New Hippo Tang - Scratching?!

[Euclid]

Picked up a new hippo from the dome friday.
No white spots or anything, but he's scratching himself up against rocks like he's itching.
Sound like Ick?

Other inhabitants; bicolor angel, yellow tang, green chromis, starfish and shirmps.


Thanks!

[Sherri]

Cody...they are pretty shy & nervous at first, so he may get stressed and turn up with ich. Any cleaner shrimp? The hippo tang is one of the most docile tangs...one that in my opinion is a bit harder to add last to a tank. Once he settles in, hopefully he'll be OK. I let Mother Nature take its' course and not add any chemicals to tank...JMO

[Euclid]

Yeah, I've got a cleaner shirmp.
He was actually "sitting at the car wash" earlier today. Just sitting in one spot, letting the cleaner shirmp crawl all over him. It was cute.

I'm more worried about the rest of my tank than I am about the Hippo.
He's probably just stressed from the move, it did take a lot to catch him at the fish store.
He's eating great though and totally loving the nori!

[brewercm]

Just sounds like a blue tang to me, very normal behavior for a blue tan. I bought a beautiful powder blue from CB last weekend that Mark had said after they had it for three weeks came down with a little ick. He had treated it and it was eating fine and I figured for the price I'd take the risk since it would most likely come down with it for a while due to the move. Less than three days later it had fought it off was still eating great and has been fine since. They are just natural carriers of the parasite and if eating well usually fight it off themselves.

[erikharrison]

You may want to buy a UV sterilizer. If you see your regal coming down with ICH, turn it on. :) UV is the primo way to go when it comes to ICH.

[erebus]

My Hippo did that for about a week and once he got used to my tank he stopped.

[erikharrison]

We had a little baby until it found our overflow, twice. It LOVED nori!!! cutest little fish EVER! Will adult tangs (yellow) attack a baby regal?

[brewercm]

I had one that did for a little while. It was more a teritorial issue and after a little while it stoped picking on it.

[Bill S]

My UV doesn't seem to keep my 5 year old Blue Hippo from getting ich... He got it again a couple of weeks ago. First time in about 4 months - I'd added some new fish.

[erikharrison]

My UV doesn't seem to keep my 5 year old Blue Hippo from getting ich... He got it again a couple of weeks ago. First time in about 4 months - I'd added some new fish.

You got the new one from your winnings correct? Maybe you have too fast of flow pushing through it for it to be effective! We have a 3x turbo twist, which as stated has three twists to get more water exposed to the UV. I also don't have mine plumbed into my stuff, it sits in the sump's return area with a tiny powerhead on it. I have seen ICH spots and it eliminated the visible signs overnight.

[Bill S]

It's running at the recommended flow.

[erikharrison]

Odd, maybe UV is like online ordering, not for you! LOL! :)

[Bill S]

LOL. Online ordering works fine for me, it's group orders...

BTW, the bulb is new. I think it's that the hippo "sleeps" on the bottom of the tank - and the parisites move from the rockwork and sand, up to the fish.

[jrnannery]

Agreed, bstreep. That seems the most likely, from what I have read.

My hippo had a very bad bout with ich, but after a two week qt, she was fine, and has not exhibited spots, flashing, or anything. It has been a while, thank goodness.

[briancarlile]

One thing to remember is that UV sterilizers can only sterilize what they come in contact with, which is the water. Parasites can lye dormant in the substrate or on a fish for long periods of time until stress suppress a fishes slime coat layer. Even with a huge UV running, the source of stress has to be eliminated for the ick to go away. Sometimes very frequent, large feedings can help boost a fish's immune system even when the stress source is still present.

[ClownReef®]

You may want to buy a UV sterilizer. If you see your regal coming down with ICH, turn it on. :) UV is the primo way to go when it comes to ICH.

Dont go ahead and buy an expensive UV sterilizer. Regals are notorious for being shy and getting ich easily. They are VERY hardy fish if given the proper living conditions (good water quality, non aggressive cohabitants..etc). I used to have 2 beautiful regals. During large water changes they would show a few spots of ich. Nothing to be worried about, it would be gone in a few hours. A UV is not required to beat ich.


Will adult tangs (yellow) attack a baby regal?

An adult yellow tang will rip a baby hippo to pieces.

I agree with Brian. A good UV only eliminates free swimming cysts.