blue hippo tang

[tangmang23]

thanks, but i ended up losing all three of them, unfortunately! ohwell, im letting the tank recover and they will be replaced. i hope.

how many fish have you lost now matt??

[hansmatt]

only one...so far...
or do you mean total fish over the life of the tank...let's not go there

[tangmang23]

i hear you, lol, depressing tot hink about. I seem to be done losing fish, things have been steady for about a week. Like i said im letting my gums heal from the bone graph, and then hopefully ill be able to do some good sand cleaning and get the tank a bit cleaner.

[reefer.madness]

Originally Posted by schneijt

Well, my Naso passed away overnight and was pulled out of the tank when I checked on it earlier today. I've got a third Naso being held and conditioned slowly for me by Peggy at All-Reef, that I'll pick up at the end of this coming week or the week after that. Peggy and I have been e-mailing a lot about Nasos and the two I've lost, and we're pretty sure that it's a matter of poor health in some regard to start with, and being rushed in regards to acclimation since they arrived in the US. She conditions and pampers hers for roughly two weeks before she sells them, so I'm confident that I'm going to get a really good one from her that, after I reallllllly slowly acclimate it to my tank, will last for a good long while in my tank.

I'm sorry you lost the Hippo last night, Matt. Last night was a bad night for our two tanks. I hope that it is just an isolated incident for you, and that no other fish come down with any symptoms like your Hippo did.

-Joe

I'd wait for a while before adding any new fish into a system that your having problems with. And a good QT. You have some issue that needs to be addressed and rather than killing very expensive fish by trial and error. Since there have been 2 tang deaths in the tank, QT of ALL fish is really needed. You might think your getting a good fish, but introducing it to a tank without knowing what the problem is sounds like roulette to me. After my huge ich scare, I will NEVER add a fish w/o QT.

My .02

[schneijt]

Originally Posted by reefer.madness

I'd wait for a while before adding any new fish into a system that your having problems with. And a good QT. You have some issue that needs to be addressed and rather than killing very expensive fish by trial and error. Since there have been 2 tang deaths in the tank, QT of ALL fish is really needed. You might think your getting a good fish, but introducing it to a tank without knowing what the problem is sounds like roulette to me. After my huge ich scare, I will NEVER add a fish w/o QT.

My .02

Nope! The new Naso is already in the tank, and got a luxurious 2+ hour acclimation last night. I don't think there's anything wrong with my tank, since no other fish (including my other tang) are affected at all. Both of the other Nasos got rushed into my tank, and I didn't take as much time acclimating them as I should have. I think I stressed them out by not giving them enough time acclimating to adjust to my water, and then blasting them with light too quickly. With the third one, it got the super long acclimation last night, and the lights are off all day today. Tomorrow I'm just going to run two of my six T5 bulbs, and then on Sunday I'll do full light and see how the little guy is doing. I never saw either of the other two Nasos feeding, and this new one was eating like a pig on a variety of algae types at All-Reef. So, this is the first Naso I got where I KNEW for sure when I bought it that it was a fish in excellent health. So, I'm confident the third one is a good one. Now, if for some reason the third one doesn't make it and no other fish are showing signs of any health issues, then I'd stop with the Nasos and try to figure out what might be going on. But, all along I've felt nothing was wrong with my tank, and I just happened to get two Nasos that maybe weren't the greatest to start with, and I didn't help by rushing them into my tank.

-Joe

[cutietwo]

pics?

[schneijt]

No pics, as the tank is completely dark, as I stated in my acclimation process above.

[Cruiser]

Hi Guys - haven't been around for awhile, personal issues, but am still in the hobby.

So, to add to the tang woes, my hippo tang died suddenly last week as well. No new additions or any changes, last time I saw him he looked totally normal. Could have been old age, probably around 5 years old, and about 5". He will be sorely missed. No clue as to cause of death.

[tangmang23]

it is depressing isnt it. everything seems fine, then all of a sudden a few fish go belly up. I figured out that my thermometer is lying to me lol. It said that the tank was around 78, but i took a second one for backup and tested it and it was 70ish, so i think my deaths may have been caused by sudden temp changes. At that end, though, i would have thought corals would be suffering as well, but they were unscathed. its a mystery

[schneijt]

Ouch, Nick... Nothing sucks more than finding out such a simple piece of equipment isn't working properly... I actually have three thermometers on my tank...lol. I use my AC Jr. to give me a really precise reading with its temp probe, but I also check it against my glass thermometer that I have suction cupped inside the tank every couple days, just to be sure I keep the AC Jr. honest. And if for some reason there was a difference of more than maybe a degree or so, I have one of those "stick-on" strip thermometers on the outside of the glass. Definitely not that reliable, but it's sort of a "ballpark" figure that could help me out if my AC Jr. temp probe or glass thermometer were broken, etc...

Do you know over what period of time the temp went down to around 70? If it was a really slow transition, it might not have been too hard on the fish, though it certainly still would have stressed them and maybe been a "tipping point" for something else that was bothering your fish maybe... I dunno...

In my experience, livestock can withstand a heck of a shock and still survive. I once had a kalk reactor inside my sump, and while moving it one day, I knocked the pump off, and a gallon of fully-saturated kalk water ended up in the sump and got pumped into the tank. The tank was a huge white cloud and the pH went up drastically, but luckily I didn't lose a single coral or fish. I did learn, though, to not put a kalk reactor actually INSIDE your sump...lol

Oh, and a Naso update. He's swimming around and picking at the rocks, so all seems to be going ok so far. He does look a little like he favors one side when he's swimming, meaning that sometimes I think I'm seeing him swim "off-vertical" for some reason. But, he's eating and swimming around freely, so I'm not too worried. I'll just keep my eye on him over the next few days and go from there. What I hate about Nasos is that their bodies change color depending on mood, lighting, etc... So, he's got some "splotchy" areas on each side that sort of come and go as I watch him. Crazy fish--he's trying to give me a heart attack...lol

-Joe

[tangmang23]

joe, glad to hear the tang is coming along for you. Hopefully you were right in 3 times the charm lol.

I havnt made it to the store yet but i put a rena heater in my sump and set it 75, hoping that with the lights and pumps going it will be 78ish. I tested the next day and it was sitting at 76-77 steady so im more comfortable now. ill make it to petstupid sometime tomorrow and get a glass thermometer. Also no idea on how slowly the temp shifted. As I mentioned the fish were covered in what looked like a fungus, so my guess is the temp started the stress, which allowed them to get a fungus, which then intern caused there death. a chain reaction if you will lol.

[schneijt]

We're going to have to form some sort of support group for LARKers who have had a sudden tang death...lol

Nick, are you dosing Vitamin C and/or garlic in you food? I've been soaking my food in Zoe/garlic/vitamin c lately, and my fish have never looked better. Especially with your fish being a little stressed with the temp shift recently, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to maybe help them out by trying to enrich their food a bit more, if you aren't doing so already.

-Joe

[tangmang23]

actually i am not, i ran out of garlic a long time ago and havnt purchased since. I dont know were to get vitamin C, online order probably??

[schneijt]

Yeah, I got my Vitamin C from DFS, and pretty much any reef-related online company should sell it, I would think. I mean, there's no way to say 100% for sure that it's the Zoe/Vit C/Garlic soaking of my food that's making my fish look more vibrant and healthy, but I really think it's helping my fish out.

-Joe

[firsthesitation]

The garlic in your foods would definitely help against disease. Its not bullet proof but enough tests have been done to say it helps fish keep from getting sick. They say too at higher temps 79-80 the chances of Ich being able to manifest itself.

Sucks that it was probly just a temp thing, I have a digital and a glass in both my tanks for that reason, always 1 to back up the other.