Odd Behavior by Blue Hippo Tang

[Yerxi]

About a week ago I had noticed my tang had disappeared and didn’t come out for feeding which they typically had. I ended up moving some rocks and it had appeared it was trapped under a rock with what looked like a small wound on its right side and a little loss of its coloration. After moving it out it quickly got that color back and since then the little wound has healed a bit as seen in the pictures but it’s bit of fin damage prevents it from swimming perfectly straight and it’s breathing is pretty rapid along with still not (at least when I’m watching) eating but also doesn’t show me signs of hunger. Continues to try and pin themselves under rocks so I just had to move rocks and stir the substrate again so don’t mind the floating particles. Curious if there’s anything I can do to assist them and comfort them while they heal. Parameters are fine, I’ve tested and had my LFS test, along with I use Fritz RPM salt mix. And the only thing that picks on it even slightly is my 2 engineer gobies.

 

[Jekyl]

Post a short video too if you could. Also list tank size, parameters, recent additions. This will help the experts on here pinpoint the issue and give advice.

 

[vetteguy53081]

About a week ago I had noticed my tang had disappeared and didn’t come out for feeding which they typically had. I ended up moving some rocks and it had appeared it was trapped under a rock with what looked like a small wound on its right side and a little loss of its coloration. After moving it out it quickly got that color back and since then the little wound has healed a bit as seen in the pictures but it’s bit of fin damage prevents it from swimming perfectly straight and it’s breathing is pretty rapid along with still not (at least when I’m watching) eating but also doesn’t show me signs of hunger. Continues to try and pin themselves under rocks so I just had to move rocks and stir the substrate again so don’t mind the floating particles. Curious if there’s anything I can do to assist them and comfort them while they heal. Parameters are fine, I’ve tested and had my LFS test, along with I use Fritz RPM salt mix. And the only thing that picks on it even slightly is my 2 engineer gobies.

Cant tell if dots in pics are on the glass or fish. It appears to be lympho or flukes. The size of dots suggest not parasitical (at least at this time)
What foods are you attempting to feed ?
What test kits are you using?
What is your ammonia-nitrate and ph ?

I ask those question as this could be a viral condition from water quality issues or lack of proper diet.
As for healing, one nice thing in saltwater is the fishs' ability to heal naturally and quickly.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

About a week ago I had noticed my tang had disappeared and didn’t come out for feeding which they typically had. I ended up moving some rocks and it had appeared it was trapped under a rock with what looked like a small wound on its right side and a little loss of its coloration. After moving it out it quickly got that color back and since then the little wound has healed a bit as seen in the pictures but it’s bit of fin damage prevents it from swimming perfectly straight and it’s breathing is pretty rapid along with still not (at least when I’m watching) eating but also doesn’t show me signs of hunger. Continues to try and pin themselves under rocks so I just had to move rocks and stir the substrate again so don’t mind the floating particles. Curious if there’s anything I can do to assist them and comfort them while they heal. Parameters are fine, I’ve tested and had my LFS test, along with I use Fritz RPM salt mix. And the only thing that picks on it even slightly is my 2 engineer gobies.

What other fish are in the tank with it? Any symptoms with them? A video would help us better see what’s going on…
Jay

 

[Yerxi]

Post a short video too if you could. Also list tank size, parameters, recent additions. This will help the experts on here pinpoint the issue and give advice.

ill do that video in the morning when the lights come back on to not disturb the other fish but the parameters are NH3:~1, NO2:0, NO3:<10, pH:8.1, KH: 240 (which they've been fine with forever so i couldn't see this being the problem), Salinity:1.025. The tank is a 55gal with a 39gal Trigger systems emerald sump. I did remove some bio media recently in the sump to make room for chaetomorpha (which was added 2 days ago) and a protein skimmer and did a little ammonia neutralizer right after i had tested it.

 

[Yerxi]

Cant tell if dots in pics are on the glass or fish. It appears to be lympho or flukes. The size of dots suggest not parasitical (at least at this time)
What foods are you attempting to feed ?
What test kits are you using?
What is your ammonia-nitrate and ph ?

I ask those question as this could be a viral condition from water quality issues or lack of proper diet.
As for healing, one nice thing in saltwater is the fishs' ability to heal naturally and quickly.

it does have some speckles on its side but the largest dot on him is that wound healing, which given does look better than when i found him. I feed frozen brine shrimp, some green peas (since my puffer loves them), frozen clams and occasional algae wafer and a bit of Omega One marine flakes. And i get the healing, this tang has scratched his eye before and it was cloudy but it healed in a weekish.

 

[Yerxi]

ill do that video in the morning when the lights come back on to not disturb the other fish but the parameters are NH3:~1, NO2:0, NO3:<10, pH:8.1, KH: 240 (which they've been fine with forever so i couldn't see this being the problem), Salinity:1.025. The tank is a 55gal with a 39gal Trigger systems emerald sump. I did remove some bio media recently in the sump to make room for chaetomorpha (which was added 2 days ago) and a protein skimmer and did a little ammonia neutralizer right after i had tested it.

should also mention i double checked with a API and Nutrafin test kits.

 

[Yerxi]

What other fish are in the tank with it? Any symptoms with them? A video would help us better see what’s going on…
Jay

My Narrow-lined Puffer, Flame Angel, 2 Engineer Gobies, Aiptasia-eating Filefish and a Lawnmower Blennie. Nothing else seems to really have an issue except the Flame Angel due to a ammonia spike that i put some neutralizer in to help with. Ill update in the morning how much if anything has changed.

 

[bruno3047]

Classic signs of a fish being bullied. Wound. Hiding. Rapid breathing. Doesn’t matter that they’ve been fine forever. They can turn on each other on a dime. But judging from your list of fish you just posted, the only possible aggressor could be the flame.

 

[Yerxi]

Classic signs of a fish being bullied. Wound. Hiding. Rapid breathing. Doesn’t matter that they’ve been fine forever. They can turn on each other on a dime. But judging from your list of fish you just posted, the only possible aggressor could be the flame.

really? that had seemed like the fish least likely to pick on them. they spend most of their time swimming together, i guess i could've misread it but I'm not sure. Its almost like the the hippo tang is just swimming forward mindlessly.

 

[bruno3047]

really? that had seemed like the fish least likely to pick on them. they spend most of their time swimming together, i guess i could've misread it but I'm not sure. Its almost like the the hippo tang is just swimming forward mindlessly.

Fish swimming together is often misinterpreted as a sign of friendliness. It’s not. They’re measuring each other up. The point of bullying is to stop another fish from eating. Always remember that. The valuable commodity is food.

 

[bruno3047]

My advice to you would be to buy yourself or get yourself a tank divider and separate the tang and the flame. See if the tang gets better before it’s too late. Since the Tang already stopped eating, he’s already halfway gone.

 

[vetteguy53081]

should also mention i double checked with a API and Nutrafin test kits.

API notorious for false reading and levels likely higher
I would take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does Not use API test kits and see what readings they come up with
Foods- all LRS fish frenzy and mysis shrimp

 

[Yerxi]

My advice to you would be to buy yourself or get yourself a tank divider and separate the tang and the flame. See if the tang gets better before it’s too late. Since the Tang already stopped eating, he’s already halfway gone.

Well I’ve removed the flame and it doesn’t seem to change at all. Still mindlessly swimming into the side of a rock

 

[Yerxi]

API notorious for false reading and levels likely higher
I would take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does Not use API test kits and see what readings they come up with
Foods- all LRS fish frenzy and mysis shrimp

Will do, I’ll try the different food.

 

[Yerxi]

Again had to stir up the substrate but even without the flame angel it’s still behaving this way. I guided it there since I figure better in a spot I can see than behind my other rocks but it hasn’t tried to leave when there’s more than enough room for it to try.

 

[bruno3047]

Well I’ve removed the flame and it doesn’t seem to change at all. Still mindlessly swimming into the side of a rock

The tang already stopped eating. That’s not good. It may already be too late. In any case, if there’s still hope, he’s not going to change on a dime. It’ll take a few days. “Mindlessly swimming into a rock” is a sure sign that he’s been battered. I’ve been keeping salt water fish for 40+ years. Ignore my advice at your own peril.

 

[bruno3047]

Again had to stir up the substrate but even without the flame angel it’s still behaving this way. I guided it there since I figure better in a spot I can see than behind my other rocks but it hasn’t tried to leave when there’s more than enough room for it to try.

You shouldn’t be “guiding” this fish anywhere. Leave him alone. My goodness.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Again had to stir up the substrate but even without the flame angel it’s still behaving this way. I guided it there since I figure better in a spot I can see than behind my other rocks but it hasn’t tried to leave when there’s more than enough room for it to try.

Well, I see spots that I cannot rule out as not being ich. Also, the right pectoral fin is cloudy. The scrape on the body could be from flukes.

The tank also seems "murky" with a lot of particles floating in the water. How is your water testing out?


Jay

 

[Yerxi]

Well, I see spots that I cannot rule out as not being ich. Also, the right pectoral fin is cloudy. The scrape on the body could be from flukes.

The tank also seems "murky" with a lot of particles floating in the water. How is your water testing out?


Jay

Well I tested again today and there was a really large ammonia spike, big enough that even using the API test kit I have is going past the range it reads. So I did a 75% water change in the display tank and put some ammonia neutralizer and quick start in the system. Hopefully that fixes most of these issues along with my skimmer just "broke in" so ill have that trying to help (newish to skimmers so not fully sure what they remove but that brown water being removed has got to be good right?) and a refugium with some chaetomorpha growing so I'm really hoping this settles.