The Hard Hippo

[macatxfl]

hi can someone help me i cant keep a blue hippo tang to save my life i place them in a hospital tank for 30 days and there fine then place in my reef tank and with in a month they die if i can keep a poweder blue brown ,naso,clown tangs whats up with me killing the hippo tang i dont see any signed of ick or mi but he scratchs all over my corals and live rocks but he does eat good for now i have had him in my reef tank for 2 days now and i think his days a numbered already i cant catch him now as i have 200 plus lbs of live rock in my 100 gallon tank can someone tell me why this is happening to me everything i read on hippo tangs they all say there one of the easier tangs to keep as i think my clown tang is one of the hardest to keep all my water in both tanks are very close please HELP

ph 8.3
nitrites 0
nitrates 0
ammonia 0
phosohates 0.0
ca 430
salt 1.024
temp 77.5 all the time 1/4 current chiller

[lcstorc]

Is somebody picking on him? Mine gets frightened very easily then hides in the smallest places. Does he have lots of hiding places? IME hippos are one of the harder tangs to keep because they are so shy and get ick very easily.

[macatxfl]

no ones picking on him but he does hide alot and i have many caves in my tank with over 200 lbs of live rock and my reef tank has been set up over 2 years so its not a rush thing i add maybe 1 fish every 3 months

[lcstorc]

Well then I am out of ideas.
Sorry
Perhaps someone else can help

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEF SANCTUARY!

There seems to be a pattern, as you suspect.

Information we are missing from what you’ve so far posted:
Size of system: do you have a refugium, a sump, etc. = total gallons of system
You’ve listed some fishes, but don’t indicate what is currently in the display tank and in the rest of the system. Need to know the other marine life you have and its size. You mentioned having a reef – list the marine life, please.
When did the aquarium cycle last? How old is the aquarium?
What foods do you feed this and the other fishes? How much/quantity? How frequently/often?
What is the size of the fish you’ve tried?
Is each fish coming from the same outlet/LFS/online source?
Has your source made any attempt to explain the losses?
Do you happen to know what waters these fish are coming out from?
Describe the fish when you obtain it -- does is have good color or exceptionally bright colors?
Alkalinity of your water?
You post that the fish ‘scratchs’ (flashes) over rocks and corals. This I assume is in your main aquarium. Does the fish do this in the QT and during quarantine?
When did you start using a quarantine process?
Has ALL the other marine life in your display been through quarantine? Is it likely that disease is in the main display but not displaying to your eye?

[macatxfl]

hi my tank is 100 galllons and refugium is 30 gallons so 130 minus the 200 lbs of live rock and 120 lbs of live sand my tanks been setup for 2 years with no problems and have never had any fish have ick as i have a hospital tank that i use with every fish and do dally water changs when the fish are in that tank the fish all came from different lfs the fishes color had very bright and colorful even in the hospital tank the fish looked great i do not have any thing in my hospital tank other then water i dont no if these is any disease in my main tank but there should not be as i quarantine the fish i buy for 30 days my alkalinity is 9 drops as of tonight dont know what waters these fish are coming out from i do no the fish wholesales all the lfs use in my area of florida is miami and tampa fl i have tryed 1 1/2 inch blue hippos and the one i have right now is about 4 inches long he is starting to eat now but now one of my closed brain corals he was scratching on is closed up and it has never been close all day since i bought it a year ago so now that might have something lets se if i can do all the live in my tank
1 naso tank 4 inches , blue hippo 4 inches , 1 .3 inch clown tang ,1 coral banded shrimp 10 emrald crabs, around 50 blue legged hermit crabs , 3 star fish 1 blue linkia 1 red linkia and a sand sifter star, 1 mandarin goby , 1 black cardinal fish 1 true perc clowns matted pair , 1 green chromus or what ever there called lol corals are 75 red mushrooms , 10 green mushrooms, 1 closed brain, 1 open brain, 1 maze brain, 2 hammer corals one with 9 heads around 15 brown mushrooms, 2 big rocks and 10 clumps of green star polyps and 1 3 x 12 group of green polyps a rock full of zooanthids 1 leather coral a bunch of yellow polyps i have 5 different types of sponges and 1 anemone where the true percs live i have more then this but cant remember right now but it should be a start once i find out how to post pictures ill post some of my set up and tank thank you

[leebca]

I'm sure your display tank is very nice. You have some very nice invertebrates there. I see a few problems:

1. Hermit crabs. The fish like to rest at night on the surface. This is where the crabs are. Crabs can and do bite fish and have been known to kill fish. I would remove as many of the crabs as you can.

2. The 100 gallon display is too small for Tangs. The Tangs you have, have outgrown that size aquarium a few years ago. They need no less than a 180 gallon at this time, but it is preferred they should be in a 240 or 300.

3. The system is pushing the bio-load capacity. The bio-load is high for that system. This means although everything may appear to be fine, there is an excess of bacteria at work. They will create an irritant to any new-comer fish and may, for a time allow ammonia or nitrites to spike when a large fish, such as the Hippo, is added.

4. Frequency of flashing. If the fish is scratching more than once every few minutes, then there is something irritating the fish. This can be crab, bacteria, or as yet another source (a particular coral or lifeform which the fish has come into contact with).

5. Swimming space is low. Not much swimming space is left after all the other additions to the tank. You need to leave room for the invertebrates to grow and flourish and this will take up even more space. You want fish that don't require much swimming space or tank length. This also leaves out the Tang group.

6. I'm concerned about the Mandarin. What is it eatiing, how long have you had it, did you read this: Pod Eaters -OR - Momma Don't Feed Me No Balogna etc., etc.

One way forward is to move out the Tangs -- all of them. Move out as many of the hermits that you can round up. In place of their portion of the bio-load I would only add back a dwarf Angel and a lot of snails, OR snails and a fish that remains short and doesn't require much in the way of swimming space.

Good luck!

[macatxfl]

hi thanks lee the Mandarin fish i have had for over a year i feed it pods from my refugium and with 200 lbs of life rock there are pods all over my tank i see them at night coming out and they have caves all in my sand bed

so what your saying is remove all my fish and only leave my Angel fish and take out all the hermit crabs

and i do 25 gallon a week water changes and test my water 3 days a week and my ammonia , nitrites ,nitrates are always at 0.0

so my tanks OVER Stocked ????

[lcstorc]

I believe she said just to remove the tangs and the crabs and you can add a dwarf angel to replace the tangs. I certainly don't want to speak for her but that is the way I read it.

[macatxfl]

ok thanks

[leebca]

I think Lynn has understood my post closer to what I meant it to convey.

Your tank is not overstocked in the traditional sense. It is stocked with fish that don't belong in that size aquarium. Tang are large waste producers if you are feeding them properly. Crabs are also waste producers.

In the case of my suggestions:
Replacing crabs with snails is pretty much a trade off in bio-load. Unless the crabs are large, in which case the snails will be less of a bio-load and yet still do the clean up needed, and pose no threat to invertebrate nor fish life.

The Tangs should be removed because of being in the wrong size home. I would recommend a reduction in bio-load by not replacing them with as much waste producers, because of your invertebrate life. IMHO a good reef tank has few fishes in it, contributing a minimum of nitrogen wastes. In this scenario, the Dwarf Angel would be a fine replacement for the relocated Tangs — or a fish of that general characteristics.

Number of pods is not enough. Diversity AND number of pods is what a Mandarin needs and diversity is not found in the home aquarium. If you can, please read the post at the previously provided link.

Good luck!

[Varga]

I dont see why you cant keep your tangs and trade them when they get big.
I was told my Naso will be 2 big for my 100 gallon but it'll be 2 years before that happens.

you can always replace the crabs with blue legged hermits they dont get very big at all.

[lcstorc]

Tangs even when they are small produce a lot of waste therefore adding a lot to your bio-load.
Any crabs are a danger to other species in the tank. Scarlet hermits are known to be the most docile and I saw one kill a large cerith snail for its shell.