Blue Hippo at LFS.

There are three baby blue hippos at the LFS. They all have some skin condition. It looks like small circles of dead skin. It's a white/milky kind of thing. It's not a severe disease. The guy there told me it was nutritional. Should he be able to clear it up on them, would it be safe putting them in my tank? Or am I running a risk?

 

Well i would tell him to feed them or to see if you could put a hold on one of them. It may be ick, it may not be, but tell him to put a hold on one of them to see if it will live and if it can survive. After that i would still put it into a QT tank

 

I agree, tangs are notorious for getting ick, I would not put it into my main tank till it was healed completely, why risk it when there are plenty of healthy fish out there?

 

yea, you guys are completely right but I like/trust this place and their prices are excellent. But it's worth checking ahead of time. Thanks to both of you for the input
karma

 

If you are going to do a rescue, and believe me I have done a few in my time. I would not put them directly in your tank. Qurantine them first, at least 6-8 weeks.

 

If it is nutrition, it wouldnt be blotchy, it would be most of the body. Also if they haven't been in their care long, it wouldnt be nutrional. The only time Ive seen a tang lose color was a few months of improper feeding.

I would ask them how long they have had them, and what have they been feeding them. Also ask if they were trade ins or came from their distributor. If they have had them less then a month and they are from their distributor, then I can say with 100% certainty that its not nutritonal.

 

I would tell you that it is most likely ich! Without seeing a picture it is hard to tell for sure. I personally had one of those as a baby. It lived only a couple of weeks. From what I have read they are very hard to take care of when little like that. Stress very easy. Mine was perfectly health when I bought it. It was shipped straight from a lfs distributor and was still being bag floated when I got him. So it never touched thier tank. Eventualy it got ich though in my tank. It was the only fish I had in there. It just wouldn't eat much and hid all day. I would say pass. Buy a bigger one if you can. How much is a great deal btw? I purchased mine for 19.99.

 

I have a good LFS too, if they are really good, they'll quarantine them at their place to help you get a start. If they just want to sell you bad fish, beware......

 

tiny baby hippos are really hard to keep. I managed to get one as my second ever saltwater fish and he managed to survive despite my ignorance. He had ick many, many times during the first several months that I had him.

I later talked to someone I trust that is very knowledgable about these fish and found out that these fish, purple tangs, black puffers and certain other fish are so prone to ick because they are scaleless. This just makes them that much harder to keep.

Also somebody that works in the LFS store that I frequent told me he would NEVER buy a tiny baby hippo because they are so hard to get to eat.

I am getting ready to transfer my hippo over to my new tank and am really considering selling him back to the LFS simply because I am afraid he is going to develop ick again during the move. My parents wanted to get one and I discouraged them. Dora (my blue hippo) has developed ick a few times since he has gotten bigger and it is usually because water parameter has changed slightly, or another fish is starting to pick on him.

If you do get one, make sure you QT him and do a freshwater dip before you place him in the display. Also they graze alot so offer him a lot of algea to eat and give him things like brocolli, other green veggies and occasional romaine lettuce (regular leaf lettuce not good) that is washed off really well (Organic is best) But I buy the algea leafs from the LFS that all my tangs and foxface go after and give it to them daily.

 

Na, this guy (the owner) is a family friend and he told me flat out not to buy them right now, that he was trying to nurse them back to health. What is looks like is scale rot. But they don't have scales so yea. And it's only on their back end. He's had the little guys for only 3 weeks. There were 4 but one was rescued... maybe he knows the guy who bought it and has an update on how it's doing. I really appreciate the hasty answers. I don't think I'm proficient enough to handle them right now so I'll wait and maybe get a large one when I get a larger tank.