what's wrong with my blue tang (hippo)

oy001

New member
I ordered 4 clown fishes one blue tang and some other stuff from liveaquarium and they came in one day late due to FedEx delay. after spent about 50 hours on the trip to my door, two clown fishes and 2 shrimps DOA. It's my first online order and I lost almost half of the order, I assume this should not happen that often if the delivery was on time, or is it?

The blue tang survived but it acts weird, it is trying to split itself half by hitting on the edge of the live rocks. he does not eat yet, Is it dying? what should I do? Thank you guys!
 
First off contact live aquaria.. and besure to mention the fedx delay . LA will take care of you. you will be pleasently suprised at how well LA will take care of you

the hippo tang may have ich especially due to the added stress of a delay in fedx getting your fish to you.. read the ich sticky and it will give you several options/opinions/methods of treating ich
 
Yes, this is very unfortunate. A FedEx delayed shipment isn't particularly common but it still happens. I've ordered from liveaquaria many times and when its on time everything is usually alive. I'm not sure if they still honor the arrive alive guarantee if FedEx is delayed or not. Better check that out.

I'm not really sure whats wrong with the tang. It doesn't sound very good though at all. I'm sorry for the fish too. How long has it been since you put it in the tank? Did you acclimate it or just put it right in? Where do you live, is is cold,warm?
 
When you see it scratching against rocks or the glass it's usually a sign of ich. how big is your tank? what are your water parameters?
 
Why or how could you deduce that the tang might have ich? Especially from right after being delivered by liveaquaria. It just isn't that likely at all. Its much more likely, considering the delayed shipment, that the tang is in shock.
 
thank you for all your replies. I just contacted LA and they will refund my money for the lost. Great service! I have a 72G bowl front tank and all the parameters are fine, NH4=0, NO2=0, NO3=0. SG 1.024, temp 79. I live in Connecticut. Yes, I did acclimate the hippo for about 1.5 hours. I did not acclimate it longer because I saw it's suffering in the bag and considering what he has been through, I could not wait to release it to my tank. It will be too bad if it's ich, I do not have a QT yet. :(
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14745872#post14745872 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jer77
Why or how could you deduce that the tang might have ich? Especially from right after being delivered by liveaquaria. It just isn't that likely at all. Its much more likely, considering the delayed shipment, that the tang is in shock.


Yes it is very possible the fish is in shock. as for the possibility of ich as far as i know hippo tangs are basicly ich magnets infact that seems to be a leading cause of death for hippo tangs and although LA has very good/healthy fish i know of no supplier who sell fish that are 100% gaurenteed not to have or contract ich especially when stressed.. now granted la is not going to ship a fish that shows signs of ich but there is no way they can gaurentee the fish will not contract ich during shipping or when placed under stress. especialy with an extra day in shipping.. now that being said i love to purchase fish from LIVEAQUARIA
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14746047#post14746047 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by agreeive?fish
Yes it is very possible the fish is in shock. as for the possibility of ich as far as i know hippo tangs are basicly ich magnets infact that seems to be a leading cause of death for hippo tangs and although LA has very good/healthy fish i know of no supplier who sell fish that are 100% gaurenteed not to have or contract ich especially when stressed.. now granted la is not going to ship a fish that shows signs of ich but there is no way they can gaurentee the fish will not contract ich during shipping or when placed under stress. especialy with an extra day in shipping.. now that being said i love to purchase fish from LIVEAQUARIA

Sometimes I forget to remember fish get ich. I haven't had a fish with ich for atleast 10 years just because I've learned to prevent it. LiveAquaria, however, does 100% guarantee that the fish they sell from their Wisconsin supplier are Ich free and will not contract Ich before you get it. And it doesn't matter how stressed a fish gets, if there's no ich it will not get ich.
 
The origional poster did not say if the hippo was from DD(wisconsin) or regular stock.(california).. and i am not saying his fish has ich just a possibility personaly i have never recieved a fish from LA with ich from the DD or regular stock and i have ordered from both DD and regular stock many times
 
also are these your first fish? trying to add a tang and 4 vlowns at once in a new tank would have been disatrous anyways on a mega scale. should never have 4 clowns in that size tank either.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14751301#post14751301 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NCreefwannabe
also are these your first fish? trying to add a tang and 4 vlowns at once in a new tank would have been disatrous anyways on a mega scale. should never have 4 clowns in that size tank either.

yes, my first fishes. I heard tank bred ocellaris clownfish can get along well with each other, isn't that true? two left anyway.

does the blue tang tend to hide himself during the night? I found he is hiding in a cave this morning and not coming out even I turn on the light.
 
alot of fish hide especially new and at night.

be sure to watch your spikes now after adding 3 fish at once to a new system. If you had added all of those at once you would have likely lost all of them anyways.
 
The Hippo does not necessarily have ich. It is common for many Tangs to rub/hit rock with sides. This can be a sign of ich but it could be just rubbing. I have just placed 3 tangs in a 175. While in quarantine they all did this rubbing. None had ich so after 4 wks in the display they went. If you have a large enough tank and the live rock is cycled properly adding 3-4 fish is not a problem. I would not add that many to a small tank. Give the Hippo some time he is likely fine.
 
From my personal experience with a Hippo from LA, I am on the ich train. Mine did the exact same thing. Scratching, rubbing the rock for about 1 month, about a week after I got him, ich all over. I had to QT the fish, and the tank for 12 weeks. Good luck!

BTW +1 Albumin
 
Back
Top