Hippo Tang Death

chrissymoon · Nov 5, 2021

Hi all. Our blue hippo tang suddenly died and I’m suspecting it was my fault :( We had a freeze last night and the tank temperature had dropped significantly lower (72 degrees) compared to the 82 we like to keep it at. I put in two smaller heaters equivalent to one larger heater (I’m in the process of buying a duplicate heater to put on the opposite side of the tank to regulate the temperature). Anyways, when I checked the temp of the tank this morning it was 87!!!!!!!!!! I nearly had a heart attack. I saw the tang was wedged tightly in a rock. I went to move her (him) and I couldn’t get her (him?) out. When I went to check on her, I tried to get her (him?) out of the rock again and it took a lot (I mean A LOT) of wiggling her back and forth… she floated to the top and was dead. I’m devastated. I don’t know if the temperature was the issue or something else. Please see attached photo. All the other fish seem to be doing fine (clowns, damsel, blenny, wrasse).

MnFish1 · Nov 5, 2021

chrissymoon said:
Hi all. Our blue hippo tang suddenly died and I’m suspecting it was my fault :( We had a freeze last night and the tank temperature had dropped significantly lower (72 degrees) compared to the 82 we like to keep it at. I put in two smaller heaters equivalent to one larger heater (I’m in the process of buying a duplicate heater to put on the opposite side of the tank to regulate the temperature). Anyways, when I checked the temp of the tank this morning it was 87!!!!!!!!!! I nearly had a heart attack. I saw the tang was wedged tightly in a rock. I went to move her (him) and I couldn’t get her (him?) out. When I went to check on her, I tried to get her (him?) out of the rock again and it took a lot (I mean A LOT) of wiggling her back and forth… she floated to the top and was dead. I’m devastated. I don’t know if the temperature was the issue or something else. Please see attached photo. All the other fish seem to be doing fine (clowns, damsel, blenny, wrasse).

There is no way to know - how are the other fish doing? How long was your tang in the tank?

Low to high temperature - can certainly cause oxygen problems - Sorry about yoru fish - but more information would be helpful.