My fish almost dies about once every month

[Tanked]

I originally posted a thread on this very topic back in October. My royal gramma had just been introduced to my 12 gallon eclipse tank which had been running for about 6 weeks prior to it's introduction. The very next day, I came to find him lying on the bottom of the tank motionless. The only thing I could think to do was to change some of the water. From all accounts, the tank had been allowed to cycle prior to adding the gramma. The water change rejuvenated the fish and I thought everything would be okay.

 

So now it's almost March and this incident has occurred several more times, most recently about one week ago. About once a month on average. An immediate water change seemingly saves the fish's life every time. After the first couple of incidents, I decided to perform a water change more frequently, going from once every 7 days to once every 5 days. The amount of water I change, about 1 gallon, is still the same. I saved the water from a week ago to perform some tests on it for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and ph but everything seems fine.

 

I wonder if anyone else has experienced this situation. The gramma, added to the tank back in October, was the last inhabitant to be added to the tank and is presently the only fish in it so I don't think overstocking is a problem.

[oozthaman]

What kind of filtration are you using?

Try boosting your weekly water change to 20% that may make your gamma a bit happier.

[Whitten]

Well you wouldn't be the first. I frequent a store in ATL, where I saw the same thing. I came in one week, and the royal gramma was laying motionless on the bottom of one of the tanks. After making a return trip about two weeks later....the same fish was in the same spot. Apparently from what the LFS told me, they do that sometimes, when they are sleeping. Apparently that is how they relax, and most of the time you just don't see it either because of the rocks, or because they do it at night. Don't worry your little guy is normal. My little blue damsel usted to do the very same thing.

[Tempest]

"I saved the water from a week ago to perform some tests on it for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and ph but everything seems fine."

 

I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly, but why would you test week old water that is no longer in the tank? If I'm mistaken then forgive, but you should test the water in the tank... from the situation you've described I'd test it weekly. You may also want to test for the amount of dissolved oxygen in the tank water. Ammonia and nitrite should be 0 and O2 should be at least 4.

 

What are you feeding the gramma? Do you have any anenomes in the tank? What's your SG? Have you ever used any medications in the tank?

[Tanked]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think I may add an Aquaclear mini filter and see if that helps any. I'm using liverocks as the only means of filtration at the moment.

 

In regards to the sleeping condition, while certainly a possibility, the nature of this situation seems far more extreme. I, in fact, am convinced that if not for the emergency water change, I'd be shopping for a new fish. The fish has found a hole in one of the live rocks to retire to when acting normally. When I find him laying lifeless on the bottom of the tank instead of in his little hole, it does concern me quite a bit. Every time I've witnessed this event take place, I've taken out my turkey bastor and jetted some water onto the fish in the hopes of jumpstarting him into swimming again. It never works. He just floats on his side as the sand settles on top of him. After the emergency water change, he starts to slowly recooperate and after an hour or so, he's back to normal.

 

The water was not saved for a week before being tested. The incident occured one week ago. The displaced water was set aside and tested as soon as I was finished refilling the tank with new salt water. I have a tank running underneath the main tank that's constantly mixing and heating new saltwater for water changes and emergencies.

[Isaka]

dude your fish has pms, just gotta recognize when its that time of the month and leave her be.....

[nano-nemo]

definately sounds like nitrogen cycling, weekly, bi weefly at the longest water changes are needed, i run two biowheel filters on my 10 gallon tank, both for up to 50 gallons each, so i change bi weekly. you can never have too much filtration. Also, make sure you're not overfeeding the fish, all the extra food on the bottom really spikes the cycle