Blue Hippo Tang - wounds/scratches

[trippclark]

I posted this last night in the "disease" forum but got no reply. I am concerned that time may be critical, so I am re-posting here in hopes of a reply. THANKS!
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I have a new Blue Hippo Tang that I purchased near the end of last month. He was in the QT until this past Sunday (4 days ago). Today I notice what appear to be random scratches (white) on his body. A photo is attached. Ideas?
Other inhabitants are:
Percula Clown
Royal Gramma
1 coral banded shrimp
3 peppermint shrimp
about 6-8 blue hermits
about 10 - 12 scarlet hermits
2 Brittle stars
a few nassarius (sp?) snails
a few astrea snails
3 mexican turbo snails
1 feather duster
zoos
yellow polyps
ricordia
star polyps

 

[larrynews]

im no expert but when i have a new fish and someone chases him they get some scratches from rocks and such but not that bad...i know that doesn't help you but just watch to see if anyone is chasing himmm...good luck

 

[trippclark]

That is sort of what it looks like, but all the inhabitants seem to be getting along. Clearly I only observe a small portion of the time, but I have seen nothing that would make me think that is what is goung on. So far he seems very spry and alert, but I am afraid that thee woulds either ARE already some type of disease or infection, or if not, they will lead to some disease or infection. Thanks!

 

[bseth90]

I just added a hippo tang as well and had the "scratches". They lasted for a week and cleared up. I felt he was just getting scratched from the rocks as everyone adjusted. Hippos like to stay close to rocks and sometimes play dead going horizontal against them. Hope everything goes well.

 

[nemo4tater]

Im not sure if this has anything to do with it , but were you aware that at night some tangs develop vertical white lines? I read that on a site all abotu Tangs, as I am interested in getting one.

 

[trippclark]

Hmm, interesting. What lines are these? The lines on my tang clearly have depth, like an abrasion.

 

[dmc888]

Could be ich. I hardly see any blue tangs free of ich at any of the stores i have been at. You see them put a cleaner in there sometimes to help.
If this is for your 55g then its not large enough for the blue tang.
This is what happened to me. I had my 55 and put a blue and yellow tang in there. I thought they liked eachother,till i seen the yellow trying to stab the blue with his surgeun spike. The blue developed ich and the whole tank was infested.
Your other tang is probably fighting with the blue. I would put the blue in the qt.
I will not try another blue tang till i get my 120 or larger.
I think this fish get easily stressed out .
Signs of ich are heavy breathing, salt looking parasites,and scratching.

 

[trippclark]

I only have the one tang. Other fish in the tank are a percula clown and a royal gramma.
I don't see any spots (white or black), so I don't think it is ich.
I agree that the tank size is marginal at best for a tang. This tang is very small (about the size of a 50 cent piece). Oddly, he displayed no problems in two weeks in a 10 gallon QT, and only showed problems after getting in the main 55G tank.

 

[dmc888]

I thought you wrote percula tang. I was like i never heard of a percula tang before.
Is it breathing ok. The ich parasite is known to be hidden in the gills of fish. I would put it in the qt just incase. Or just till the wounds heal. If stressed too much it will die.
Being that small 55 should be good.
It might be fighting with the other fish, being so small. Percs are usually friendly. Never had a gramma. I would keep an eye on them.
My blue grew pretty fast.
I would use some stress coat to treat the wounds. It has aloe vera to heal faster. Although i don't know if its safe for corals.

 

[trippclark]

You are right, I did say Percula Tang!!! I must have had the tang on my mind!! Fixed it now.
No, breathing is normal (or was last night, we'll see i a couple of hours how he is doing some 16 hours later).
I think the Gramma is friendly also. They have all been swimming around in the open and appear to be very calm with each other. Maybe he's a little demon when I am not looking!!!
Yeah, I agree about moving him to the QT. I'm just not sure I can catch him. I tried a couple of times last night. My fear/dilema is adding to any stress by chasing him all over the tank. 55G gets awefully large when chasing one little elusive fish with a net.

 

[dmc888]

Chasing fish with your net stresses them alot. Definitely will have to catch it quickly.
You can either try when feeding or get larger net. I use a large and a medium size. I use the large net to block one side off and go in with the medium one.

 

[maggot]

Just put a clear drinking glass in there and chase him around till he runs in there then close the other side with the net. It would be better if you didn't cut him any more.

 

[rickstar]

it looks to me as ich ( we call it white spot)
very common with hippos, they tend to get reed of the white spot in less than a week but is the other fish that cant get reed of it, i lost all my fish last year because of the blue tang (hippo) i love them but i refuse to get another because of the ich they create. ( this is what ive experinced) just 4 weeks ago our local aquarium supplier los all the fish in hes display tank due to the above he mentioned that it was due to the hippos added to the tank ( lost over 70 fish!)