blue hippo rubbuing rocks

[downtime89]

Hey guys my new blue hippo looks okay i dont see any signs of disease, got him after meeting last night, he has already eaten and everything ate very well, ocean nutrition flakes. But he is rubbing up against some rocks and hammer corals. Yellow tang is being simi aggresive to him but not to bad every so often he will chase him to his little spot he has picked out (behind my overflow box) i have yet to see the tang do any harm to him just chase. Should i worry about the rubbing?

 

[glxtrix]

Typically its a form of scratching...doesn't mean it's bad, but keep your eyes on it incase it develops ich or some disease.

 

[downtime89]

Its lips are kinda white, i have been watching, it will swim away to middle of tank to water current then swim back scratch around for a few swipes its like swims up then swims down and rubs rock as swims down past it, i had someone else take a second look, there are no white spots visible.

 

[downtime89]

already feed him flakes 3 times

 

[downtime89]

i have ocean nutrution algae sheets that my yellow eat. I will put that in now.

 

[downtime89]

has not rubbed since i started this thread

 

[downtime89]

well lights are off except led moonlights since i started this thread i have not see him scratch anymore now he is behind my over flow box were he likes it, so i guess everything is okay for now will inspect him very closely again tomorrow. Wat are some of the main diseases regals get?

 

[phoenix20]

Pick up a neon goby and cleaner shrimp if you don't already have them. They will clean the dead skin / parasites off of blue tangs like its their job. The tang really appreciates it and ends up using the shrimp / goby to clean itself instead of scratching.

Depending on how bad the scratching is, its probably ich. My blue tang did that when I first picked him up and I had a pretty bad outbreak in my tank. I ended up running a massive UV sterilizer to kill the ich in the display tank. Moving everything into a QT and doing hypo / copper wasn't an option.

But yeah, feed lots and lots of nori. My purple tang and blue hippo go through a sheet of nori in about 4 hours. Its one of the primary things they need in their diet. When I first started in the hobby, I had a blue hippo tang and didn't feed him nori for the first 4-6 months I had him. He ended up developing HLLE (head and lateral line diesase) and hole-in-the-head.


In short, lots of nori and try to switch it up. I alternate between green, red, and brown seaweed every few days. Gives them multivitamin support.

 

[tony_caliente]

Where's the best place to buy Nori?

 

[phoenix20]

Petsmart / Petco should carry it, but I'd rather support our sponsors =)

Swing by warehouse aquarium, keen reef, or imagine ocean. You'll end up buying other cruft while you're there.

Some folks buy their nori from the grocery market thats used to roll sushi. I like using the ocean nutrition stuff because it comes with a dab of garlic and i'm sure that makes the fish happy. Its probably seaweed targeted toward fish consumption instead of human consumption. I'm sure if you ate a piece of it, it would be sorta nasty.

 

[columbus reef]

I get it fairly cheap at WalMart packaged as sushi wrappers in the oriental foods section. I hear it's even cheaper in bigger packages from asian groceries, but who wants to store that much?

Hope he's doing better now, downtime. How are he and the yellow getting along?

 

[downtime89]

at first yellow wouldnt let him out from behind the overflow now he lets him swim around entire tank every so often takes a wild hair to chase him back to corner givin time i think they will be pals. He was lookin good before lights went out for night i kept em on longer just to look at him, but i will give a better report in the morning. I will be checking out the walmart stuff by the way.

 

[glxtrix]

YT's are very aggressive, esp towards other tangs. In time though, they should get along, the YT is just letting the hippo know who's tank it is

 

[downtime89]

Thats wat i figure lol he seems okay so far. I just realized i spelled a word wrong in the title lol stupid keyboard

 

[tony_caliente]

Thanks. i will try Wal-mart

 

[downtime89]

Tony your sig say you have a Achiles tang in a 55? Thats asking for trouble is it not?

 

[downtime89]

morning time, he is out swimming, eating very well,ocean nutrition formula 2 flakes, And mysis shrimp cube thawed and sprayed into tank, Ocean nutrition seaweed select green marine algae has been in tank since mid day yesterday in two spots will change tonight with fresh, yellow eats it but blue does not. No white spots, few scrathes on his side i guess from previous scratching, ak fish are content with him being in tank no aggresion except yellow ocasionaly speeds up to him but then swims off does not touch him, and that is not as bad as it was he is getting used to him.

 

[ga_daisy]

downtime89;462860 wrote: Tony your sig say you have a Achiles tang in a 55? Thats asking for trouble is it not?

And....I've never heard of a Blue Achilles....would like to see pics of that. (sorry for hijacking the thread.....but since you asked.....I took the liberty)

 

[downtime89]

I saw a thread from Him/her before i think they may be calling a blue hippo that on accident. Ah here is the thread

 

[tony_caliente]

It's a pacific blue tang about 2 1/4 inches in length. Yes, in a 55g.