Blue hippo tang behavior/ich

[Aparker2005]

Hey all. We got a 3" blue hippo tang for our 125 from our lfs that we very much trust about 3-4 weeks ago now. Very healthy and active. Did not qt, even though I know the risks with these fish.

Got it home and it's eaten every single thing we give it except for nori sheets. Flakes, pellets, frozen, eats like a champ.

No aggression has been shown toward it. 2 days ago I noticed one small white dot and I immediately got paranoid.

It's suddenly started acting really weird. Occasionally breathing fast and hiding a lot, especially when I enter the room. If I sit still it eventually comes out and swims like normal.

It now has what appears to be ich with white a few of the small white dots. Whenever a fish gets near its hiding spot, it looks like it does the tang aggressive tail slap, but I can't tell for sure.

It's still eating everything we give it and just really became overly shy this week and hiding. I'm assuming partly because of the ich and stress?

I know lots of people have theirs get ich quite often and they're fine, and they're also major crazy behavior fish, so I guess I'm just making sure it "seems" fairly normal.

I'm trying to keep it fed well and adding garlic to the food. It still eats like a pig, so I'd say that's a good sign for now. Videos below

 

[KrisReef]

In the last video I saw

Blue tang V. Yellow tang,
Blue tang v. 2 Clownfish, (possibly a pair.)
Blue tang V Shoal of Chromis

And I am viewing it on a tiny screen and probably missed a lot of things in addition to the pecking stressors.

I think this last addition into an already crowded living space is upsetting the whole community of fish that are sharing the reef space because they don’t have enough places to rest in currently.

They may find a way to get along with each other or they will start killing each other with stress and aggression. This is a common occurrence and a perfect environment for stress induced Ich that you are reporting on the blue tang.

Don’t add anymore fish and be ready to remove one or more before they kill each other if they continue in the battle mode for limited ecological resources in the tank.

If you have a UV sterilizer it will help keep the Ich in check but it needs to be running all day when spots are appearing.

I doubt that the tank looks crowded to you but your fishes are swimming in battle mode in very tight quarters compared with the ocean.

 

[Aparker2005]

Ich is almost all gone this morning. Still eats like a champ, but is only afraid of me.

Currently it's out swimming with all the others and no aggression being shown. The video above was with all the fish on one side due to me being in the room and wanting to be fed.

 

[Aparker2005]

Out and about with the others still and eating, but it just acts terrified of everything and almost seems like it panics whenever anything gets near it.

Hopefully this passes soon and it makes it through.

We've never had issues with tangs until recently. Thankfully the mimic tang is doing absolutely wonderful.

 

[Aparker2005]

It just ate. Best I could get with it out swimming

 

[Aparker2005]

It is still just completely random. Swims fine with others, and then acts like it's being attacked.

This is the exact same thing that's happened with our last 3 tangs (2 powder blues, 1 convict).

It almost seems like these tangs are getting flukes or coming down with them. They all exhibit this same behavior. There's no aggression or chasing from any of the other fish. An occasional peck if anything.

We have had powder blues and orange shoulder in the past with no issues at all, and our mimic tang is also acting absolutely fine.

Hopefully this hippo comes through. I get very nervous when they start acting this way. The good thing is this one is eating well when the others weren't though. Maybe it's still adjusting.

We did get new lighting last weekend that is much brighter. Could that have thrown it for a loop?

 

[Aparker2005]

And last update for the evening.....

Every time I go by the tank, the hippo is out and swimming. From what I could see, it's not nearly as covered in ich looking bumps now.

It also ate a lot of pellets when I fed. It goes absolutely nuts for NLS Thera A and Reef Nutrition TDO pellets.

Eating as well as it is gives me hope!

 

[Aparker2005]

So hardly any spots this evening and eating really well. Just still acting scared and hiding any time I come hear the tank

 

[Aparker2005]

2 videos today.

Hardly any signs of ich today.. Just a spot or 2.

Still eating, no bullying. Rapid breathing though, jeking swimming motions, and just still acting terrified. Any ideas at this point?

Every other fish is absolutely fine. Just did a water change, so excuse the debris.

 

[Uncle99]

He’s attacking his reflection. To prove, turn the lights out. It should stop.

Ich usually comes in waves, each progressively worse.

If the original infection was ich, I think it may be back.

If it solves on its own, likely not ick.

Good luck.

 

[Aparker2005]

He’s attacking his reflection. To prove, turn the lights out. It should stop.

Ich usually comes in waves, each progressively worse.

If the original infection was ich, I think it may be back.

If it solves on its own, likely not ick.

Good luck.

Well crap. If that's true, I guess we'll be done trying certain tangs. We had 3 Powder blues do this same thing, but with no ich.

Convict did this exact same thing.

They had all stopped eating though. This blue is eating still.

The mimic tang doesn't do this. No ich with any fish we've had except this hippo either.

The first powder blue and orange shoulders we had didn't attack their reflection either. Those 2 were perfect. I guess every fish is different.

At lights out, it goes to it's sleeping spot.
I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[Aparker2005]

Now hiding where every tang we've had die goes to hide before dying.

Incredibly frustrating

 

[Aparker2005]

Gonna say this one is a goner even if I can get it out to qt.

It just shot out of the rocks out of nowhere, hit the top glass, then freaked out and went back to the hiding spot. Nothing around it or anything.

 

[Aparker2005]

This fish is done, but I can't catch it or get to where it's hiding to get it to qt. Completely freaked out and jamming itself in rocks, no longer eating.

 

[Aparker2005]

Caught it and got it to qt. It's currently wedged in between the 2 pieces of rock we have.

I figure it's a slow wait to death, but maybe it can pull through. We've had 3 tangs in a row that exhibit this exact same behavior. Incredibly frustrating.

Relieved that our mimic tang seems to be a champion and doing very well.

 

[Aparker2005]

Fish has been in qt since Tuesday lying on its side. It moves and is still alive, but it's just breathing, not eating, and swims upside down when it does manage to swim any. I probably should just put it out of its misery but you never know with fish.

As soon as this one started acting weird I feared it was a goner. Never have fish recover hardly like that.