Foxface very stressed

boboyo

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Hi all, I put a foxface in my dt about 2-3 weeks ago. He’s a pretty small one. My yellow tang did not like him (and he’s bigger than the foxface).

the bullying died down but the foxface is always hiding and turns brown often (I read it was due to stress). Like he’s brown more often now than he was on the first week.

after my wc today he really didn’t have it... he’s breathing super fast and he was chilling at the bottom of the tank for a while. Now he’s back to hiding at his usual 2 spots.

what can I do to make it better? The yellow tang kinda got used to him by now and there’s only minor bullying (and the foxface has his own 2 safe spaces where he doesn’t get bullied ever).
Is there any params I should check, everything’s been pretty stable lately (salinity was on the higher end but I dropped it by 0.001 today and plan on dropping it by another 0.001 tomorrow before I leave for a couple of days. It was a tiny bit over 1.026 today and I felt like that’s why he’d be so stressed but I doubt it’s that.
Any input is appreciated
 

fishguy242

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hi,has breathing slowed yet,what size tank ? first reaction add oxygen with heavy topwater movement or air stone.
 
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boboyo

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Ok so now I’ve noticed all my other fish also breathing heavily.... I’ve been looking it up and I just moved the stronger powerhead to the surface hoping it would help. It’s 2am and lights are off in the tank. I hope they make it through the night. Anything else I should do? I have a fresh bag of carbon if it could help. Not sure exactly what it does since I’m new but I follow advice carefully.
Current tank is 55g
 

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at this piont yes rinse the carbon first, use,if have, add air stone ,go dark ,hope for your return in morning w good news ,or we can summon some expert help..best wishes
 
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boboyo

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at this piont yes rinse the carbon first, use,if have, add air stone ,go dark ,hope for your return in morning w good news ,or we can summon some expert help..best wishes
What would carbon do in this case? (also bumping for expert to hopefully see this post)

Ammonia is at 0, alk 8.5dkh, ph in the 8.1 range, idk what else to test for, temp is ok too.
 

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carbon/chemi pure ,1st go to incase contaminant ?? been 2-3 weeks any suspected signs of diseases/infections
prior ? are they eating? lets call some help,try to post pics of fish asap :) #reefsquad @Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081
 
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boboyo

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All fish are eating, my newest fish was a sailfin tang who's developped ich since i put him in the DT but getting better (i almost panicked a few days ago thinking it was velvet but this forum told me the fish wouldve been dead by now if it was velvet) also the ich wasnt that bad the next day I looked at him, he did lose a piece of his tail in the last few days tho.
Foxface was 2nd to last fish put in DT a little over 3 weeks ago now that I looked at the calendar.

The sailfin eats the least (only wants nori but eats tons of it which i started soaking in vitamins) but he is noticeably breathing fast now which is very recent. Thought it was hypersalinity but I doubt it. I got new calibration juice a few days ago and I dont know which value to trust so I try to do an average of the 2 callibrations which are off by a little more than 0.002 SG.

Aside from fast breathing today, they all look in amazing shape except the foxface being visibly stressed 90% of the time.

Tank is 2 and a half months old, ever since the ammonia cycle was done, I added 2 clowns, when nitrite cycle was done I added an orchid dottyback then added 1 fish per week or 2 small ones
2 clowns
1 dottyback
1 hippo tang
1 lawnmower blenny
1 mandarin (dont worry about him i have tons of pods swimming + my own production + my hob aquaclear filter I turned into a refugium)
1 yellow tang
2 banggai cardinals
2 chromis
1 foxface
1 sailfin tang

Theyre all small (sailfin is the biggest one being 2.5 inches & yt 2nd biggest), might seem overcrowded for a 55g but I just finished setting up my 125g upgrade which is slowly cycling. I put a marine pure block to cycle in my current tank for 3 weeks and now its in the new tank to accelerate the process. I plan to move all the fish and invert first then put the rocks with corals once my lights are installed on the new tank. (also dosing microbacter7 every day in the new tank)
 

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ok.. for now no cross contamination between tanks,don't move more blocks,wait for the dr's.. ;)
and pic's :)
 

codycolina707

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Hi all, I put a foxface in my dt about 2-3 weeks ago. He’s a pretty small one. My yellow tang did not like him (and he’s bigger than the foxface).

the bullying died down but the foxface is always hiding and turns brown often (I read it was due to stress). Like he’s brown more often now than he was on the first week.

after my wc today he really didn’t have it... he’s breathing super fast and he was chilling at the bottom of the tank for a while. Now he’s back to hiding at his usual 2 spots.

what can I do to make it better? The yellow tang kinda got used to him by now and there’s only minor bullying (and the foxface has his own 2 safe spaces where he doesn’t get bullied ever).
Is there any params I should check, everything’s been pretty stable lately (salinity was on the higher end but I dropped it by 0.001 today and plan on dropping it by another 0.001 tomorrow before I leave for a couple of days. It was a tiny bit over 1.026 today and I felt like that’s why he’d be so stressed but I doubt it’s that.
Any input is appreciated
foxface being shy and freaking out when you are doing stuff in the tank is kinda common atleast mine does the same thing ive had it 2 years and any time i put my arm in the water he freezes up fins flared up cammo mode and the tang will learn not to mess with it once he gets poked atleast my kole tang learned that way lol now they are best friends
 

Jay Hemdal

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All fish are eating, my newest fish was a sailfin tang who's developped ich since i put him in the DT but getting better (i almost panicked a few days ago thinking it was velvet but this forum told me the fish wouldve been dead by now if it was velvet) also the ich wasnt that bad the next day I looked at him, he did lose a piece of his tail in the last few days tho.
Foxface was 2nd to last fish put in DT a little over 3 weeks ago now that I looked at the calendar.

The sailfin eats the least (only wants nori but eats tons of it which i started soaking in vitamins) but he is noticeably breathing fast now which is very recent. Thought it was hypersalinity but I doubt it. I got new calibration juice a few days ago and I dont know which value to trust so I try to do an average of the 2 callibrations which are off by a little more than 0.002 SG.

Aside from fast breathing today, they all look in amazing shape except the foxface being visibly stressed 90% of the time.

Tank is 2 and a half months old, ever since the ammonia cycle was done, I added 2 clowns, when nitrite cycle was done I added an orchid dottyback then added 1 fish per week or 2 small ones
2 clowns
1 dottyback
1 hippo tang
1 lawnmower blenny
1 mandarin (dont worry about him i have tons of pods swimming + my own production + my hob aquaclear filter I turned into a refugium)
1 yellow tang
2 banggai cardinals
2 chromis
1 foxface
1 sailfin tang

Theyre all small (sailfin is the biggest one being 2.5 inches & yt 2nd biggest), might seem overcrowded for a 55g but I just finished setting up my 125g upgrade which is slowly cycling. I put a marine pure block to cycle in my current tank for 3 weeks and now its in the new tank to accelerate the process. I plan to move all the fish and invert first then put the rocks with corals once my lights are installed on the new tank. (also dosing microbacter7 every day in the new tank)

That is a lot of fish for a 2 1/2 month old tank. I suspect that one or more of them brought a disease into the tank. Are there any invertebrates in the tank? If not, you may need to consider treating the whole tank. The trouble is that you are in Canada, and fish medications will be difficult for you to source quickly.
As mentioned, you do need to rule out low dissolved oxygen - do that by adding a strong airstone. Does the tank have a protein skimmer on it? Those help also.

Jay
 
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boboyo

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That is a lot of fish for a 2 1/2 month old tank. I suspect that one or more of them brought a disease into the tank. Are there any invertebrates in the tank? If not, you may need to consider treating the whole tank. The trouble is that you are in Canada, and fish medications will be difficult for you to source quickly.
As mentioned, you do need to rule out low dissolved oxygen - do that by adding a strong airstone. Does the tank have a protein skimmer on it? Those help also.

Jay
what kind of meds should I be looking at? Would hyopsalinity work? Theres lots of inverts and corals but I have my currently cycling 125g that I can transfer LR to with the fish and do hypo there.

The alternative would be to move all the inverts and corals in the new tank and to medicate my current tank fowlr. The issue is the inverst and corals could bring the disease in my new tank if I dont let it fallow... I'm a little lost on what my best option is, I heard youre less likely to lose fish if you do hypo salinity rather than copper.

I do have a hob skimmer

shipping isnt that bad here. I ordered a reeflink off reefsupplies.ca and it arrived to my house within 24h. Im pretty sure they have meds and stuff
 

Jay Hemdal

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If the tank has invertebrates and they are doing well, hat points even more to some fish disease. Can you post a short video taken under white light?
There may well be no good options here. Quarantine in advance is always best, chasing an issue after the fact is always much harder.
Setting up all of the fish and treating them with copper while the corals lay fallow is the best option. Hyposalinity works for ich and some flukes, but not so good for velvet.
Jay
 
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boboyo

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If the tank has invertebrates and they are doing well, hat points even more to some fish disease. Can you post a short video taken under white light?
There may well be no good options here. Quarantine in advance is always best, chasing an issue after the fact is always much harder.
Setting up all of the fish and treating them with copper while the corals lay fallow is the best option. Hyposalinity works for ich and some flukes, but not so good for velvet.
Jay
last time i tried to post videos on here it wouldnt work but ill try again.
How big of a QT tank do I need for all these fish?
I'm in a messy situation now. No wonder they tell newbies to slow down.
The worst part is that im going away for 2 this afternoon
 
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boboyo

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Foxface is still behind the heater, came out for a couple bites of nori and went back into hiding. Dory is back with ich, had ich the first week then started having ich again when I put the sailfin. I hope it’s just stress from overcrowding because I have the solution ready for that
 

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Jay Hemdal

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I see some minor levels of ich in the videos, so at least it hasn't reached the exponential growth phase.

It may be beyond the point where you can manage it through environmental improvement though - tough to say for sure. I think you need to prepare for the worst and have a treatment tank for all of the fish ready to dose with copper. The mandarin is going to be an issue, they don't enjoy copper, and it will be tough to feed it in a QT.

Jay
 
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boboyo

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I see some minor levels of ich in the videos, so at least it hasn't reached the exponential growth phase.

It may be beyond the point where you can manage it through environmental improvement though - tough to say for sure. I think you need to prepare for the worst and have a treatment tank for all of the fish ready to dose with copper. The mandarin is going to be an issue, they don't enjoy copper, and it will be tough to feed it in a QT.

Jay
Wow thanks for taking the time and replying.
I have a couple questions now: how big should a qt tank be for all of these? And I heard mandarins are immune to ich so if I let my tank fallow for 2-3 months with my mandarin only, does it count as fallow?

I’m relieved that you said it’s not too major, it looks pretty major to me.
They’re breathing a little slower in the video than they did last night, would this be considered normal breathing or is it still a little too fast?
 
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boboyo

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Update : I’m pretty convinced the sailfin has velvet. I’m picking up a 20g QT tank and the meds tomorrow morning.
Now : should I treat them 1 by one or should I do in small groups? By this point even the clowns and the YT have barely visible white spots but I saw a couple. Would it be worth it to treat the sickest fish first and then do the others? Or should I just do them all at once somehow?

Would putting my inverts and corals in the qt be recommended and then I’d treat the whole DT? I don’t care having to throw out some rocks if it’ll make my life easier, I already have enough LR for my new tank
 
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boboyo

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I have a friend telling me not to worry as they’re all still eating so I’m really lost on what I should do
 

fishguy242

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hi ,i think all at once,but also think too many for 20 gal. jmo ,wait for the experts..
 
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boboyo

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hi ,i think all at once,but also think too many for 20 gal. jmo ,wait for the experts..
I love your positivness. 20g is defs too small but I’d only take it to qt my inverts and corals and let it fallow in case hypo in either tanks would be considered a good idea.

i just read on ttm and I feel like that’s my best bet (I don’t like putting chemicals unless absolutely necessary). Plus I feel like it’s the safest with the Mandarin as I have my pod production so I can replenish his food with every tank transfer. It’s also only a 2 week process so let’s say I have 2 30-40 gallon tanks, I could treat all of them within a month!

I’d love to hear what the experts have to say if they’re still around if this is ich or velvet... and here’s some pics of the fish that’s the most sick. Not sure if it’s velvet or ich at this point. It’s back to being as bad as a week ago (before it died down over the weekend and I made this post). Only got 1 reply on my other post and they said ich. But it’s pretty bad ich if it’s ich
 

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