I have a captive bread Hippo tang that I purchased as a tiny little baby. The Hippo has done extremely well. Has his hiding cave. Eats well and swims around the tank like a show fish. This morning, I overdosed Kalkwasser because my ph had been at 7.8 for about a week. The Hippo tang was very stressed, laid on its side. I immediate removed all the corals to separate containers and took out the live rock, and removed the hippo to a separate container with fresh saltwater. At first in the separate container he was lying on his side but after about 15 to 20 minutes started to swim around the container and appeared well. I did a major 50% water change, new carbon, skimmer going and waited a little bit. I returned the corals back to the tank which seemed to be doing fine. The only other fish in there is an Ocellaris clownfish. The cleaner shrimp is doing fine, and the corals appeared to have survived as I returned them to the tank they started to open up. I tested the water and all parameters were perfect. and returned the hippo tang back to the display tank. The hippo immediately hit behind a rock and you could see she was breathing fast. Then she swam around a little and looked for what was her former cave which I tried to recreate as best I could. I dimmed the lights to actinic blue only. The Hippo keeps hiding. I saw her come out and swim around a little bit but back to her cave. Her cave is not the exactly the same as it was but similar. I feed mysis and she came out ate and returned to her cave. Will she be okay?
Help - kalkwasser overdose & hippo tang
- Thread starter bwitchn
- Start date
I don't have a controller. I didn't even test as it all happened so fast. I noticed the white cloudy water all over the tank. Corals closed up and looked like they were melting. My Hippo tang was laying on its side breathing hard. THe Ocellaris and the cleaner shrimp looked fine swimming around unaffected. I immediately took action. Removed the corals very quickly, removed rock and removed the hippo out into a separate container with fresh saltwater. She recovered in the QT tank within 20 minutes. I did a 50% water change and I tested and PH was 8.2 afterwards and the rest of parameters perfect. She has been swimming around the tank. I will keep the dark actinics on for the rest of the day until lights off tonight and tomorrow lighting will return to normal. I have an AI Prime HD LED. THe corals seem to be ok as well. So, I will keep my fingers crossed. I thought I had lost her. She has been doing so good
Thank you for your advice and comfort.
Thank you for your advice and comfort.
Yeah, didn't sound like a catastrophic OD, the pH most likely spiked causing stress to everything.
You did well on taking immediate action, and rest assured your blue tang is most likely fine now, just a bit stressed from the transfers and tangs love to lodge themselves in rocks in times of stress.
Now, you just need to take steps and maybe purchases to ensure it doesnt happen again.
I lost a 58 once due to kalk OD, probably lost a few grand$$$ of coral.
you got lucky.
Kalkwasser is great, but you have to be careful with it.
You did well on taking immediate action, and rest assured your blue tang is most likely fine now, just a bit stressed from the transfers and tangs love to lodge themselves in rocks in times of stress.
Now, you just need to take steps and maybe purchases to ensure it doesnt happen again.
I lost a 58 once due to kalk OD, probably lost a few grand$$$ of coral.
you got lucky.
Kalkwasser is great, but you have to be careful with it.
Thank you so much. The Hippo was swimming around perfectly fine and I am shocked my corals survived. One stony didn't open, possibly because I've had actinic all day. But we will see if it survived. I will know tomorrow. Otherwise, if that was my only loss, I will consider myself very fortunate.
Many thanks.
Best,
Maria
Many thanks.
Best,
Maria
