Flame Hawkfish Not Eating/Discoloration and keeps going up

[reefo420]

So I've cycled my fish tank and 4 days ago I added a 2 inch half-black mimic tang and a hawkfish
the hawkfish looked discolored on the way home but i thought it was just the lighting, he's been sitting on the sand bed all day and keeps going all the way up the glass and then down every few minutes, then stops for about half an hour.
first day he wasn't doing it and he looked happy exploring all the places he can sit on, here is a video I took
he's only had one bite of food since i got him and I tried every kind of food, the tank is a red sea 425 xl and it only has 2 more clownfish in fish that are babies
in the LFS he was in a tank with a very mean tang that the LFS recommended me to not get(the tang)
so is this an old injury?
the tang and the two clownfish look very happy and haven't done anything similar and they've been eating really well

 

[landlubber]

the swimming behavior is typical of a flame hawk. Honestly newly introduced fish are tough to diagnose if there are even any problems at all as they almost always act out of sorts for the first week.
Keep steady with your feeding and husbandry and its likely to be more comfortable in a week or so.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

looks like a chunk of its tail is bitten off, this might be the problem.

 

[landlubber]

looks like a chunk of its tail is bitten off, this might be the problem.

in the last video yes it does but its just folded over a bit. In the other videos it looks complete

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I've cycled my fish tank and 4 days ago I added a 2 inch half-black mimic tang and a hawkfish
the hawkfish looked discolored on the way home but i thought it was just the lighting, he's been sitting on the sand bed all day and keeps going all the way up the glass and then down every few minutes, then stops for about half an hour.
first day he wasn't doing it and he looked happy exploring all the places he can sit on, here is a video I took
he's only had one bite of food since i got him and I tried every kind of food, the tank is a red sea 425 xl and it only has 2 more clownfish in fish that are babies
in the LFS he was in a tank with a very mean tang that the LFS recommended me to not get(the tang)
so is this an old injury?
the tang and the two clownfish look very happy and haven't done anything similar and they've been eating really well

Hi,

In the 6 second video, it looks like it breathes 15 times. That works out to be 150 / minute and so is very fast.

At first, I thought it could be an acclimation issue, but you indicated that the fish did O.K. for the first day and then went downhill - acclimation issues would start from the first day, and then usually improve (if the fish doesn't die).

Two possibilities come to mind - 1) the tank wasn't fully cycled and the new fish caused an ammonia spike. What is the ammonia reading? 2) This species is prone to flukes. Gill flukes can cause rapid breathing.

How is the tang doing? Is it eating o.k.?

Jay

 

[reefo420]

looks like a chunk of its tail is bitten off, this might be the problem.

i think it is im glad u said that it was driving me crazy, I also belive he has lots of white spots it's just very hard to video it because he keeps moving away

 

[reefo420]

Hi,

In the 6 second video, it looks like it breathes 15 times. That works out to be 150 / minute and so is very fast.

At first, I thought it could be an acclimation issue, but you indicated that the fish did O.K. for the first day and then went downhill - acclimation issues would start from the first day, and then usually improve (if the fish doesn't die).

Two possibilities come to mind - 1) the tank wasn't fully cycled and the new fish caused an ammonia spike. What is the ammonia reading? 2) This species is prone to flukes. Gill flukes can cause rapid breathing.

How is the tang doing? Is it eating o.k.?

Jay

The tang is doing great, she's eating 24/7, picks on rocks the whole day, and eats every last bit of food around the tank, the two baby clownfish are also very healthy and seem to have no problems, why kind of meds do i need? i have a 10 gallon tank i could use as a QT, and I've got some anti-bacterial meds, should i be using those? the tang that was in the same tank looked very beat up as well, the tangs keeps pushing him away when he tries to approach anything, he's been in this corner, then swims up and down, I've got hanna checkers for everything and i'll be posting the readings in a few minutes, should i take him out of the tank? or should i just dose the whole tank considering it only has 4 fish and no coral or inverts

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The tang is doing great, she's eating 24/7, picks on rocks the whole day, and eats every last bit of food around the tank, the two baby clownfish are also very healthy and seem to have no problems, why kind of meds do i need? i have a 10 gallon tank i could use as a QT, and I've got some anti-bacterial meds, should i be using those? the tang that was in the same tank looked very beat up as well, the tangs keeps pushing him away when he tries to approach anything, he's been in this corner, then swims up and down, I've got hanna checkers for everything and i'll be posting the readings in a few minutes, should i take him out of the tank? or should i just dose the whole tank considering it only has 4 fish and no coral or inverts

Well, if it is flukes, you could dose the tank with Prazipro, 2x, 8 days apart with good aeration. However, if it is water quality, that won't help. What is the ammonia level?

Jay

 

[reefo420]

Ammonia is around 0.2 and my nitrite is 9 ppb which i belive is around 0.01 ppm, I've added loads of live sand and rock to this tank, My ro wasn't making enough water so i bought a lot of water from the lfs, previously when tested it had high ppm, this time it was around 50-60 and i used seachem prime, I've got 10 gallons of ro i can make into salt water but idk if this could be causing these issues, could it be something else? I've tested for everything in the water and tried a few test kits and everything looks ok

 

[reefo420]

i directed the two flow nozzle where they have more surface water exchange and he's suddently moved away from that spot he's been in all day and went back up on an arch and tucked between rocks at the top, he doesn't seem to be acting as strange, he's probably still sick, if i do add this medication, how can i clear it out after, or does it not affect anythin?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

i directed the two flow nozzle where they have more surface water exchange and he's suddently moved away from that spot he's been in all day and went back up on an arch and tucked between rocks at the top, he doesn't seem to be acting as strange, he's probably still sick, if i do add this medication, how can i clear it out after, or does it not affect anythin?

Prazipro and praziquantel break down rapidly after dosing, so you just need to provide good aeration with an air stone or protein skimmer (with the collection cup off).

Jay

 

[Matty Ice]

How is the Hawk making out?

 

[reefo420]

How is the Hawk making out?

He's really good got his color back after a few days, got bullied by a tang for a week but now he's okay and eating really well, he does still breathe fast sometimes when he gets chased around but that's about it

 

[Jay Hemdal]

He's really good got his color back after a few days, got bullied by a tang for a week but now he's okay and eating really well, he does still breathe fast sometimes when he gets chased around but that's about it

Just watch for a relapse - in some cases, the prazi knocks the flukes back, but doesn't kill them 100% and the population slowly returns, with a gradual increase in symptoms again.

Jay

 

[reefo420]

Just watch for a relapse - in some cases, the prazi knocks the flukes back, but doesn't kill them 100% and the population slowly returns, with a gradual increase in symptoms again.

Jay

He has a wierd swim, he goes up one side of the rank all the way to the top of the water, gets hit by the surface wave from the wave maker a few times while he holds him self up there and then jumps back down, there are now 6 other fish in the tank and none of them seem to be having any issues at all, he eats really well and even grabs food from all the bigger fish, but it's still confusing me on how he does this, he's never jumped out or even tried to

 

[Jay Hemdal]

He has a wierd swim, he goes up one side of the rank all the way to the top of the water, gets hit by the surface wave from the wave maker a few times while he holds him self up there and then jumps back down, there are now 6 other fish in the tank and none of them seem to be having any issues at all, he eats really well and even grabs food from all the bigger fish, but it's still confusing me on how he does this, he's never jumped out or even tried to

I've had them do that before, not sure why, perhaps a behavioral thing. They can jump out though, so be careful....

Jay

 

[Matty Ice]

Seems like normal hawkfish behavior. Mine loses some color at times when it gets stressed by the pistol shrimp. You might want to place a small frag rack or something up high. They love perching high up