Yellow belly blue hippo tang not eating help

[Medmondsii]

I have a yellow belly blue hippo tang in qt. And he is not eating and swimming and hiding constantly. He in qt with 4 other fish powder blue tang, Midas blenny, and 2 small clown fish. All the other fish are eating and healthy. These are all new fish and they are in qt and never been in my tank.
I have attached video on the hippo tang hope you guys can see it.
Should start copper treatment now? Even with the blue tang not eating?
Water parameters:
Salinity:33ppt
Ammonia:0
Nitrate:5-10ppm
30 gal qt tank
Sponge filter,hob

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I couldn't see much in the videos, the hepatus tang doesn't seem to be breathing too fast or anything. Is the powder blue larger? It may be keeping it from coming out in the open. What are you measuring the ammonia level with? Do you know if the hepatus was eating at the dealer's? What types of food have you tried?
How long have the fish been in this tank? If longer than 3 or 4 days, if they were mine, I would start the copper treatment. That isn't going to suddenly cause the hepatus to start feeding again, but it will help protect the other fish.

Jay

 

[Medmondsii]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I couldn't see much in the videos, the hepatus tang doesn't seem to be breathing too fast or anything. Is the powder blue larger? It may be keeping it from coming out in the open. What are you measuring the ammonia level with? Do you know if the hepatus was eating at the dealer's? What types of food have you tried?
How long have the fish been in this tank? If longer than 3 or 4 days, if they were mine, I would start the copper treatment. That isn't going to suddenly cause the hepatus to start feeding again, but it will help protect the other fish.

Jay

Hello Jay
I'm using a API test kit.
I have had the hippo tang for 4 days now.
The powder blue tang is slightly larger.
I have tried seaweed soaked in garlic, mysis, pellets. He has eaten ( I haven't seen him eat) any of the food I put in.
I did not see him eat at the lfs. My mistake.
But the tang is swimming around. I even tried to put food in front of him.

 

[Medmondsii]

More video of the blue hippo tang

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Sorry no new details really in the latest video. You might consider dimming the tank lights down to around ambient room light levels. Also be aware that if you are watching the fish from a lighter position, they can see you very clearly and are going to hide if so inclined.

jay

 

[Rickybobby]

a month ago, i received a hippo,via the mail, sucks because of covid here are stores are closed and we cant go in, so i took a chance. i put the hippo in qt right away with tons of rocks and places to hide. it never ate a single day, i tried every food known to man. it came to a point where 2 weeks had almost gone by and it got so weak, that i started to hand feed it, the fish became so weak, that it passed. but it looked amazing and fine otherwise

 

[Medmondsii]

More video of hippo tang. Here he seem to be scratching on the PVC. Is this normal?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Sorry - I've tried a few different things and can't get your video to play. Perhaps you can try a You Tube link? Scratching with fish typically isn't a normal thing if it happens more than once in a great while.

jay

 

[Medmondsii]

let me see if i can put the video somewhere else and post the link here.

video link posted here:


let me know if you can watch the videos...

 

[Jay Hemdal]

let me see if i can put the video somewhere else and post the link here.

video link posted here:


let me know if you can watch the videos...

I didn't see any scratching/flashing, but lets go with that as a symptom - that could be flukes and you can treat with Prazipro for that. Trouble is, new fish really should go through a copper treatment, and I don't like to try both copper and prazi at the same time. I'm actually more worried about the powder blue - they come down with ich so easily. I'm inclined to suggest you start with copper now because of that.

So - the hepatus tang is acting really shy, which is typical for this species. It looks pretty full bodied, so that at least gives you more time to get this worked out. However, there is an issue that some fish, including hepatus tangs (but not powder blue tangs) are captured using sodium cyanide. This deplorable practice has been going on since the 1960s. What can happen is that some of the fish caught that way get too high of a dose and it damages their internal organs, and although they look ok, they never eat or if they do eat, they can't digest their food and some of them eventually die. I cannot say for certain that your tang has this issue, but it is a distinct possibility.

Jay

 

[Medmondsii]

I have started the copper treatment. I'm using copper treatment. I'm slowly going to bring the copper level to 2.0 ppm. As right now. I'm at 1.38 ppm. Using a Hana copper checker. I'm gonna keep the copper level @ 2 ppm for 2 weeks. Can I treat with prazi after copper treatment?

 

[Medmondsii]

Did u see all 4 videos? They are in a playlist?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yes, you can dose prazi after the copper. Don’t take too long getting the copper up, 24 hours is fine.

Jay

I have started the copper treatment. I'm using copper treatment. I'm slowly going to bring the copper level to 2.0 ppm. As right now. I'm at 1.38 ppm. Using a Hana copper checker. I'm gonna keep the copper level @ 2 ppm for 2 weeks. Can I treat with prazi after copper treatment?

,

 

[Medmondsii]

I'm gonna bring the copper up slowly. Should be at 2ppm by end of day Friday.

 

[mehaffydr]

Any time I get new fish I always get Black Worms I’ve never had a fish that would refuse them

 

[Medmondsii]

i added another video of the blue hippo tang swimming. Looks like he darting then backing up then does it again.

Is this normal?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

i added another video of the blue hippo tang swimming. Looks like he darting then backing up then does it again.

Is this normal?

That back and forth swimming is normal for a blue tang. I didn’t see any scratching or flashing.
Jay

 

[Medmondsii]

Update:
The Hippo tang us now eating seaweed. Thank everyone for the help

 

[4kidsandapug]

I have a yellow belly blue hippo tang in qt. And he is not eating and swimming and hiding constantly. He in qt with 4 other fish powder blue tang, Midas blenny, and 2 small clown fish. All the other fish are eating and healthy. These are all new fish and they are in qt and never been in my tank.
I have attached video on the hippo tang hope you guys can see it.
Should start copper treatment now? Even with the blue tang not eating?
Water parameters:
Salinity:33ppt
Ammonia:0
Nitrate:5-10ppm
30 gal qt tank
Sponge filter,hob

I have a hippo tang that eats masstick like it’s going out of style. Finicky eaters seem to love the stuff.

 

[stephenm894]

Update:
The Hippo tang us now eating seaweed. Thank everyone for the help

How did you get your tang to eat my tang is still hiding….