My filefish is breathing rapidly and has been either floating at the surface upside-down, or laying on the bottom of the tank on its side. It will occasionally attempt to swim and dart away, but after a split-second of "darting", it stops and either floats the the surface or the bottom of the tank (I think based on water current and where it gets pushed to). It was doing fine yesterday. I have had this filefish for 3 years now and never had any issues with it. I haven't added any new fish in almost a year. No other fish is showing any signs of distress. The only thing that has changed recently was I removed a planehead filefish last night. There doesn't appear to be any signs of injury. I do not dose anything. I feed formula 2 and sheets of nori.
I'm assuming it is moribund and will not survive, but I am getting a hospital tank setup right now just in case it manages to pull through somehow. Any suggestions on what to do to improve its chances of survival?
Water params:
Nitrate: 50 (this has always been high)
Nitrite 0
Ammonia <0.15
phosphate: 0.1
PH: 7.9
o2: 6
Salinity: 35
Temp: 77-78
Other fish:
Bristletooth tang, clown, eibli angel, pajama cardinals
I'm assuming it is moribund and will not survive, but I am getting a hospital tank setup right now just in case it manages to pull through somehow. Any suggestions on what to do to improve its chances of survival?
Water params:
Nitrate: 50 (this has always been high)
Nitrite 0
Ammonia <0.15
phosphate: 0.1
PH: 7.9
o2: 6
Salinity: 35
Temp: 77-78
Other fish:
Bristletooth tang, clown, eibli angel, pajama cardinals