Unexplained Death of Blue Hippo Tang

[souljah]

My uncle has an 180 gallon saltwater fish tank
thats been up and running perfect for 6 months
with absolute perfect water quality and no problems
what so ever.
There is a 2 inch domino damsel, 1 inch maroone
clown, and 1 inch bi-color basslet. He wanted just one
blue hippo tang.
We quarantined the the hippo tang for 4 weeks and he
seemed perfect. The only things I noticed is that he was
always laying on the bottom but.. (I heard this is normal
behavior for them). He didnt swim much, but he ate a ton
of flake, brine, and pellet foods....but one thing I noticed
is that this fish would NOT eat lettuce, spinich or anything.
The big day came, we put the hippo in the main tank
and within 1 week he was dead. We tested the water
and everthing remained perfect like always.
Why did this happen? I've always noticed this fish was
not active at all (always laying around different places in the tank), even in the quarantine. He NEVER ate lettuce ever.
Finally when we woke up that morning we saw my uncles
sea urchin, and lightfoot crab eating him.
I want some opinions on this...
1. Does anyone think the tang died from bad water quality?
2. Did he die from lack of algae in diet?
3. Did he die from being so inactive?
4. Or did he just get cornered or trapped while sleeping
and the urchin and lightfoot crab took advantage of him?
I'm very very upset about this, because we have never owned
a fish that has ever died.

 

[jessicarabit]

I can tell you from my experience of having a Blue Hippo Tang that they are typically very active, very shy, aggressive eater & need a place to hide. Mine luved a barnacle which is what cause the untimely death of this beautiful fish (bleaching the the barnacles). It sounds has if it was terrible stressed out, but they usually start coming around within a wk. I dunno if you LFS has a policy, but I would have returned him when he wasn't active. BTW, did you observe his behavior at the store? I like to watch them for an hour or more.
Tang though have a habit of stress, parasite & death issues. I recommend with a tank that large & if you want to replace with another tang, go with a larger more established fish. I had a juvenile Yellow Tang die within a month or 2 because it was too small to fight a underwater powerheads stream & was caught in a dead coral & got stuck. I also doubt the other attact him during sleep. Sorry about the death.

 

[souljah]

thanks jessica,
anyone else have their opinions?

 

[itchy]

well it has been awhile since I had a hippo tang but I remember it being active. She did like to hide in the rocks but ate well and was pretty social on her terms. Chances are the tang was ill when you purchased. Sorry for your lose. You could go to the disease forum and maybe Beth or Terry B. may have some better advice as to what COULD have happened.

 

[bang guy]

There's no way of knowing why the Tang died IMO.... I believe we can rule out some factors though.
Had it eaten the Lettuce I would point there. That's a VERY unnatural food for a Tang. But it didn't eat any so that's not it.
Hippos are plankivores and do not have as high a veggie diet as most other tanks. Besides, it would have taken much longer to croak from malnutrition and there would have been a lot of warning.
You said the water parameters were perfect, so that's not it.
You quaranteened for 4 weeks (good for you!). So there were no diseases probably.
That leaves some internal damage to the fish. The inactivity would also support this. Perhaps the copper level at the LFS was too high or some other chemical contamination destroyed the liver. That would be my guess wothout more information. Did your Q-Tank contain copper?
How big the the SLF crab? They can and will catch and eat fish.
I do not believe the Urchin is the culprit.

 

[souljah]

thanks for all the opinions...
I LOVE tangs to death, I have a yellow in one of
my tanks and hes been excellent for almost 2 years.
Would you reccommend my uncle try to take
another chance and put a 2nd hippo tang in his
180 gallon and hope it works out,
or go for something like a bi-color angel?

 

[rpam]

Not sure what your Hippo tang died from its quite possible that it was a liver problem. If it was caught with cyanide than thats what did it in. I know years ago Hippo tangs caught in the Philliphins with cyanide was a big problem. Alot of lfs in my area would not import from this area. I would try another HIppo try to find out where it wasimported from. I've always had success with the larger size hippos nothing smaller than 4in. The small ones nrver survived long. the one in my tank is 8in. and eats everything. Give the larger ones a try and good luck.

 

[saltyh20]

I have 2 hippo tangs and one yellow tang. Everyone gets along and all of them are still young. The two hippos are about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in size and the yellow is about 2 1/2 to 3 inches. I have had these tangs for about 2 months now. All are growing and thriving. I have never fed them any letuce because my tank has natural growing macro algae from some of the live rock. The only problem is that they have not touched the stuff. I also have some green/red hair algae growing. The only fish that touches the stff is the yellow tang and he only ocassionally nibbles at it. Should I feed them some lettuce or try something else or let them alone?

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by saltyH20
Should I feed them some lettuce or try something else or let them alone?
Try some unseasoned raw dried Nori for the Yellow. A combination of Formula 1 and Formula 2 for the Hippos. My understanding is that Hippo Tangs are planktivores, not grazers like most other tangs.

 

[saltyh20]

ok is there any special brand of the formula 1 and frmula 2 and is lettuce bad idea? Thanks for the info.