Concerned about mag. foxface

[Slocke]

Quick summary:

1. Very timid
2. Potentially heavy breathing
3. a couple marks on face
4. Had a bellus angel that had similar issues and die (very timid died not long after adding)
5. No symptoms on other fish

This foxface has been incredibly skittish since adding to tank. I got it from the display tank at LFS where it shared an open tank with several other large fish. However after two weeks in my tank it never got braver. It still eats very well and at times looks fine but whenever it sees anyone it either goes into full camouflage or freaks out. It also seemed to injure itself or is that HLLE? Breathing also appeared a little heavy in both tanks.
Was in 125gal FOWLR now in 45gal hospital both are a few months old. The former has a few small eels, engineer gobies and a small blue throat trigger. The latter has one larger but fish safe eel (not ideal I know but I'm out of tanks at the moment).

Water quality
Temperature 78F
pH: 8.2
Salinity 1.024 and 1.026(hospital)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate: around 10


#fishmedic

 

[Sharkbait19]

Fast breathing can suggest velvet. Has it been swimming into the flow at all?
It could have a bacterial infection, it seems foxface are rather prone to that.

 

[mav3rick478]

Foxfaces by nature are actually very skittish, and yours looks to be bigger and older. So the change in environments is a huge thing to it. If it's eating that's a good sign. Probably just needs more hiding places and more time to get used to it's new environment. Hard to tell if HLLE by the pic but for the most part they are pretty hardy. Usually in is camo coloring you'll notice dinner pores on it's head that are normally there but not seen when it's normal dark face coloring is present.

My bicolor still freaks out at the strangest things, like when I go to feed or if I walk by the tank with lights out. Just the nature of the fish.

 

[Slocke]

Fast breathing can suggest velvet. Has it been swimming into the flow at all?
It could have a bacterial infection, it seems foxface are rather prone to that.

I haven't seen it swim into the flow.
So I forgot to mention it often sits in a corner or behind a rock. It was swimming a ton at the LFS though and they had it for a long time I believe.

 

[Slocke]

Foxfaces by nature are actually very skittish, and yours looks to be bigger and older. So the change in environments is a huge thing to it. If it's eating that's a good sign. Probably just needs more hiding places and more time to get used to it's new environment. Hard to tell if HLLE by the pic but for the most part they are pretty hardy. Usually in is camo coloring you'll notice dinner pores on it's head that are normally there but not seen when it's normal dark face coloring is present.

My bicolor still freaks out at the strangest things, like when I go to feed or if I walk by the tank with lights out. Just the nature of the fish.

I agree but this one seems really excessive. To the point I was concerned it might (and maybe did) injure itself.
I have a sheet over the tank right now but it still freaks out whenever anyone come near.

 

[helmsreef]

Could be signs of velvet, velvet tends to make fish more sensitive to light and heavy breathing is a sign of any parasite attacking the gills. I would suggest quarantining him and medicating.

 

[Slocke]

Medications on hand are: PraziPro, NeoPlex, and copper?

Here's a video from before I moved it:

 

[vetteguy53081]

Pictures under whi

Quick summary:

1. Very timid
2. Potentially heavy breathing
3. a couple marks on face
4. Had a bellus angel that had similar issues and die (very timid died not long after adding)
5. No symptoms on other fish

This foxface has been incredibly skittish since adding to tank. I got it from the display tank at LFS where it shared an open tank with several other large fish. However after two weeks in my tank it never got braver. It still eats very well and at times looks fine but whenever it sees anyone it either goes into full camouflage or freaks out. It also seemed to injure itself or is that HLLE? Breathing also appeared a little heavy in both tanks.
Was in 125gal FOWLR now in 45gal hospital both are a few months old. The former has a few small eels, engineer gobies and a small blue throat trigger. The latter has one larger but fish safe eel (not ideal I know but I'm out of tanks at the moment).

Water quality
Temperature 78F
pH: 8.2
Salinity 1.024 and 1.026(hospital)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate: around 10


#fishmedic

te lighting helpful
With heavy breathing, can be water quality or flukes
Foxface are shy the first few weeks and will be reluctant in social behavior
Food generally brings them out but do stand back when feeding
What test kits are you using?
Age of tank?
Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet?

water in video seems murky

 

[mav3rick478]

I agree but this one seems really excessive. To the point I was concerned it might (and maybe did) injure itself.
I have a sheet over the tank right now but it still freaks out whenever anyone come near.

I'd put it in the main display so that it really gets used to it's new home. If you want to keep it in the quarantine tank for a week or so to see if anything pops up then so be it. Mine also breathes heavily when in camo coloring, I personally think you just have a really frightened fish and don't think its not Velvet. It will just take time for it to get used to it's new environment, like I said it looks like an older fish so it was probably comfortable at the LFS's display tank and had been there for a while. Had a routine on how everything worked ie lights, glad cleaning and feeding.

After looking at your video I say he's fine, just scared and getting used to the new tank. Give him more hiding spots with rockwork.

 

[Slocke]

Pictures under whi

te lighting helpful
With heavy breathing, can be water quality or flukes
Foxface are shy the first few weeks and will be reluctant in social behavior
Food generally brings them out but do stand back when feeding
What test kits are you using?
Age of tank?
Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet?

Water quality was the reason I moved it. The hospital tank is older and hasn't had issues in the past. The new tank is 3-3 months old seeded with old biofiltration. I do use an rodi and get 0tds. I use a refractometer that I calibrated with 35ppt water a few days ago. Most of my tests are API unfortunately. But I recently had my LFS test my water and found no issues. (other than high ALK which I'm solving by switching salts.)

 

[Slocke]

I'd put it in the main display so that it really gets used to it's new home. If you want to keep it in the quarantine tank for a week or so to see if anything pops up then so be it. Mine also breathes heavily when in camo coloring, I personally think you just have a really frightened fish and don't think its not Velvet. It will just take time for it to get used to it's new environment, like I said it looks like an older fish so it was probably comfortable at the LFS's display tank and had been there for a while. Had a routine on how everything worked ie lights, glad cleaning and feeding.

After looking at your video I say he's fine, just scared and getting used to the new tank. Give him more hiding spots with rockwork.

I hope you're right. I may be overreacting due to the bellus dying on me. Jay thought it was cyanide poisoning from collection but this has made me worry it was a contagious disease or a water quality issue.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Water quality was the reason I moved it. The hospital tank is older and hasn't had issues in the past. The new tank is 3-3 months old seeded with old biofiltration. I do use an rodi and get 0tds. I use a refractometer that I calibrated with 35ppt water a few days ago. Most of my tests are API unfortunately. But I recently had my LFS test my water and found no issues. (other than high ALK which I'm solving by switching salts.)

Do you know what test kits your LFS is using?
While you can use prazi to alleviate possibility of flukes, I still suspect water quality

 

[Slocke]

So for some they used test strips but they also used something fancy with a probe. I should add my pH was low and they suggested I use seachem marine buffer. But that was before the fox though I still add it to water changes. That made my tank very cloudy and seemed to annoy the fish. I do 20% weekly water changes at the moment.

 

[mav3rick478]

I hope you're right. I may be overreacting due to the bellus dying on me. Jay thought it was cyanide poisoning from collection but this has made me worry it was a contagious disease or a water quality issue.

Looks like your display basically just has a faux wall? I'd build some structures with some caves. Places for it to hide. My bicolor has learned to wedge against one of my rock islands at night because I made a minimalist style scape. When it gets scared it givers over a Paly rock in the middle of the tank.

 

[Slocke]

Looks like your display basically just has a faux wall? I'd build some structures with some caves. Places for it to hide. My bicolor has learned to wedge against one of my rock islands at night because I made a minimalist style scape. When it gets scared it givers over a Paly rock in the middle of the tank.

There is a lot of hiding on the right side. I was trying to make different niches. for different fish.

 

[mav3rick478]

There is a lot of hiding on the right side. I was trying to make different niches. for different fish.

Oh nice, give him a few weeks to settle in. As long as it keeps eating i think you should be good.

 

[Slocke]

Update: Once the graze healed I added it back to the tank and it's personailty seemed to change almost instantly. It's much braver now.
Have no idea why but I guess its all good. Thanks for allaying my over anxiety.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Update: Once the graze healed I added it back to the tank and it's personailty seemed to change almost instantly. It's much braver now.
Have no idea why but I guess its all good. Thanks for allaying my over anxiety.

Is the banded snake eel eating well for you?

Jay

 

[Slocke]

Is the banded snake eel eating well for you?

Jay

It took a couple weeks but yes. I had to start it on small ghost shrimp but its now primarily on squid and krill. The issue with it is its mouth is very small and it's almost completely blind so you need to feed a lot of smaller bits. Also eats better when its competing with other eels and gets the feeding frenzy response.
You can also hide smelly food in the sand as that replicates its natural feeding but that's a lot of work.

 

[Slocke]

Is the banded snake eel eating well for you?

Jay

Sorry was this question out of concern or curiosity?

It is skinny but its head size is also really small compared to the goldspotted despite being longer. From what I've seen and heard from other hobbiest species like the banded are quite skinny so I'm not overly concerned as it does eat well and regularly.