Hippo tang floating

[troypt]

I came home from work and my hippo tang was dead and floating at the top of the aquarium. I had had the fish for ~3 years It looked great yesterday-out being active, eating good, and no obvious signs of a disease. I’ve kept aquariums for about 15 years and I’ve never had a dead fish float, they have always been on the sand. What would cause a dead fish to float?
Troy

 

[vetteguy53081]

I came home from work and my hippo tang was dead and floating at the top of the aquarium. I had had the fish for ~3 years It looked great yesterday-out being active, eating good, and no obvious signs of a disease. I’ve kept aquariums for about 15 years and I’ve never had a dead fish float, they have always been on the sand. What would cause a dead fish to float?
Troy

With no pics or history will be hard to determine. A fish that dies generally sinks as they are denser than the tank water before it floats unless there is an internal issue with a swollen bladder or similar where fish can no longer maintain balance and other would be air getting into its system prior to death and not released.
Sorry to hear

 

[troypt]

I thought it was really weird that it was floating. I don’t have any pictures but it was 3-4 inches long and I had had it for 3 years. It was pretty fat as it always ate good. It looked good the evening before with no signs of a problem. No new fish had been introduced for months. I just wondered what could have happened that would make it float so that I could try to prevent future issues