Royal gramma rubbing rocks

[sailforfun15]

I've noticed that my new royal gramma is occassionally rubbing his sides (under his eyes) on the rocks. He is the only fish in the tank (an MB 7) and has been in there for a week. I don't see any visible signs of disease, nor is there any other strange behavior. He is eating fine. Could he be sick, or is some rubbing normal? I've attached a pic that I took a few days ago.

 

Todd

[dagermain]

This reminds me how long its been since I have worked in the industry. I want to say possible internal parasite, but under the eye? I don't know.

[sailforfun15]

This morning I can clearly see white spots on his fins. With the rubbing this is most likely ich. Next question: what do I do about it. He is the only fish, but he is in a reef tank, so I can't use copper or Quick Cure. Buy a cleaner shrimp? A freshwater dip seems like it would just add additional stress.

 

Todd

[rapier0]

Get a cleaner shrimp, maybe a six line sometimes they clean off fish i said sometimes. shrimp for shure!!! scarlet is the best. As for your fresh water dip, 15% a tank water 85% distilled. Ich would absorb the water at a much quicker rate than the fish thus the parasite would swell up and literaly burst do a water change before you put the fish back in sometimes that makes all the diferance. sorry for my spelling i just woke up lol

 

and if you ever see a fish rubbing its self , it will almost always be ich

keep a close eye on him and as soon as you see something change the water, get a cleaner shrimp, wont go away dip'em

 

or set up a little 2.5 just water and pump and heater, to treat fish in,

 

you can loose all your fish if you dont treat ich quick but you only have one so thats nothing to worry about

 

good luck let me know how it goes

[jmt]

That's not a Royal Gramma, it's a bicolor pseudchromis. Not that that's a bad thing, just wanted to clarify for you.

[jmt]

Oh yeah, sorry, as for ich, remove the fish and put thim in a quarantine tank. I suggest just buying a cheap kit like an MB2.5 or something like that from Wal-Mart. Just put in water and maybe an ornament or a few peices of PVC so he can hide. While he's in there, medicate him. And when that is finished, but him back in the tank.

 

-Justin

[sailforfun15]

Sure enough, he is a bicolor pseudchromis. So to set up a QT tank using an MB 2.5 can I just add new saltwater, a heater, and some hiding places. What do I do about a biological filter at this point?

 

The fish looks a bit better at this moment (fewer spots), but is still rubbing.

 

Also, what is a good med to treat with?

 

I'd prefer the cleaner shrimp route, but I'm not sure how well that works and I can't find one locally today.

 

Todd

[sailforfun15]

Another question: are there any tricks to catching this guy for removal to a QT?

 

Todd

[jmt]

Just use all the stuff a MB2.5 comes with. Just remove the carbon. I don't know what the preffered treatment is. A little tank kit is going to cost you as much as a cleaner shrimp, and when you add fish again, you need to QT them first. So they don;t bring and diseases into the tank.

[sailforfun15]

OK, I set up a Minibow 2.5 with a spare heater, the included filter and the filter media with the carbon dumped out. I added one gallon of fresh saltwater and another gallon from the main tank. Parameters are now identical in both tanks. I'm really reluctant however, to put my fish in the QT because there is no biological filtration in there. I wonder if I should just put one of my live rocks that does not contain coral. I'd like to do hyposalinity treatment, which seems like the least toxic and shocking of all the treatments I've read about that have any empircal support. Garlic appears to be suspect and a freshwater dip can provide immediate relief, but not long term. I have quick cure and greenex, but after reading about them, I'm not sure they are such a great idea. There is also an issue of whether to use greenex with carbon or without.

 

Any suggestions? It may all be moot if I can't catch the little guy anyway.

 

Todd

[pyrrhus]

dont worry about the bio-filter at this point the pseudo is plenty hardy to survive a cycle. i think the best cure is any based on copper, i like to use copper power. its is always best to remove carbon when using any type of treatment on fish. as far as catching him starve him for a day or two shut off any pumps in the tank wait for the waters surface to turn to glass, float a few flakes of food on the surface of the water and net him when he comes up to feed. if that doesnt work try a fish trap.

[pyrrhus]

dont forget to wait for at least a month for the ich in the main tank to starve without fish, keep the pseudo in QT until then just dont feed too much as it will affect water quality and you dont have a bio filter yet. if you do use copper based treatments it will knock out most of the bio filter anyway. and dont use your LR as the Tx will kill most of whats on it.

[jmt]

The QT with what you have will be fine. Remember, he's only going to be in their for a hopefully a week. As to what method you should use to treat the fish, that's your call.

[sailforfun15]

Ok, I caught him late last night, put him in the QT with a small piece of LR that has no coral on it. This morning he seems a little sluggish, but otherwise ok. I just made the first salinity drop and will continue to drop it over the next two days.

 

Todd

[sailforfun15]

I could use some more help here. The fish has been on the bottom of the tank in the corner between the glass the LR, sometimes listing over on his side. I haven't seen him eat at all today. I'm not sure what the problem is. Perhaps I got him out too late, perhaps the small drop in salinity (1.025 to 1.023), or perhaps the stress of the new tank. Ammonia also is a up a little. It is usually 0 in the main tank, but is approaching 0.25 ppm in the QT.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Todd

[pyrrhus]

did you acclimate the fish to the QT? you could have just started out with SG 1.015 or 1.010 int the QT tank and done a slower acclimation, if you just "slammed" the fish into the QT that may be the problem. by acclimation i mean gradually replacing the water he is used to with the water he will go into over 30-60 minutes possibly longer with a lower salinity. some fish dont handle the hyposalinity Tx well, with tehm it is easier to use copper in full SG water, i like to do this as it achieves faster results adn can be less stressful to the fish.

[sailforfun15]

I made sure all of the water parameters were equivalent to the main tank before adding him to the QT. In fact, 1 gallon of water came from the main tank. The other 1.25 gallons was new premixed saltwater that I got from my LFS and have been using in the main tank for the past few weeks.

 

The water had been in with the filter running for a few hours before I caught the fish. I put him in and then waited until morning to add a little freshwater according to the regime mentioned here: http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-j...posalinity.html

 

By Thursday morning though he was looking bad. He was in on the bottom in the corner by the heater. He was upright, but not really swimming and wouldn't eat. I lowered the salinity from 1.025 to 1.023 by adding some RO water (same water I've used in my main tank for weeks). By Thursday evening he was listing on his side and breathing hard. He continued to get worse after that.

 

Now that I've got him in the main tank again, he has progressively improved. When I first put him in, he layed on his side and the only signs of life were from breathing. Now he is still on the bottom, but keeping himself upright and moving all of his fins. If he survives I'm going to be really stumped about why he got so bad and how he managed to pull through. I'll also still need to deal with the ich :-(.

 

Todd