich discussing the methods of treatment available (as already suggested).

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1992196
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2159738


Management of Ich in a reef tank is just a ticking time bomb. It's a method, but in the end, the outcome tends to negative.

Pull the fish, fallow the tank, grab a 40 gallon breeder and treat appropriately. Any reefers nearby that might help you treat?
 
I would continue using nori for your tangs. The pros definitely out weigh the cons. It is very beneficial to tangs. Don't let all this talk about it rasing nitrates scare you. I guess if you took several sheets in dumped them in, a lot would go uneaten, and cause a raise in nitrates, but so would any other food. Just put enough in for them to consume in about 10 minutes. What I do is rip some small pieces off put it in their other food mixed with tank water, add some garlic and or vitamins, and feed it that way. They will eat it before it hits bottom. :)
 
To be clear, Nori is a great food stuff for your tangs. My post was to clarify Goreef's statement "They do not affect nitrates or other levels." It's like any other food stuff and contributes to the load on the tank. All feeding does as ca1ore suggested.

I think we're all on the same page either way. :deadhorse:

Feed appropriately and limit leftover/uneaten food in your tank.

You just have to have methods to export and reduce waste, DOCs, nitrates, and maintain water quality to your tank's needs and bioload.
 
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