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Fish help (1 Viewer)

Blownsvt

Blownsvt

Senior Member
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Dec 12, 2009
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THis morning I noticed that my Pearlscale Butterfly was not looking so hot. No noticable discoloration or parisites on his body. Looks totally normal except that he can't seem to control his swimming and would lay sideways in the water/on the sand. H was easy to catch and I put him into a bowl out side the tank for now. He is breathing but not swimming much. All other fish in the tank are just like always. I have had this guys for about 2-2.5 months i would guess. Never had an issuer before today. I tested water. Everything is in check except Nitrates were High. I am making water to do a change right now. Anything I should be trying to save this fish? Right now he looks like a goner and I really like this guy.

salinity- 1.025
amm - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 20-40 the colors are so similar i can't tell between the 2.
PH- 8.0
 
keep the water he is in well aerated. large volume of water is the best if you have a large acclimation box it would be best to reduce stress and improve close observation. Sounds like something stress induced though, is the belly swollen at all?
 
kcooley said:
keep the water he is in well aerated. large volume of water is the best if you have a large acclimation box it would be best to reduce stress and improve close observation. Sounds like something stress induced though, is the belly swollen at all?
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Doesn't seem to be. Best i could probably do for a large volume would be to put him in the sump. I have a 10 gal QT but it's not set up. Otherwise it would be putting him back into the Display where he wasn't doing well to begin with.
 
was he eating before this happened? usually at this stage it's only down hill but don't give up hope I have seen fish come back also. +1 to the larger body of water. sump would be a good option if there is enough room in there.
 
What do you normally feed it, and how many times per day?
 
kcooley said:
What do you normally feed it, and how many times per day?
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a combination of pellet, blood worms, brine shrimp, Mysis shrimp. The tank gets fed at least once per day sometimes twice.

He was eating well. I noticed 2 days ago though when I fed just PE mysis he didn't seem to go for it. I don't always see feedings since sometimes my wife feeds while I am at work. She said she was pretty sure he was eating when she fed yesterday.
 
Moved him to the sump. I don't think he is gonna pull through though just based on how easy he is to catch.
 
I have had somthing like this happen to me to, when I went over to my tank one day to feed my fish my pink skunk clownfish was not eating breathing heavily and was easy to cach. it could barly swim and it just laid in the sand untill it died. every other fish where fine.

no parisites or discoloration also. ammonia= 0
nitrite= 0
livestock list 75 gal tank nitrate= 25

yellow tang
royal grama
ocellreis clownfish
hermit crab
green alyge crab
 
I have had this a couple of time and put it down to a bacterial infection. I wonder if your Angel had the same problem?
 
How does his weight look? If he looks well nurished, I'd be thinking parasite, and try to give him a formalin/fresh water dip. If thin, then he's probably not eating well for some time and just slowly starved.
 
Jonty said:
I have had this a couple of time and put it down to a bacterial infection. I wonder if your Angel had the same problem?
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could be. It just sucks that they are totally fine one day and then dead the next. doesn't leave a whole lot of time for trying to make them better.
 
reeflover said:
How does his weight look? If he looks well nurished, I'd be thinking parasite, and try to give him a formalin/fresh water dip. If thin, then he's probably not eating well for some time and just slowly starved.
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seems alright. Probably a little fatter than when I got him a short time ago.
 
Well he is toast. Just checked on him again and he isn't breathing.

Here's a couple pics of him. I don't see anything that jumps out at me.

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DSC_1860.jpg

DSC_1859.jpg

DSC_1857.jpg
 
I am going to have to guess a parasite also. In the future QT and use PraziPro. Cupramine if they develop ich in QT, and you shouldn't have a fish die on you out of the blue anymore. I would promote an 8 week QT, 4 weeks of observation and fattening up, then a back to back PP treatment (may have to take a week break in between the two treatments if the fish doesn't eat during the dose), followed by 2 more weeks of observation. If after all that you don't see anything you should be in the clear. Hope this helps you out.

BTW: I know QT is a pain, and we want to see our new purchase in our DT asap, but it really does help avoid a lot of issues. After seeing a local reefers tank get infested with ich and the troubles it caused him, a fish will no longer hit my DT without an 8 week QT. On the plus side it helps with impulse buys!!!
 
Would a parasite normally leave visible signs like ich does though? I've never had a fish get the white spots that a fish with ich gets. This guys skin seems clear and smooth.
 
for the most part if they have an internal parasite you won't have any visual indicators as far as i know, i am no expert on fish disease though.
 
Amylo and Brook don't show skin lesions most of the time, they hit the gills first, so a lot of time the fish go off feed for a day or 2, then they are on their side with rapid breathing.
 
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