What to do with this Blue Hippo?

[Aparker2005]

Hey everyone. Picked up a 3" Blue Hippo a month ago today from our very trusted lfs. They had a blue hippo tank setup with a few in the tank they had had qt'd and healthy for a few months.

Got it home and didn't qt. It's been absolutely fine until the last week and a half where it became absolutely panicked and afraid of everything. It was eating everything we gave it and showed no signs of stress.

Got home one day and it would hide as soon as we walked into the room and was breathing heavily. No fish were being aggressive toward it at all from all I saw.

Finally saw what I thought was ick spots. The fish kept eating like a pig and the spots would disappear and come back. I figured these came from the frantic behavior as easy as these tangs seems to get ick.

This continued all last week until midweek where I found it frantically shooting out of the rocks randomly and hitting the glass, swimming upside down, and finally stopped eating.

I got it into qt and it's been hiding, laying down, and swimming erratically when it does swim. It currently doesn't have any white spots on it.

We've had no issues with tangs in the past, except for the last couple of PBT we tried, and a convict tang, all of which did this exact same thing.

It's been in qt since Tuesday or Wednesday. Most every other fish we've had that's done this has already passed, but it's still breathing and moving.

We don't have any meds and our lfs is nearly 2 hours away. I feel like this one is a lost cause so I haven't ordered any meds.

Parameters are all normal, just high phosphate and nitrate currently from over feeding trying to keep the fish eating healthy.

Any ideas, or should I end it's misery?

With 3 other powder blues and a convict exhibiting this same behavior, what could this be?

We had a HUGE powder blue and orange shoulder that never once acted this way or ever had ick, so we got spoiled by those 2 tangs.

Here's the fish currently.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Tangs, especially blue hippos are notorious ich/velvet magnets. If you don’t have any meds you can try a fresh water dip. But that will only work for velvet (buy him time) and the stress may kill him. You may want to order meds in case your other fish get sick.

 

[Dr. D]

Very sad. My new blue tang is probably my favorite fish. Very sweet and fun to watch. I’d be upset to see what you’re seeing.

 

[Aparker2005]

What meds would work for a reef? Would prazi work?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone. Picked up a 3" Blue Hippo a month ago today from our very trusted lfs. They had a blue hippo tank setup with a few in the tank they had had qt'd and healthy for a few months.

Got it home and didn't qt. It's been absolutely fine until the last week and a half where it became absolutely panicked and afraid of everything. It was eating everything we gave it and showed no signs of stress.

Got home one day and it would hide as soon as we walked into the room and was breathing heavily. No fish were being aggressive toward it at all from all I saw.

Finally saw what I thought was ick spots. The fish kept eating like a pig and the spots would disappear and come back. I figured these came from the frantic behavior as easy as these tangs seems to get ick.

This continued all last week until midweek where I found it frantically shooting out of the rocks randomly and hitting the glass, swimming upside down, and finally stopped eating.

I got it into qt and it's been hiding, laying down, and swimming erratically when it does swim. It currently doesn't have any white spots on it.

We've had no issues with tangs in the past, except for the last couple of PBT we tried, and a convict tang, all of which did this exact same thing.

It's been in qt since Tuesday or Wednesday. Most every other fish we've had that's done this has already passed, but it's still breathing and moving.

We don't have any meds and our lfs is nearly 2 hours away. I feel like this one is a lost cause so I haven't ordered any meds.

Parameters are all normal, just high phosphate and nitrate currently from over feeding trying to keep the fish eating healthy.

Any ideas, or should I end it's misery?

With 3 other powder blues and a convict exhibiting this same behavior, what could this be?

We had a HUGE powder blue and orange shoulder that never once acted this way or ever had ick, so we got spoiled by those 2 tangs.

Here's the fish currently.

These are not Ich magnets as mine is 3+ years without an issue but they are prone to skin irritations. The photos are difficult to view anything and I know its hard to capture pics as they are spooked easily and best chance of good image is a video of at least 20 seconds.
Is fish eating and breathing normal?
Skip freshwater dip which will stress fish further and is for flukes, not ich or velvet.

 

[Aparker2005]

These are not Ich magnets as mine is 3+ years without an issue but they are prone to skin irritations. The photos are difficult to view anything and I know its hard to capture pics as they are spooked easily and best chance of good image is a video of at least 20 seconds.
Is fish eating and breathing normal?

It ate normally until midweek when the erratic swimming started out of nowhere. It was breathing heavily before that, but still eating like a champ. No way I could catch it without stressing it completely to death.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What meds would work for a reef? Would prazi work?

Coppersafe but first get that video and lets confirm so you dont apply an incorrect treatment

 

[Aparker2005]

It ate normally until midweek when the erratic swimming started out of nowhere. It was breathing heavily before that, but still eating like a champ. No way I could catch it without stressing it completely to death.

And no it's not eating and breathing heavily still at this point.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It ate normally until midweek when the erratic swimming started out of nowhere. It was breathing heavily before that, but still eating like a champ. No way I could catch it without stressing it completely to death.

Fish trap works as is capturing at night but lets start with video as i suspect mucus cones mixed with ich

 

[Aparker2005]

And upon looking, I'm afraid our Majestic Angel has either ick or the start or velvet.

It looks like it has some small dots on it's face, but it's still eating like normal. No red gills, and breathing just fine. Will be very hard to catch it, but I'll try to get it to qt ASAP just in case.

No other fish have anything or acting oddly.

 

[vetteguy53081]

And upon looking, I'm afraid our Majestic Angel has either ick or the start or velvet.

It looks like it has some small dots on it's face, but it's still eating like normal. No red gills, and breathing just fine. Will be very hard to catch it, but I'll try to get it to qt ASAP just in case.

No other fish have anything or acting oddly.

Pics or better yet video please and under bright white light intensity - No blue

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Hey everyone. Picked up a 3" Blue Hippo a month ago today from our very trusted lfs. They had a blue hippo tank setup with a few in the tank they had had qt'd and healthy for a few months.

Got it home and didn't qt. It's been absolutely fine until the last week and a half where it became absolutely panicked and afraid of everything. It was eating everything we gave it and showed no signs of stress.

Got home one day and it would hide as soon as we walked into the room and was breathing heavily. No fish were being aggressive toward it at all from all I saw.

Finally saw what I thought was ick spots. The fish kept eating like a pig and the spots would disappear and come back. I figured these came from the frantic behavior as easy as these tangs seems to get ick.

This continued all last week until midweek where I found it frantically shooting out of the rocks randomly and hitting the glass, swimming upside down, and finally stopped eating.

I got it into qt and it's been hiding, laying down, and swimming erratically when it does swim. It currently doesn't have any white spots on it.

We've had no issues with tangs in the past, except for the last couple of PBT we tried, and a convict tang, all of which did this exact same thing.

It's been in qt since Tuesday or Wednesday. Most every other fish we've had that's done this has already passed, but it's still breathing and moving.

We don't have any meds and our lfs is nearly 2 hours away. I feel like this one is a lost cause so I haven't ordered any meds.

Parameters are all normal, just high phosphate and nitrate currently from over feeding trying to keep the fish eating healthy.

Any ideas, or should I end it's misery?

With 3 other powder blues and a convict exhibiting this same behavior, what could this be?

We had a HUGE powder blue and orange shoulder that never once acted this way or ever had ick, so we got spoiled by those 2 tangs.

Here's the fish currently.

If your LFS runs low dose copper, as most do, then that will be the reason it looked good at the store and not your tank. They mask the illness.

 

[Aparker2005]

Here's the angel

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

And upon looking, I'm afraid our Majestic Angel has either ick or the start or velvet.

It looks like it has some small dots on it's face, but it's still eating like normal. No red gills, and breathing just fine. Will be very hard to catch it, but I'll try to get it to qt ASAP just in case.

No other fish have anything or acting oddly.

I’m guessing that the tang brought ich into your tank and it has spread to the angel. It might be velvet, but unlikely.

This is going to be very difficult to handle properly - in a perfect world you would move all fish into a large, established hospital tank and treat with Coppersafe at 2.25 ppm. Anything less than that will be less effective, possibly not effective at all.

 

[Aparker2005]

I've noticed the angel having this for about a week now and didn't think about it being either. Still eats well and not lethargic or anything.

It's a very healthy fish. Hopefully it can pull through and this doesn't spread whatever it is.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've noticed the angel having this for about a week now and didn't think about it being either. Still eats well and not lethargic or anything.

It's a very healthy fish. Hopefully it can pull through and this doesn't spread whatever it is.

Ich has no secondary symptoms at first other than white spots. You won’t see changes in behavior until near the end of the infection.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here's the angel

based on size of dots, it appears to be ich and as jay stated, you will have to give in and set up a hospital tank or run risk of loss of livestock. As it is, they will allow parasites to reproduce and display tank Must be left fishless (fallow) for 6-8 weeks to allow parasites to die off without host fish. Coppersafe at 2.25 is your best bet for a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.
A quarantine tank can be as simple as a tank from a second hand store, a large rubbermaid style tub or a starter kit from Walmart which most of the needed essentials.

 

[Aparker2005]

The hippo is still alive surprisingly, but it feels like it's just I'm waiting for it to pass. Don't want it to suffer but I don't see how it recovers

 

[_chiefxr33f]

First post :)

My Blue Hippo started off very similarly. Never hitting the glass or swimming upside down but extremely erratic and intermittent white ick-like bumps. This pretty much continued until he transitioned from my 32 biocube into my Reefer 450. It's now grown a bit and is one of the most free swimming fish in the tank.

From what i've been told, and from my personal experience- some of these fish just have stress issues and they literally kill themselves over it. Unfortunately they don't make prozac for tangs. Warmer temp helped a bit with the spazziness too. Good luck!

 

[Aparker2005]

It's still alive. No idea how. It's just lying on its side breathing. No eating, no swimming.

No more spots that I see either. Just wish it would recover as it is such a beautiful fish, but I've lost hope.