Hippo Question

[aquarius]

I mail ordered for a Hippo tang and I got him on saturday and he's about the size of a quarter. Well when he went in the tank he was exposed to a lot of stress with 2 damsels and a larger Atlantic Blue Tang refusing ot lay off him. So I removed the damsels and put a divider in with the hippo separated. Within a day I saw him scratching and got nervous and have since been feeding him garlic-soaked brine. I havn't seen him scratch in some time and I've also fed the other tang and the coral beauty in the same tank with garlic just a s a precaution. If I really need to I could quarantine him but it would be a lot of work. Right now I don't really see spots on him but he's fairly scratched up. How long should I be feeding him the garlic and what can I do to improve his color and form? Thanx!

 

[beth]

Why didn't you QT to begin with...? Oh well. Continue the garlic treatments for a few weeks after everything seems to be back to normal. Also, if you can get Zoe or Zoecon, use this alterantively. This little guy will grow quick, but don't be surprised if you see him lodged in rocks all the time. This is a favorite behavior of the hippo. Also, make sure the scratches you are seeing is not the beginnings of HLLE.
Send the damsels back to the LFS for a trade, unless you have a damsel tank they can go in.