blue face koi scopas helppppppp

[Biff0rz]

I received a 5–6" koi scopas last week, and I’m really worried about him. He initially ate after arriving, but has since stopped eating, looks thin, and now appears to have something covering his eyes. I’m looking for guidance on what to do next.

Here’s the timeline:

• I initially put him in a small QT tank that had been seeded with established tank media for about a week. He ate during that initial period.
• After one night, I moved him to my established frag tank because he looked cramped in the QT. When he stopped eating, I also worried about possible ammonia. I didn’t test at that point, although the ammonia badge never showed any.
• The frag tank has a very passive sailfin, a small blenny, and a filefish. I haven’t observed chasing, fighting, or tail swiping. My last fish addition was over six months ago, and I normally purchase quarantined fish.
• In the frag tank, he mostly hid under a mushroom box or hovered in place, sometimes listing. He wasn’t interacting with the other fish and wouldn’t eat nori or mysis. Yesterday, I saw him attempt one bite of mysis, but that’s about it.
• Today, I noticed cloudiness or some kind of covering over his eyes, and his condition seemed worse.

I’ve been in contact with the seller throughout this. He said the fish was healthy and “eating like a pig” before shipping, and they had held him an extra week. He was feeding mysis, brine shrimp, and Two Little Fishies nori. I believe him and am including that history because it may help narrow things down.

After watching the first video, the seller thought he looked stressed and that the eye looked scratched or irritated. He suggested isolating him back in QT and adding some established live rock to help prevent an ammonia spike.

I moved him back to QT today and added live rock from my sump. An ammonia test on the QT read 0, and there’s also an ammonia badge in place. I’ve been keeping the light off except briefly for pictures.

He’s now sitting upright on the bottom, barely moving. He didn’t react much to my hand being in the tank and showed no interest in food. All of my other fish appear healthy.

I’ve kept tangs for years, including an Achilles, naso, purple, yellow, and black tang, but I’m honestly at a loss here. I’m also leaving tomorrow morning until Friday, so I need to figure out the next steps and arrange care before I leave.

What would you do next? Does anything in these videos help identify what’s going on, particularly with his eyes and behavior? What additional pictures, observations, or water tests would help?

Video 1 - in the frag tank, before moving him back to QT:


Video 2 - back in QT; no interest in food:

 

[vetteguy53081]

I received a 5–6" koi scopas last week, and I’m really worried about him. He initially ate after arriving, but has since stopped eating, looks thin, and now appears to have something covering his eyes. I’m looking for guidance on what to do next.

Here’s the timeline:

• I initially put him in a small QT tank that had been seeded with established tank media for about a week. He ate during that initial period.
• After one night, I moved him to my established frag tank because he looked cramped in the QT. When he stopped eating, I also worried about possible ammonia. I didn’t test at that point, although the ammonia badge never showed any.
• The frag tank has a very passive sailfin, a small blenny, and a filefish. I haven’t observed chasing, fighting, or tail swiping. My last fish addition was over six months ago, and I normally purchase quarantined fish.
• In the frag tank, he mostly hid under a mushroom box or hovered in place, sometimes listing. He wasn’t interacting with the other fish and wouldn’t eat nori or mysis. Yesterday, I saw him attempt one bite of mysis, but that’s about it.
• Today, I noticed cloudiness or some kind of covering over his eyes, and his condition seemed worse.

I’ve been in contact with the seller throughout this. He said the fish was healthy and “eating like a pig” before shipping, and they had held him an extra week. He was feeding mysis, brine shrimp, and Two Little Fishies nori. I believe him and am including that history because it may help narrow things down.

After watching the first video, the seller thought he looked stressed and that the eye looked scratched or irritated. He suggested isolating him back in QT and adding some established live rock to help prevent an ammonia spike.

I moved him back to QT today and added live rock from my sump. An ammonia test on the QT read 0, and there’s also an ammonia badge in place. I’ve been keeping the light off except briefly for pictures.

He’s now sitting upright on the bottom, barely moving. He didn’t react much to my hand being in the tank and showed no interest in food. All of my other fish appear healthy.

I’ve kept tangs for years, including an Achilles, naso, purple, yellow, and black tang, but I’m honestly at a loss here. I’m also leaving tomorrow morning until Friday, so I need to figure out the next steps and arrange care before I leave.

What would you do next? Does anything in these videos help identify what’s going on, particularly with his eyes and behavior? What additional pictures, observations, or water tests would help?

Video 1 - in the frag tank, before moving him back to QT:


Video 2 - back in QT; no interest in food:

Keep this fish in quarantine. Find a used suitable size tank and dont risk infesting the frag tank and other fish in it. Is fih breathing normal or labored?
The eyes look hazy and may be due to Flukes or bacterial, again a reason to have it in Qt.

 

[fishguy242]

#fishmedic

 

[Biff0rz]

Keep this fish in quarantine. Find a used suitable size tank and dont risk infesting the frag tank and other fish in it. Is fih breathing normal or labored?
The eyes look hazy and may be due to Flukes or bacterial, again a reason to have it in Qt.

It doesnt look labored. Maybe slightly faster than desired but doesn't look too bad to be honest - check out the video.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It doesnt look labored. Maybe slightly faster than desired but doesn't look too bad to be honest - check out the video.

I suggest PraziPro treatment for two applications dosed at 85% of recommended and allow it to work for 7 days, change water and apply one more application lasting 7 days and do add an air stone as Prazi lowers both oxygen and appetite

 

[Biff0rz]

Doesn't matter now.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So sorry........

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Doesn't matter now.

Sorry to see. The fish crashed really fast. If you still have the body, put it in freshwater for ten minutes to see if flukes drop off, you’ll want that information for the other fish that were exposed to it.

The symptoms I saw in the video were glassy eyes, emaciation and slightly elevated breathing combined with a bobbing motion while swimming. If the emaciation happened since you got the fish, that indicates some sort of osmoregulatory issue, not sure of the cause - a sudden rise is salinity can cause that, as can kidney disease. If the fish arrived thin, then it wasn’t as in good of shape as the dealer made it out to be.

If it hadn’t eaten that first day, I would suspect shipping stress, especially if it was shipped at low salinity. Eating the first day and then stopping tends to rule that out.