[envoy1975]

i have the chance to buy a blue hippa tang that is about 6 to 7 inchesi had one a month back that i got from the pet store and died i believe it died because my phosphates were extemly high my tank is 125 i just dont want to waste my money are they a very delicate fish?

[SeaBoy]

those tangs are very likely to have flukes and well die no matter how pure your system is, I would just watch the fish at the pet store for some time and see how it is before buying it.

[envoy1975]

it is coming from a private owner who has had him sence being young

[glampka]

Blue hippo tangs are very prone to ick. You may find yourself constantly battling it.

[dingyd]

I just got a blue tang,a few days ago, and it has ick. How can you get rid of it. I have a 60 gallon reeftank. Do you know?

[envoy1975]

they make some stuff that is coral and invertabre safe it is called like kick ick i have not had to battle it yet but i have see the stuff out good luck

[SeaBoy]

the best idea would be to set up a smaller tank to treat the fish alone to ensure the other new chemicals do not have adverse effects on your coral and algae.

[clown shrimp]

use ick attack it helped my hippo tang it is also "reef safe" PS. hippo tangs get ick because they arent fed properly in the wild they eat zoo plankton from live rock. get the zoo plankton and "dorri" will live for years like mine(:

[Krazy]

Blue hippos need a variety of foods to stay healthy, they need nori seaweed daily, along with a mix of meaty foods too, such as mysis/clam/krill, things with nutrition... Always try to soak food in selcon,zoecon,garlic to help boost the immune system for them..

They are VERY prone to ich for some reason...

Keep em fat and plump and they'll stay healthy !!!


PS : clown shrimp, if your blue hippo is in the 24 gallon as your sig lists, that is WRONG!!!

[envoy1975]

i got the hippo tang last night and he is beautiful but he seems to be fasinated with the bubbles that come off my skimmer i have heard that fish can get sick from inhaling bubbles is that something i need to worry about?

[Mattfish]

My understanding is that many of the skimmers create "microbubbles" that are potentially deadly, if not simply unhealthy. Many of the skimmers also have attachments designed to remove the microbubbles (I have a Corallife SuperSkimmer 220 and it has this sponge/filter thing which will remove them. In my case, my skimmer is in my sump, the the microbubbles are removed/dissolved long before the return pump gets them into the main tank.

If your skimmer is in/on your main tank, and the tang is playing in the bubbles/output, it strikes me that me that he may be swimming through this potentially hazardous output.....

Having said all the above, someone much smarter than me on here will have a better/more informed position on this.

BTW, we're going to be getting a hippo tang and a naso tang, and plan to QT them together to ensure we don't introduce ich into the main tank. I'm no where near experienced or patient enough to figure out how to get rid of it if it infects my main tank....

[dingyd]

Thank You I'll let you know how it goes. If I would of know there prone to get ick , I never would have got him. I was told he's a good alga eater that looks like grass.

[dingyd]

no he's in a 60 gallon.

[Mattfish]

The hippo's may be prone to ich, but any fish can get it, and most of the other tangs/surgeonfish are as well, plus many of the other larger, more beautiful ones we want to add. It's the price you pay for having a beautiful fish in the tank.....

Adding a QT now, and starting to get used to a 4 week or more QT holding time is just one of those things that you evidently have to do to ensure a healthy tank.

We just got a QT the other day - by now, only 6 weeks or so into our tank, we have enough critters in there that a disease introduction would be a cruel thing on the fish and inverts, and an expensive and painful problem.

And now, evidently, we'll have to add a QT for coral as well. This is why everyone here warned me about patience.... and it doesn't come easy to me.

[dingyd]

Yes patience you need. But I'm already thinking on a larger tank. I enjoy it so much. If somethings wrong I wan't to take care of it right now and they don't have 24 hr fish stores. I'm glad I found this site . I like knowing my opinons.

[Mattfish]

That I can appreciate. My wife and I started into it thinking, well, maybe a 50g, then it turned into a 60, etc, and by the time we were ready and determined to get into this, it ended up as a 125g. Even with that decision, when my wife came back from a trip and walked into the house to see the actual tank set up during her absence, she was wide-eyed (funny) and speechless (unusual...).

But FWIW, I think even more patience is needed for the bigger tank - it takes longer to get out of balance, but short term fixes seem to create a yoyo effect and decisions are best made more slowly.

A short example - I woke up this am and saw that due to skimmer action, our water level in the return area of the sump was low and the pump was slurping. Well, no reason to go and immediately mix up seawater and throw it in untested and uncertain, I just picked up a 5g bottle of Arrowhead water and poured in a gallon or so and fixed the situation without overreacting - the small amount of non-salt water barely changed the salinity and stopped the pump slurping.

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by Mattfish

A short example - I woke up this am and saw that due to skimmer action, our water level in the return area of the sump was low and the pump was slurping. Well, no reason to go and immediately mix up seawater and throw it in untested and uncertain, I just picked up a 5g bottle of Arrowhead water and poured in a gallon or so and fixed the situation without overreacting - the small amount of non-salt water barely changed the salinity and stopped the pump slurping.

Sounds like someone needs an ATO (auto top off unit)

AutoTop - Your Aquarium TopOff Solution

[Mattfish]

See? There it is again! Another reason to go buy something for the tank. My wife's never got let me go out alone anymore cause of things like this!

I'll check the link you sent and buy stuff when she's not looking.....

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by Mattfish

See? There it is again! Another reason to go buy something for the tank. My wife's never got let me go out alone anymore cause of things like this!

I'll check the link you sent and buy stuff when she's not looking.....

I was told to buy things first then ask for forgiveness after

[Mattfish]

That's good - I was taught to buy everything before getting married. It worked for 40+ years. Now deception and misdirection are my two best friends....

BTW,, I saw a small Eiblii Tang today. Wanted to but couldn't bring it home. With vacation coming, no one to mind the QT properly. If it's there when I get back, it's coming home with papa....

[dingyd]

Thank you that was a good story, one thing I haven't got yet is a skimmer. I'm relearning everything, I had afew tanks about 7 years ago they have came out with new and better stuff. It's just learning what I need. With my blue tang I'm trying the food soak in garlic.
So far no one is having a bad effect. dingyd

[e_baer]

back to the main question of ich. i also have heard of kick ick. i used it in my reef tank, and it worked well, but about a week later, my MTA had unfortunately died. Was it coincidence? i dunno, but i do know my corals were not effected. just to let you all know.

[Mattfish]

As someone who's about to get a few more tang's (probably hippo and naso), in a couple of weeks, I'd love to hear what ich medicine's have worked for others and which one's haven't. That'd be really helpful if anyone else cans hare their cure of choice.

[reefnoob1991]

Ick can be treated by a very simple Hyposalinity treatment. I went through it with my clown and damsel. Over the course of a few days you raise the salinity from whatever it is down to 1.009-1.011 and keep it there for 4-5 weeks. It's anything but stressful on the fish because they can breathe better and the parasite cannot live in such low SG. only lower it by .002-.003 a day. Any more will stress the fish out.

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by reefnoob1991

Ick can be treated by a very simple Hyposalinity treatment. I went through it with my clown and damsel. Over the course of a few days you raise the salinity from whatever it is down to 1.009-1.011 and keep it there for 4-5 weeks. It's anything but stressful on the fish because they can breathe better and the parasite cannot live in such low SG. only lower it by .002-.003 a day. Any more will stress the fish out.

Excellent Info !!!



Dont use copper products with tangs whatever ya do, its very stressful for them, I agree with hyposalinity treatments !!!