Baby Hippo Sudden Death..

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tamz273

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Jul 13, 2008
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So Ive had my hippo for about a month now, and he seemed to be doing great... Last night i put in another power head in my tank cuz i felt like it needed one, and i woke up this morning to find one of my fire shrimps nibbling on my baby dori! :( I have no idea why this happened... All my params are right on, my anemones are doing great... all other fish are healthy and active..

Im thinking that it could have been my fault while I was putting the PH yesterday, I accidently moved a rock onto it?? But if that was the case, then it wouldnt havent been on the sand this morning...

Anyone got any idea's?

PS, he was a jouvenile, about an inch long...
 

Reefscape

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hard to say really....as i would suggest you describe what external damage you could see, but, with shrimp getting hold it, and whatever else, external damage that is seen might not neccessarily be cause of death.....what else is in the tank?? and can you list your current params for us...
 

tamz273

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amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 10 calcium 410 mag 1400 alk 10.1 salinity 1.024 copper 0 and phosphates 0...
Thats why im so confused.. also all other livestock are doing great!
-Yellow Tank
-Blue Chromis (1 adult n 3 juve)
-True Per Clowns (2)
-Orange Spotted Goby
-Fire Shrimp (2)
-Bubble Tip Anemone
-Rose Bubble Tip Anemone
-5 Retteri Anemones
-Plate
-Neon Hammerhead

A bunch of Turbos are in there too...

I dont see how any of these could have harmed him!
 

tamz273

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i guess it could have been...? He was eating fine yesterday... this morning kapeesh! very sad... :( are anemones really that sensitive? if a fish accidentally touches one, itll go?
 

Ace25

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From my experience ya.. but I had a condy and those pack a really mean sting. I have seen it first hand though.. something spooks the fish and just barely touches 1 tentacle and bang.. instant floater. I am not sure if it just paralizes the fish or kills it, but if it catches it floating it will eat it if possible... but that is just one guess out of 1000s of different things it could have been.
 

tamz273

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yeh i guess so... does it have to do with the hippo being a baby? or would it have happened to a older hippo too?? and also, can these anemones sting us humans? or just the fish?
 

Ace25

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If you ever felt that velcro feeling when you accidently touch an anemone that is the stingers latching on to you. There is a wide range of how bad it will affect people. Some anemones don't do much at all while others can feel like a bad bee sting and last a few weeks. I have also seen a frogspawn sting someone and do the same thing. From my experience, RBTAs are more on the gentle side with their sting, condys are low-medium sting from my experience. I have never been stung by one that feels like a bee sting but I also don't go out of my way to stick my hand in anemones to find out. ;) I was stung by my condy quite often. I had it for 5 years in a 29G and grew very big. It was hard to avoid any time I stuck my hand in that small of a tank.
 

tamz273

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hahahaha fair enough... i heard that the carpet anemone stings are bad!! ive played around with a lot of anemones while diving, never got "stung" by any! get the velcro feeling all the time, but still nothing that stood out..
 

Ace25

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Ya, to me it usually felt just like the velco feeling, but every so often I think a stinger would go a little deep and it would itch like a mesquito bite. But I did witness it stinging a fish and the fish instantly stopped and floated into its arms and it ate it. I never knew frogspawns could pack a mean sting on people either and I have touched them quite often moving them around. It just takes that one time the stinger makes it through the skin to feel its potential. I saw my co-worker moving one in a frag tank and as he was picking it up it stung him bad, made him yell and drop it back in the tank. He was in pain for a few hours and had a nasty wound on the back of his hand where the head touched him. Looked like a nasty spider bite for about 2 weeks.
 
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