Sick Hippo?

[mmaglione]

I had a few hours of down time for my light and i noticed that my blue hippo tang was not acting normally. He was in an unusually hiding spot, at the top of the tank wedged in between the heater and the side of the tank. I didnt find him for an hour or so after i thought he was missing. I moved the heater and he swam beneath a rock where he stayed all day. Worried he was sick, i checked the parameters, everything was 0ppm that should be, ph was fine, but ammonia was .25 ppm. I was headed out the door so i put in ammonia killer and left. I came back and turned the light on, he then swam out like nothing was ever wrong. Has anyone else seen this strange behavior from a tang where he only swims in daylight ?

 

[Mitchell0605]

Probably sleeping. You need to do a large 30-40% PWC change though to get rid of that ammonia.

 

[Krypt]

Blue Hippo Tangs are very sensitive to the water conditions and that 0.25 ammonia is probably stressing him out. As Mitchel said, you need to do a water change to get that ammonia down and then figure out whats causing it. If your tank is cycled, your ammonia should always be 0. Only time it'll spike like that is usually when something dies, so you may want to do a livestock check and make sure everyone is still kickin.

 

[mr_X]

Blue Hippo Tangs are very sensitive to the water conditions and that 0.25 ammonia is probably stressing him out. As Mitchel said, you need to do a water change to get that ammonia down and then figure out whats causing it. If your tank is cycled, your ammonia should always be 0. Only time it'll spike like that is usually when something dies, so you may want to do a livestock check and make sure everyone is still kickin.

yep. ammonia in the reef is a bad sign. it's toxic at any level. water changes are an excellent idea.

 

[cmor1701d]

Blue Hippos are easily stressed and that's normal behavior when anything changes. I moved some rocks around in my tank the other day and didn't see the BHT for several hours. It even missed feeding time.

Totally agree on some PWC's to get the ammonia to ZERO (0) AND checking livestock to make sure nothing died in the tank. Ammonia should NEVER be above 0 unless you are cycling a new tank.

Do you have a clean up crew?

 

[melosu58]

Moved to the sick fish forum.

 

[cmor1701d]

Welcome back Mike!