Blue Hippo Tang is Flashing- Need URGENT HELP PLEASE!!

[Adam Houston]

Hey there R2R Fam can I please get advice on what I can do for my hippo tang?? I’m worried sick about this little guy, he started flashing 3 days ago, still eating fine and has no visible white spots but I’m getting too many differing opinions & diagnosis on FB groups etc. to even know how to treat him.
This is my first time keeping saltwater fish- tank is 2 months old and nitrates are a little high although I just did a 20% water change yesterday to try and get the nitrates back down. Does flashing behavior with no visible white spots mean he might have flukes or is this onset ich?? Or am I overreacting and this is kinda normal behavior for hippo tangs?

 

[Subsea]

I can’t see the video. What is flashing in a fish?

PS: So I googled marine fish flashing and this link came up.

@Humblefish is active on this website but maybe not on a Sunday night.

Flashing

Is flashing *always* related to disease or is it a normal behavior that is amplified by illness? I have a firefish in a QT that has been flashing quite a bit. He's part of a crew that has been pulled from a display tank (after being QT'd prophylactically on the way in with CP/GC) and treated...

humble.fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

Video is quite dark but I see the flashing as mentioned nd may be habitual as

Hey there R2R Fam can I please get advice on what I can do for my hippo tang?? I’m worried sick about this little guy, he started flashing 3 days ago, still eating fine and has no visible white spots but I’m getting too many differing opinions & diagnosis on FB groups etc. to even know how to treat him.
This is my first time keeping saltwater fish- tank is 2 months old and nitrates are a little high although I just did a 20% water change yesterday to try and get the nitrates back down. Does flashing behavior with no visible white spots mean he might have flukes or is this onset ich?? Or am I overreacting and this is kinda normal behavior for hippo tangs?

some of these tangs do or flukes. With flukes you will also see sudden darting, yawning, loss of appetite and heavy breathing. You wont generally see flukes but rather mentioned symptom. If there is a steady frequency of this scratching against rocks, I suggest adding PraziPro which is tank safe but be sure to dose at 85% of recommended and apply initial dosage known as an interval for 8 days, do a water change and do one more 8 day dose interval
Use airstone with prazi as it does reduce both oxygen and appetite. If running a skimmer, leave cup off first 24 hrs as skimmer will go nuts from the glycol solution in Prazi

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey there R2R Fam can I please get advice on what I can do for my hippo tang?? I’m worried sick about this little guy, he started flashing 3 days ago, still eating fine and has no visible white spots but I’m getting too many differing opinions & diagnosis on FB groups etc. to even know how to treat him.
This is my first time keeping saltwater fish- tank is 2 months old and nitrates are a little high although I just did a 20% water change yesterday to try and get the nitrates back down. Does flashing behavior with no visible white spots mean he might have flukes or is this onset ich?? Or am I overreacting and this is kinda normal behavior for hippo tangs?

The video is too blue to see anything other than the flashing - but if it is doing that frequently, it is probably flukes. You can use Prazipro, dosed at the tanks NET volume (usually about 85% of its rated volume) 2x, 8 days apart, with good aeration.

 

[Adam Houston]

I appreciate the advice yall!! I Dosed Prazi as you advised and setup an air stone disc to keep the o2 up, hoping my blue hippo can feel better & relieved soon. Many thanks!

 

[Adam Houston]

If he’s still flashing and swimming up against the rocks 2 days later I’m guessing the Prazi didn’t work that well? I dosed at 85% of what it suggested on the label. Can I go ahead & dose again in a day or 2 or do I really have to do a water change in between?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

If he’s still flashing and swimming up against the rocks 2 days later I’m guessing the Prazi didn’t work that well? I dosed at 85% of what it suggested on the label. Can I go ahead & dose again in a day or 2 or do I really have to do a water change in between?

Post prazi treatment, fish may still scratch, because the flukes dropping off leave littles holes in the fish's skin that causes irritation. I tell people that this tends to stop after a couple of days, but that time isn't set in stone, too many variables.

I would wait until the eighth day to retreat. I generally advise doing a 25% water change before the second treatment. You could also dose it again now and then again 8 days after the first dose...just an added margin of control.

 

[Adam Houston]

Post prazi treatment, fish may still scratch, because the flukes dropping off leave littles holes in the fish's skin that causes irritation. I tell people that this tends to stop after a couple of days, but that time isn't set in stone, too many variables.

I would wait until the eighth day to retreat. I generally advise doing a 25% water change before the second treatment. You could also dose it again now and then again 8 days after the first dose...just an added margin of control.

Thanks Jay! I really appreciate the advice- I will dose the tank again soon…my 2 hrs of attempting to catch him have been an absolute disaster so I guess there’s no quarantine in sight. Now one of my anthias has crazy looking Popeye & I’ve been at it for hours now with no success in catching either. I feel like just throwing in the towel at this point & im only 2 months in to what I thought was going to be my dream fowlr tank

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

Thanks Jay! I really appreciate the advice- I will dose the tank again soon…my 2 hrs of attempting to catch him have been an absolute disaster so I guess there’s no quarantine in sight. Now one of my anthias has crazy looking Popeye & I’ve been at it for hours now with no success in catching either. I feel like just throwing in the towel at this point & im only 2 months in to what I thought was going to be my dream fowlr tank

"im only 2 months in to what I thought was going to be my dream fowlr tank"

Sometimes life doesn't go as we planned, don't give up!

When i first started my 2nd tank i had fish disease almost immediately, wich resulted in a summer long of empty tank..., mea,while i did more research about fish QT & found out a fish store 2 hours away from me did full fish QT, since then i had no fish disease & now my whole tank is happy

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks Jay! I really appreciate the advice- I will dose the tank again soon…my 2 hrs of attempting to catch him have been an absolute disaster so I guess there’s no quarantine in sight. Now one of my anthias has crazy looking Popeye & I’ve been at it for hours now with no success in catching either. I feel like just throwing in the towel at this point & im only 2 months in to what I thought was going to be my dream fowlr tank

The anthias probably has trauma induced popeye from the chasing. Catching fish can be difficult. Typically, if you don't catch them off guard and get them right away, you need to wait and then try again, perhaps with a different technique. I will set up a net on the side of a rock and try to chase the fish into it. Other people try to catch the fish at night,

I didn't understand that you were going to try and catch the fish, if its flukes, you don't need to do that, just treat it in place.