Blue hippo tang

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joshpwolf

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Joined
Feb 10, 2012
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Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Will adding new lighting and a power head effect a blue hippo tang? Ever since I added new led lighting and a new power head my tang has been acting funny. When I walk by the tank he swims back and forth with no problem. But when I sit on my couch and watch him it looks like he is having issue staying upright. Like he's fighting a current to stay straight up. All my other fish are swimming with no problems. All levels are within in normal ranges. Any suggestions?

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Tangs are like sports cars. The speed isn't going to bother them, but if there is a problem with their systems you're in trouble.


What's the tank size?
Parameters?
Do you regularly QT your fish?
How long have you had the tang?
 
75g
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
PH 8.3
Temp 79
Sal. 1.023.
I do not have a qt tank
Had him close to a year.
I haven't added any live stock in a few months.

New equipt. Added
Current usa led light (replaced metal halides )

Addition power head 1200 gph (this give me a total of 3600gph not including my return.)

It has been fine until I added these to peices of equipt. Could the light be effecting him? I changed my on off times and for some reason the light stayed on all night while I was at work.

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Tried to get a pic of him doing it this is the best I could do

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More weird action moon lighting now on and the tang seems to want the spot were my clowns have been bedding for years. The keep going after each other I wonder if the tang had a dead spot to rest and now it's turbulent. Not sure what's going to come from this!

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Well, the best way to figure it out is to cut the extra powerhead. Leave it for a few days and see how the tang responds. :)
 
I shut it down for the night. I'm going to try to reposition it in morning. I added it because of a constant problem in one corner if the tank with cyno. Carey do u think the led lighting could be contributing to the tangs action. I have never changed lighting before so not sure if it could be a shock to the fish in any way.

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Update

Tang is spending alot of time hiding. Occasionally will dart out go to the surface and dart down, on the way down looks like it is trying to rub against the rock. Ich maybe? No signs of it though tang look like it normally does except for markings from rubbing.

Any suggestions?

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Well, the big problem I see here is that a 75g is too small for a blue hippo tang. They really need a 180g or larger tank to thrive. Cramping a tang in a tank that is too small is a recipe for disaster because they stress out when they don't have enough swimming room. When fish get stressed it kills their immune system causing all sorts of problems.

The flow might be bothering the tang, but only if it has some underlying condition such as parasites or something internal. Blue hippo tangs in particular are extremely susceptible to a number of illnesses caused by stress, more so than almost any other tang. The light isn't going to matter at all.

If you never quarantined your fish, I would hazard a guess that you're almost guaranteed to have ich in the tank. However, ich isn't going to cause issues with a fish staying upright in the water.
 
Im aware of the smaller tank I took the tang off a friend that gave up on his tank I figured a smaller tank is better than being dead. Lol. I have had him for over a year and this is the first time it has acted like this. The last thing I added to my tank was 5 hermits about 2 months ago other than that it's been the same live stocks for at least a year. The only different thing I just remembered I did is vaccum my sand during WC. It's not a deep sand bed only like 2.5 in. And I only did the front have of the tank. Not sure if that has something to do with this.

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Update on parameters

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
PH 8.3
Nitrates between 10-20 (could this be due to vacuuming the sand?)
Sal 1.022


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nitrate spike could def be due to the vacuuming of the sandbed. I never ever vacuum mine, and in the past the most I have done is lightly go over the surface and not disturbing the sand at all. BUT nothing a water change or two wont cure.

Yep, lighting should have absolutely zero impact on the tangs life, he may be a little put off but it wont cause anything bad to happen. Hippos' can be really finicky though and are a weird fish. Mine jams himself in the rockwork if I walk by still, even after I have had him for several years. he also will pick up frags and hide them behind the rocks. lol I cant put frags in the tank anymore unless I glue them down now. He also doesnt like snails or hermits, I have seen him pick them up and run away with them. For sure a weird fish. lol
 
Thanks all for the reply's. It managed to scratch it's sides raw the it quit. They are healing nice. Now he just tries to up sneak up on my clown and tries to rub them. It's still eating normal. I watched a video on marine velvet and thought that might of been what was going on. It was a lighter powder blue a few days after scratching the rocks. Not it's back to the normal blue color. It's got me puzzled.

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