Sick Fish - part 2

[fluidimagery]

Well, I tore my tank down tonight to get my 3 anthias and angel out who have all had something strange going on with them for about a week. I tried garlic and cleaner shrimp but to no avail.

I have all 4 of them in a 30g tank. I picked up some Instant Ocean Lifeguard today but I'm afraid to start using it as I don't know exactly what is wrong with them.

All 4 fish were consistantly by the 2 cleaner shrimp in the tank

Angel - Breathing a little hard, flashed, but ate like a pig... Cleaners would clean the inside of his gills

Male Lyretail Anthia - Normal Breathing... has only been accepting Formula 1 & 2 Pellets instead of eating everything I fed like he had been. Flashed, Colors a bit faded, strated getting a bit lethargic today as he would sort of swim to the middle of the tank and let the current push him

2 Female Anthias - Normal Breathing, Eats everything but Formula 1 & 2, Little flashing and down by the cleaners

There are no tell tale signs that I can see what is causing the problems.


Do I treat with Copper or Hyposalinity? I've never done any sort of treatment.

Also, currently I only have a powerhead and heater on the 30, no filter. What is the best thing I can do to keep the levels acceptable? If I do lots of water changes it's going to mess my copper levels up in the tank. If I do hypo I can at least match the salinity when I change the water out.

Please help!

 

[Deanos]

Do not treat with medication, until you're sure of the diagnosis.

 

[fluidimagery]

should I hypo then?

Over what period of time should I lower the salinity? I've read up on it, and I see that raising the salinity back up is the crucial thing, but didn't see much about lowering it down to the 1.009 point.

 

[KathyC]

I wouldn't treat them for anything until you have some indication of what is wrong. Treating with the wrong medication can make a situation worse if you don't know what's wrong.

You've already made a good decision in putting them in a QT. Clean water never makes anything worse.

Your best ally right now is the clean water of the QT with frequent water changes and add an airstone to aid in any breathing issues.

I'd investigate all of the parameters in your main tank in the meantime and simply observe the fish in the QT until you have something concrete to treat for.

 

[rickytsui]

dont do anything till u sure what is wrong with the fish . if u gonna do hypo for no reason u ONLY gonna hurt the fish even more . btw a pics of the fish and what is the strange stuff that been going on .

 

[reefman]

not sure what u mean below:
"All 4 fish were consistantly by the 2 cleaner shrimp in the tank"
"flashed" "strated getting a bit lethargic"
"Little flashing and down by the cleaners"

u r certainly right in this statement:
"I picked up some Instant Ocean Lifeguard today but I'm afraid to start using it as I don't know exactly what is wrong with them."

how can u treat them w/o know what they have? any pics? maybe if we can id the problem if we see their pics. or at least give us more detail info.

 

[ellebelle]

Reefman, he discussed the symptoms and (I believe) posted picture in a previous thread.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/fish/23441-help-problem-fish.html

 

[fluidimagery]

Thanks for the replies... originally I thought it was skin flukes since the flashing, and the cleaner shrimp frequency... the angel had a labored breathing... nothing visually wrong with the fish etc.

Then the male anthias lost some of it's appetite, then the flashing and constantly down by the cleaner.

Then last night I could've sworn I saw white specs on it's nose but no more than 5 small small specs (the size of a pin point) but it could've just been the light, today there is nothing.

Once in a while I'll see the anthias breathing hard by the cleaner shrimp, but then normally again once they're swimming around.

So something is not right with these fish but I have no idea what it is.

 

[fluidimagery]

The pictures won't tell you anything... I've only heard "they are beautiful fish" nothing is wrong... keep up the good work.

 

[reefman]

if they look like that now, then yea, i would say no ick too. have u check what ur sg is? maybe its just stress.

 

[fluidimagery]

More pics...

 

[fluidimagery]

not sure what u mean below:
"All 4 fish were consistantly by the 2 cleaner shrimp in the tank"
"flashed" "strated getting a bit lethargic"
"Little flashing and down by the cleaners"

u r certainly right in this statement:
"I picked up some Instant Ocean Lifeguard today but I'm afraid to start using it as I don't know exactly what is wrong with them."

how can u treat them w/o know what they have? any pics? maybe if we can id the problem if we see their pics. or at least give us more detail info.

When I say all 4 fish are by the cleaners... it's about once every 5 minutes... usually the anthias will be there... they'll hang out by the cleaners for a few minutes and usually get cleaned, then swim towards a powerhead I have and flash against the pvc.

The Male anthia only seemed to be noticibly lethargic today as it would stop swimming and get turned on it's side in the middle of the tank and would start swimming again as it got pushed.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

personally, i would let them be. if you take them out to qt you may stress them even more and end up killing them faster.

don't add any more fish to the tank and just wait it out. ps qt from now on if possible.

jon-

 

[fluidimagery]

I'll give them a few weeks in QT unless I find something. I already spent 8 hrs today clearing the whole tank out and re-aquascaping.

What do you think would happen if I left them be in the tank? Do fish commonly get over these sort of things on their own?

I think I'm losing years off my life with this hobby

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

To be honest I don't think there was anything wrong with the fish but stress and getting accustomed to their new home I think you're putting yourself through hell over nothing. I would have left them and started QT'ing all new fish added to the tank after that.

 

[fluidimagery]

So, what now?

Why the flashing all of a sudden?

The male was the king of the tank, bossing everyone out of the way for food for about 3 weeks, now he's a nancy... He swims through the frozen food when I feed but doesn't take any... or will spit it back out.

 

[reefman]

make sure ur QT is setup right link if ur gonna QT them.
bare in mind ur fishes r not easiest to keep n not recomm for beginners

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Leave them until everything calms down. Keep in mind with the rip-down and capture you could have stressed the fish out, I would not be surprised if an ich breakout occurred.

 

[aaron23]

i agree w/ every1 who said leave them alone until you can find out whats wrong. they seem fine but why would you treat for something you have no idea about what they have?

 

[fluidimagery]

I'm just worried about the filtration in the QT... I'll just keep doing water changes I guess. I'll hook up a bio filter tomorrow on it and I'll throw a sponge filter in my sump to start seeding the sponge.