The only new inhabitant in my tank in quite a long time (see post below about family health issues, lack of money, etc.)  is a Blue Hippo Tang.  I was able to score this specimen by trading in $100 worth of Pom Pom Xenia frags to one of my local fish stores.  Don’t worry, while this was an expensive fish I also picked up a few other fish for my wife’s and kid’s tanks out of that credit.  As is typical with most all tangs, this one came with a parasitic infection know as Ich.  Ich is really a term the made it’s way over from freshwater fish keeping.  Marine Ich, while similar in appearance, is actually a critter called Cryptocaryon irritans. Tangs are well known for being more susceptible to this parasite than most other marine fish, and while it’s a normal part of life in the wild, the stress of being caught, transported and acclimated to captive life almost always compromises the immune system enough that they succumb to a full blown infection.  I’ll post more on my thoughts about Marine Ich and how to best battle it in an upcoming post.  For now, I’m happy to say that the infection seems gone (at least visually) and the fish is eating like a pig.

While I love the movie “Finding Nemo”, this fish will NOT be named Dory!  I refer this him simply as “big blue”.  While I’m attached to all my fish, this one is quickly becoming a favorite.  I’ve always loved the intense blue coloration and they have a fun, if somewhat awkward personality.  I’ve had limited success keeping this type of fish in the past, and have never been able to get beyond the stage of the first few days (I think I’ve been unlucky with a couple of less than healthy specimens to start with), so I’m cautiously optimistic about how well this one is doing.

Happy Reefing!