Sick Hippo

[Phishy]

Please ID what is happening to my Hippo Tang and what I need to do to cure it. She was fine for the past month, and I just noticed this today.

The only h2o parameters that not in order are I just got a small ammonia spike (0.25) and the pH is lower then I would like it (7.8).

She was eating well and usually swimming around alot (likes to swim into the powerhead and stay in one spot, except at feeding time, then it darts evrywhere and definetely eats more then the rest)

Diet (for whole tank)
Spectrum Thera +a sinking pellets (1-2x daily)
Frozen formula 2 evry 3rd day
Frozen omega3 brine shrimp every 3rd day
frozen krill once a week

She is more lethargic appearing and hiding in the rocks more. The goby is going up to the spot alot, but she'll dart from him after awhile. She has some dark spot on her head and the right lower flank has a large dark area, I can't tell if it is an erosion or a growth, it is hard to see much less get a pic of because she rarely turns that way, I shut off the ph to stop the flow hoping she woudl turn to get a good shot. Also her color doesn't seem as vibrant, sorta bleaching out on the bottom

I wish I coudl get you clearer pictures, the area in question is under the yellow side fin.

[Phishy]

Still can't get a good pic, but it looks like she lost the scales in that area, and her 'skin' is black underneath.

[partobe]

my hippo was also acting strange and turning white after chatting with a few folks here I bought him some Nori and after a few days he was as good as new.

[Phishy]

I did some searching, it is either ick which progressed superfast, Cryptocaryon, or it is a poor nutrition issue, here is a pic I found online, she appears to have one of those areas. Butg the edge has a whitish edge to it. I am thinking ich. (they are prone to it right)

http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dyn.../sicktangs.htm

She also rubs up against the rocks.

I'll try the Nori, thanks.

[2tanksrunnin]

You know I'm with partobe, I have had my tang for about a month and she was also acting strange, one of her eyes got cloudy, then one of her fins had some white (ick like) areas. I got her some nori, and soaked her foods in garlic gaurd (seachem) ... less than a week later her eye is perfect and all areas of concern went away.

[Phishy]

I have Ocean Nutrition Seaweed Select Green Marine Algae is this Nori, doesn't say so anywhere on the package.

No one ate it so I stopped puttign it in the tank.

[2tanksrunnin]

Originally Posted by Phishy

I have Ocean Nutrition Seaweed Select Green Marine Algae is this Nori, doesn't say so anywhere on the package.

No one ate it so I stopped puttign it in the tank.

I also first purchased that same seaweed select stuff you mentioned above, none of my fish touched it AT ALL. I then went to the grocery store in the oriental section, you will find this nori. Within 30 minutes of this nori being in the tank she was all over it! Also try to find a garlic soak. It will help boost her immune.

[partobe]

try the nori it worked better for me as well. They use it to wrap sushi with. It may take a day or so for her to start eating it but once she does you should see a big diffrence

[Mike01z]

Here is how I got my hippo to eat the seaweed,

1st chop it up/rip it up so it is kinda like flake food, try to make it bite size,

when I did this I'd stir it up in a cup of tank water and let it get saturated with water then I'd pick only 1 little peice/flake out and put it in the water and the hippo would eat it,

I repeated this procedure until the seaweed was gone,

Then after a couple weeks I started putting it on the clip but I would rip it kinda like a ripped flag so that little peices (flakes ) would fall off of it very easily, once she saw a peice rip off of it due to current she ate it and then she knew to keep coming back.

Its a PITA procedure but it might work.

Your tang almost looks like it has a bruise, does it really have those big holes in it like the link you posted?


Ick ususally is little white spots with small type sores left behind once they detach, those huge gaping holes like that seem like something else.

[Phishy]

They aren't gaping holes, it looks like the scales came off in that area and there is some whitish fringe around it. It is not an erosion. I guess the skin is just black under the scales. I got invert-safe ick treatment, nori, garlic extreme and a pH buffer to raise it up alittle. It does have some little white spots on it.

I don't know where it would have gotten a bruise from, other then it rubs up against the rocks.

[2tanksrunnin]

If it were me, I would just start with the foods and see if there is an improvment, before treating your tank for ick ... thats just my 2 cents! Good luck and keep updating.

[Little Luey]

Have you corrected your PH yet? also a water change will help dilute the ammonia in the tank.

[partobe]

also you might want to get some crushed garlic from the grocery store. I put mine right in the tank from the jar and my fish love it esp my hippo.

[Phishy]

Will adjust the pH when I get home tonight, and water changes to follow, I need to wip up a batch of water and don't want to do it during lights out.

[skeety]

what size tank is this?