Hippo Tang Died...Looking for Causes

[Cruiser]

Schooner

Sorry to hear about the loss..... the small size tang you bought was great since it was a cultivated critter more readily acclimated to aquarium environments & foods.

Best guess based on your description would be an internal parasite - probably a worm, or a physiological issues.

Very hard to pinpoint the cause or factors leading to the fatality. Salinity wouldn't be the cause unless you just put the tang in due to shock - but he was eating for a week or so, you mentioned.

Diet could be a factor with a limited feeding variety, even though flake & ONPReef does have some vegetative matter.

Also didn't mention how long the tank has been set-up, which could also be a factor, but, I still think its from internal parasite issues.

Just a couple of thoughts.......

 

[Schooner]

Sorry...forgot to mention that the tank's been up and running for just over a year. It's a 33 gal FOWLR. I have two other fish...a small yellow tang (3") and a perc clown (1-1/2")which have both been in the tank for 8-10 months.

I did see white spots on the hippo, but I think that they may have been tiny air bubbles from my skimmer. I shut the skimmer down for a day and the white spots disapeared...so I don't think he had ick, necessarily, but I can't be sure.

It also seems I don't have a well balanced diet either from peoples comments, although the yellow tang and perc clown have been eating the same food as I described with no apparent problems. I use to add brine shrimp eggs but it didn't seem too popular so I stopped.

I don't have all the other water parameters with me...but from memory...temp 79F, pH 8.0-8.3, salinity 1.022 (usually higher at 1.024)NH3, NO3 and NO4 all zero.

 

[blue jaw]

As suggested, there are many reasons why your hippo could have passed on. However, before you rush out to replace him, I urge you to research further on this fish. A 33 gallon is much too small for one tang, let alone two. Hippos get very large and like all tangs really need much more swimming space than such a small tank can provide. Scott Michael's "Marine Fishes" atlas gives 100 gallons as the MINIMUM tank size a hippo should be kept in.

 

[danmhippo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Schooner:
<STRONG>I use to add brine shrimp eggs but it didn't seem too popular so I stopped.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Did you said you add artemia egg? Straight without hatching and getting rid of the shells first?? Was this fed before or after you had the hippo tang?

Artemia egg is very indigestible and can block small fish's digestive tract. It is always necessary to hatch first and discard the egg shell portion of the culturing water. Otherwise, you should get the de-capsulated artemia cysts if you want to feed them straight without hatching (a process which the egg shell is chemically(full strength chlorine, basically) removed/dissoved). If you fed hippo the brine eggs, and it being such a small fish, he could died from intestinal blockage.

 

[Schooner]

I bought a hippo (regal) tang a few weeks ago and he seemed to be doing fine until one day he looked a little strange (swimming erratically with head straight down) and the next morning he was dead. He was the smallest hippo tang I have seen, only about 3/4" long. He was eating for the week and a half I had him, and wasn't being bothered by the yellow tang or perc clown I have in the tank. All water parameters are ok (although salinity has been low lately - 1.022).

I feed with mostly Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef and also Sera Premium Granumarin and occasionally a little Nutrafin Max. Even up until the night he died, when he looked really bad, he was eating.

I was worried when I bought him that we has too young to survive, but I watched him for a few days at the LFS and he looked good and was eating, and continued to do fine until the other night.

Anyone have any experience with small hippo tangs (or hippos in general) that could help me.

 

[DaktariEd]

Sorry to hear about the Hippo...

It's good that you are concerned enough to try to find a cause. Unfortunately, it's VERY difficult if not impossible with our limited resources & knowledge.

A couple of things I thought: cyanide, internal infection/infestation....

Others with more experience may be able to offer more help...

Ed

 

[JohnD]

Schooner,

How big is your tank, how long set up, temp, ph, etc? That info may be helpful.

I have a hippo for 10 years now. He was about 2.5 inches when I got him and now is closer to 6 inches. Hippos are inclined to get ich. Did yours have any white spots on it?

Without any other information, I would suggest that your hippo did not get a varied diet. I feed mine Ocean Nutrition frozen Prime Reef, Formula 1, Formula 2, Angel Formula, Spirolina Formula and Pygmy Angel Formula. All are soaked in Selcon or vita chem. I also feed sheets of Seaweed Select about every day. He also gets occasional live brine shrimp, blanched broccoli, blanched green bean and orange.

Please get back to me with the answers to your tank background and we can go from there.

JohnD