Fish problems

[pakolmoreef]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from experienced marine fish keepers regarding my Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus).

For the past few days, my fish has been acting strangely. It is lethargic, seems disoriented, swims weakly, and spends periods staying almost motionless. It is still eating, but noticeably less than usual. Its fins are extended and look normal, its breathing appears normal, and I cannot see any obvious external lesions or spots on its body.

My water parameters are good, and my Acanthurus achilles is behaving normally.

One detail that concerns me is that I recently lost a Chaetodontoplus duboulayi after an unexplained illness. The Moorish idol shared the same aquarium with that fish, so I’m worried that they might be suffering from the same underlying problem.

I have also had to install a divider to protect the Moorish idol because some of the other fish were chasing and attacking it.

My main questions are:

•⁠ ⁠Could these symptoms be caused by internal parasites, a bacterial infection, or another disease that is difficult to detect externally?
•⁠ ⁠Could this be related to the illness that affected my Chaetodontoplus duboulayi?
•⁠ ⁠What diagnostic steps or treatment would you recommend before starting medication?
•⁠ ⁠Has anyone experienced similar symptoms in a Moorish idol and managed to save the fish?

I really want to identify the underlying cause and give this fish the best possible chance of recovery. Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from experienced marine fish keepers regarding my Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus).

For the past few days, my fish has been acting strangely. It is lethargic, seems disoriented, swims weakly, and spends periods staying almost motionless. It is still eating, but noticeably less than usual. Its fins are extended and look normal, its breathing appears normal, and I cannot see any obvious external lesions or spots on its body.

My water parameters are good, and my Acanthurus achilles is behaving normally.

One detail that concerns me is that I recently lost a Chaetodontoplus duboulayi after an unexplained illness. The Moorish idol shared the same aquarium with that fish, so I’m worried that they might be suffering from the same underlying problem.

I have also had to install a divider to protect the Moorish idol because some of the other fish were chasing and attacking it.

My main questions are:

•⁠ ⁠Could these symptoms be caused by internal parasites, a bacterial infection, or another disease that is difficult to detect externally?
•⁠ ⁠Could this be related to the illness that affected my Chaetodontoplus duboulayi?
•⁠ ⁠What diagnostic steps or treatment would you recommend before starting medication?
•⁠ ⁠Has anyone experienced similar symptoms in a Moorish idol and managed to save the fish?

I really want to identify the underlying cause and give this fish the best possible chance of recovery. Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!

To start with, please provide video of at least 20 seconds using bright white light intensity, no blue lighting. You say the parameters are good. . . How are you tsting the water and what numbers are you gtting?
Additionally, how long have you had this fish, and Moorish are hit and miss depending of origin in which they come from.
When you lost the duboulayi, you likely wanted to start a quarantine process such as with coppersafe to eliminate possibilities of parasites which flukes as example are often not visible to the naked eye

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from experienced marine fish keepers regarding my Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus).

For the past few days, my fish has been acting strangely. It is lethargic, seems disoriented, swims weakly, and spends periods staying almost motionless. It is still eating, but noticeably less than usual. Its fins are extended and look normal, its breathing appears normal, and I cannot see any obvious external lesions or spots on its body.

My water parameters are good, and my Acanthurus achilles is behaving normally.

One detail that concerns me is that I recently lost a Chaetodontoplus duboulayi after an unexplained illness. The Moorish idol shared the same aquarium with that fish, so I’m worried that they might be suffering from the same underlying problem.

I have also had to install a divider to protect the Moorish idol because some of the other fish were chasing and attacking it.

My main questions are:

•⁠ ⁠Could these symptoms be caused by internal parasites, a bacterial infection, or another disease that is difficult to detect externally?
•⁠ ⁠Could this be related to the illness that affected my Chaetodontoplus duboulayi?
•⁠ ⁠What diagnostic steps or treatment would you recommend before starting medication?
•⁠ ⁠Has anyone experienced similar symptoms in a Moorish idol and managed to save the fish?

I really want to identify the underlying cause and give this fish the best possible chance of recovery. Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Yes, please provide a video. My first thought is Neobenedenia flukes, as the symptoms match pretty closely.

Also, can you provide a full list of fish in this tank?

 

[pakolmoreef]

When my first Duboulayi became ill, I treated the entire system with praziquantel and metronidazole, followed by levamisole. At the appropriate time, I repeated the treatment in case any eggs had remained.

This particular zanclus developed a similar problem about four or five months after I bought it. I moved it to quarantine on its own and treated it with metronidazole and praziquantel. Little by little, it started eating again and eventually returned to normal. It has been fine ever since.




I’ve had my Zanclus

for two years, and I also had the original Duboulayi for two years.


My aquarium population includes the following fish:

• Tangs: Acanthurus achilles, Naso tang, and Zebrasoma gemmatum.
• Butterflyfish: Chaetodon trifasciatus and Chaetodon melapterus.
• Angelfish: Centropyge loriculus, Goldflake angelfish, Emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator), and Paracentropyge multifasciata.
• Other species: Cycllichtys orbicularis, Dendrochirus brachypterus, Oxymonacanthus longirostris, a pair of clownfish, a Mystery Wrasse, and Odontanthias borbonius.

I regularly monitor my aquarium’s water parameters using Salifert and Hanna test kits. Whenever I carry out treatments, I also use a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge for continuous ammonia monitoring.


I’m sharing these details in the hope that they might help identify what could be affecting my fish, particularly the Duboulayi and the Zebrasoma.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

When my first Duboulayi became ill, I treated the entire system with praziquantel and metronidazole, followed by levamisole. At the appropriate time, I repeated the treatment in case any eggs had remained.

This particular zanclus developed a similar problem about four or five months after I bought it. I moved it to quarantine on its own and treated it with metronidazole and praziquantel. Little by little, it started eating again and eventually returned to normal. It has been fine ever since.




I’ve had my Zanclus

for two years, and I also had the original Duboulayi for two years.


My aquarium population includes the following fish:

• Tangs: Acanthurus achilles, Naso tang, and Zebrasoma gemmatum.
• Butterflyfish: Chaetodon trifasciatus and Chaetodon melapterus.
• Angelfish: Centropyge loriculus, Goldflake angelfish, Emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator), and Paracentropyge multifasciata.
• Other species: Cycllichtys orbicularis, Dendrochirus brachypterus, Oxymonacanthus longirostris, a pair of clownfish, a Mystery Wrasse, and Odontanthias borbonius.

I regularly monitor my aquarium’s water parameters using Salifert and Hanna test kits. Whenever I carry out treatments, I also use a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge for continuous ammonia monitoring.


I’m sharing these details in the hope that they might help identify what could be affecting my fish, particularly the Duboulayi and the Zebrasoma.

The zanclus seems fine in the video, but I did see some pelvic fin twitches which can be a sign of skin flukes, but can also happen when a fish is agitated (like when you are close in filming it).

I’ve never been able to stop a Neobenedenia infection in a tank with just two treatments, it always takes a minimum of 3, usually more, for it to work for me. In the end, I usually end up using hyposalinity - but obviously you can’t go that here.

 

[pakolmoreef]

Okay, I’ll start treating the system with praziquantel and metronidazole today, and I’ll repeat the treatment for a total of three rounds to try to eliminate Neobenedenia, if that turns out to be the cause.


Apart from that, can any of you think of anything else that could be causing this? Honestly, I’ve never actually seen any parasites, even though I’ve performed freshwater dips to rule out or eliminate any suspected parasites.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Okay, I’ll start treating the system with praziquantel and metronidazole today, and I’ll repeat the treatment for a total of three rounds to try to eliminate Neobenedenia, if that turns out to be the cause.


Apart from that, can any of you think of anything else that could be causing this? Honestly, I’ve never actually seen any parasites, even though I’ve performed freshwater dips to rule out or eliminate any suspected parasites.

I don’t see any indication that metronidazole will help in this case. Have you used that in tanks with invertebrates? The general recommendation is to avoid using that with invertebrates (at least at the standard 25 mg/l dose)

 

[pakolmoreef]

I dont have any invert , is a fish only tank .

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I dont have any invert , is a fish only tank .

Oh, those are fake corals in the video……

 

[W31Olds]

I might try a FW Dip to see if he improves. Have you added any new additions that may have brought in Flukes? I also have an Idol and make sure he has Nori or is picking at Tank Algae. Mine gets Nori every Day usually first thing when he's hungry. looking at your Video and based of your Fish List, if I had to guess, one of the Angels or the Butterflies has become aggressive. The Emp. would be my first guess but he's still a juvenile. I word of caution though, when he starts to transition you will probably have problems. Mine is a big Bully, but it's mostly show. I would watch the Butterflies as they sometimes interact with Idols poorly.

 

[pakolmoreef]

Yes, they’re fake corals. To be honest, they got along well until now, with a few ups and downs, but because the Moorish idol became weaker, the Achilles started attacking him, so I had to separate them.

 

[W31Olds]

One thing looking at your Tank is you need more Rockwork for adequate hiding and sleeping spots. The worst aggression in my Tank has always occurred at night, usually when 2 Fish claim the same sleeping Spot (mainly Tangs). It looks like someone is also biting off your Idols Streamer.