Bristletail Filefish Laying on Side

Sablah · Nov 21, 2022

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

Sablah · Nov 21, 2022

bristletail filefish

youtube.com

vetteguy53081 · Nov 21, 2022

Sablah said:
bristletail filefish

youtube.com

Someone in tank is beating up on this fish and has shredded its fin to the point that fish is becoming moribund in which it may or not make it in its state. Isolation is important. If no means at least find out who it is by Setting your phone on video mode for about 30 mins, feed the tank and walk away - MUST walk away and come back and review. You should see your culprit. Fish often show aggression during feeding to hog the food
What other fish are in your tank ? This is something a clown would do

Sablah · Nov 21, 2022

vetteguy53081 said:
Someone in tank is beating up on this fish and has shredded its fin to the point that fish is becoming moribund in which it may or not make it in its state. Isolation is important. If no means at least find out who it is by Setting your phone on video mode for about 30 mins, feed the tank and walk away - MUST walk away and come back and review. You should see your culprit. Fish often show aggression during feeding to hog the food
What other fish are in your tank ? This is something a clown would do

It's fins have pretty much looked like that since the day I got it. Other tankmates include a Bristletooth tang, ocellaris clown, eibli angel, and 2x pajama cardinals. All the fish have been together for a few years, except the tang was a new addition two years ago. The clown has never shown aggression towards any of them except the cardinals occasionally, and I've never seen it be aggressive during feeding (granted I was at the tank watching). I'm mixing up water for a hospital tank right now. I'll setup a camera to record like you suggested to see if there's any aggression towards the other fish, and will do so again if the filefish survives and gets back into the DT.

vetteguy53081 · Nov 21, 2022

Sablah said:
It's fins have pretty much looked like that since the day I got it. Other tankmates include a Bristletooth tang, ocellaris clown, eibli angel, and 2x pajama cardinals. All the fish have been together for a few years, except the tang was a new addition two years ago. The clown has never shown aggression towards any of them except the cardinals occasionally, and I've never seen it be aggressive during feeding (granted I was at the tank watching). I'm mixing up water for a hospital tank right now. I'll setup a camera to record like you suggested to see if there's any aggression towards the other fish, and will do so again if the filefish survives and gets back into the DT.

In hospital tank, increase oxygen with air stone .

Jay Hemdal · Nov 21, 2022

Sablah said:
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

It's breathing a bit fast, but otherwise looks in good condition. Why did you remove the planehead?

I don't see any treatable issue here....sorry.

Jay

Sablah · Nov 21, 2022

Jay Hemdal said:
It's breathing a bit fast, but otherwise looks in good condition. Why did you remove the planehead?

I don't see any treatable issue here....sorry.

Jay

The planehead was killing all my inverts and starting to become aggressive towards my tang, plus it was getting too big (misidentified when I had gotten it, I thought it was going to remain small).