Damsel in Distress

[Emvy]

Hey All,

Video attached of a Sgt. Major Damsel. He seems to be swimming in a bobbing fashion and moving fins a lot to stay stable. Also breathing very rapidly and looks very stressed.

Some info:
Currently in a 10 gal tank with 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 Bengaii Cardinal, and 1 kamohara blenny.

Purchased these fish exactly 2 weeks ago today. They have been in a tank together and getting along the whole time.

Tank has been dosed at between 2.24-2.36 ppm copper power.
Salinity is now at 1.026/ 34ppt (I’ve raised it slightly each water change from the lfs 1.020).

I do 100% water changes every 4ish days. All fish have looked like they are doing great (minus some stringy white poop on the blenny). The Damsel started showing signs of this today. Today was the day to do a water change and this video was taken right after they were put back into freshly changed water. Any thoughts of what’s going on here? Thanks.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

What is the ammonia level and pH of the tank?

Fish that bob like that often have a swim bladder issue or gas in their guts. Did you happen to feed it flake food or dry pellets today?

The water looks a bit murky. I see the air stone, can you turn that up any higher?

 

[Emvy]

Hey All,

Video attached of a Sgt. Major Damsel. He seems to be swimming in a bobbing fashion and moving fins a lot to stay stable. Also breathing very rapidly and looks very stressed.

Some info:
Currently in a 10 gal tank with 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 Bengaii Cardinal, and 1 kamohara blenny.

Purchased these fish exactly 2 weeks ago today. They have been in a tank together and getting along the whole time.

Tank has been dosed at between 2.24-2.36 ppm copper power.
Salinity is now at 1.026/ 34ppt (I’ve raised it slightly each water change from the lfs 1.020).

I do 100% water changes every 4ish days. All fish have looked like they are doing great (minus some stringy white poop on the blenny). The Damsel started showing signs of this today. Today was the day to do a water change and this video was taken right after they were put back into freshly changed water. Any thoughts of what’s going on here? Thanks.

 

[Emvy]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

What is the ammonia level and pH of the tank?

Fish that bob like that often have a swim bladder issue or gas in their guts. Did you happen to feed it flake food or dry pellets today?

The water looks a bit murky. I see the air stone, can you turn that up any higher?

I think the angle/ lighting may have made the water look that way, here’s a different picture.

pH looks to be right at 8.0 and ammonia should be nill as I did the 100% water change about an hour ago.

I feed dry pellets and they gobble it down. I also feed freeze-dried mysis shrimp to the cardinal as he seems a bit picky but he loves them. The damsel will pick at those once in a while, he usually spits them out but maybe eats once in a while?

 

[Emvy]

Bump.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think the angle/ lighting may have made the water look that way, here’s a different picture.

pH looks to be right at 8.0 and ammonia should be nill as I did the 100% water change about an hour ago.

I feed dry pellets and they gobble it down. I also feed freeze-dried mysis shrimp to the cardinal as he seems a bit picky but he loves them. The damsel will pick at those once in a while, he usually spits them out but maybe eats once in a while?

Cardinal wont eat pellets as it eats frozen exclusively. Feed it mysis shrimp, plankton, LRS fish frenzy.
How are you testing your levels. Is there a reason you are changing water 100% this often?
Maintain salinity at 1.024-1.025
Swimming can be from stress.

 

[Emvy]

Cardinal wont eat pellets as it eats frozen exclusively. Feed it mysis shrimp, plankton, LRS fish frenzy.
How are you testing your levels. Is there a reason you are changing water 100% this often?
Maintain salinity at 1.024-1.025
Swimming can be from stress.

Yeah the cardinal has been eating freeze-dried mysis, I target feed it to him only.
Doing 100% changes because it’s not a cycled tank, just qt for the copper power. Have another qt tank getting ready for observation/ prazipro.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Frozen best over freeze dried but at least eating.

Yeah the cardinal has been eating freeze-dried mysis, I target feed it to him only.
Doing 100% changes because it’s not a cycled tank, just qtfor the copper power. Have another qt tank getting ready for observation/ prazipro.

Frozen best over freeze dried but at least eating. Tank wont in essence cycle but adding a seeded sponge or similar will help with ammonia

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I think the angle/ lighting may have made the water look that way, here’s a different picture.

pH looks to be right at 8.0 and ammonia should be nill as I did the 100% water change about an hour ago.

I feed dry pellets and they gobble it down. I also feed freeze-dried mysis shrimp to the cardinal as he seems a bit picky but he loves them. The damsel will pick at those once in a while, he usually spits them out but maybe eats once in a while?

Sorry - I wrote this last night, but it didn't get posted, not sure why:


Flake foods and freeze dried foods will trap air. Fish like damsels who can be real hogs, can eat so much that they float. Struggling against that causes them to bob. It may not be that, but see if it is still bobbing in the morning.

I asked about the ammonia and pH because the fish is also breathing really fast, and that may not be related to the bobbing.

 

[Emvy]

Sorry - I wrote this last night, but it didn't get posted, not sure why:


Flake foods and freeze dried foods will trap air. Fish like damsels who can be real hogs, can eat so much that they float. Struggling against that causes them to bob. It may not be that, but see if it is still bobbing in the morning.

I asked about the ammonia and pH because the fish is also breathing really fast, and that may not be related to the bobbing.

All things considered, he did look better this morning. It may have been a combination of foods and stress from the water on day 4 of ammonia buildup.
Thanks for the response! Will reply if things turn downward again. Just trying to get through this first QT

 

[Emvy]

Sorry - I wrote this last night, but it didn't get posted, not sure why:


Flake foods and freeze dried foods will trap air. Fish like damsels who can be real hogs, can eat so much that they float. Struggling against that causes them to bob. It may not be that, but see if it is still bobbing in the morning.

I asked about the ammonia and pH because the fish is also breathing really fast, and that may not be related to the bobbing.

Hello again,

So the buoyancy issues seem to have subsided, but I still have this concern with the breathing. None of the other fish are showing breathing abnormalities as far as I can observe.
I’m just wondering if I should be concerned about any type of illness or something. Everything else about it him seems fine, he looks good (though I don’t have in real life comparisons) and he darts around the tank, especially come meal time. Would this concern you? Thanks again.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello again,

So the buoyancy issues seem to have subsided, but I still have this concern with the breathing. None of the other fish are showing breathing abnormalities as far as I can observe.
I’m just wondering if I should be concerned about any type of illness or something. Everything else about it him seems fine, he looks good (though I don’t have in real life comparisons) and he darts around the tank, especially come meal time. Would this concern you? Thanks again.

Yes - undiagnosed causes for rapid breathing are always a risk.
First thing - does the tank have good aeration, not just circulation?
Have you treated them for flukes?

 

[Emvy]

Yes - undiagnosed causes for rapid breathing are always a risk.
First thing - does the tank have good aeration, not just circulation?
Have you treated them for flukes?

As far as aeration I don’t know, it’s only the air stone in there.
As for flukes, no, I was planning on doing a couple Prazipro treatments after the copper phase…

Since I’m doing 100% water changes would you recommend leaving out the copper power (it’s been 18 days above 2.25ppm) and dosing Prazipro?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

As far as aeration I don’t know, it’s only the air stone in there.
As for flukes, no, I was planning on doing a couple Prazipro treatments after the copper phase…

Since I’m doing 100% water changes would you recommend leaving out the copper power (it’s been 18 days above 2.25ppm) and dosing Prazipro?

That’s pretty short for a copper treatment, but you can pull at least half the copper with a water change, then run a prazi treatment 2x, 8 days apart and ramp the copper back up if need be.

 

[Emvy]

That’s pretty short for a copper treatment, but you can pull at least half the copper with a water change, then run a prazi treatment 2x, 8 days apart and ramp the copper back up if need be.

Unfortunately we lost the fish overnight last night, on day 29 of copper treatment . Any insight you can part on us from these images is appreciated. Thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Unfortunately we lost the fish overnight last night, on day 29 of copper treatment . Any insight you can part on us from these images is appreciated. Thanks

The open mouth in death is a sure sign of respiratory collapse. Did you ever treat it for gill flukes?

 

[mosreef]

@Jay Hemdal again thank you so much for your contributions here. I had a wrasse that was gasping, I thought it was because I had a mild bacterial bloom in his QT tank. Added 2 airstones & more filtration, it helped a little but not much and I was very worried for him. Read this post - saw gill flukes, removed copper & dosed with API general cure - fish saved!

There are so many times your input has helped and you would never even know - thank you