Frogfish Sick, Weak, or something I’m stressed out.

[MauiAnglerReef]

If anyone has experience or knowledge of these guys please help me. I’ve had him for around 5 months and out of nowhere he was darkened in color. Barely moving (different from camouflaging) And also laying on his side. I immediately made a batch of saltwater and put him into this glass container to hold him in and I’m going to do a huge water change is his main tank. I’m stressing out but I think I know what happened. Yesterday I introduced 4 new macroalgae, some new rock to hold the macroalgae, and a brittle star, and I also scrubbed off a ton of algae from the walls. When I woke up a chromis had died and sushi looked awful. I’m guessing when I scrubbed off the algae from the walls, a lot of nitrates were released as my nitrates are way higher than yesterday. If you have any extra ideas, please help me.

 

[MauiAnglerReef]

 

[MauiAnglerReef]

His color is getting brighter and his breathing is less labored.

 

[MauiAnglerReef]

Bump

 

[Fish Fan]

Sorry to hear about your fish. Maybe one of the #fishmedic guys can take a look for you.

 

[MauiAnglerReef]

Bump

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

If anyone has experience or knowledge of these guys please help me. I’ve had him for around 5 months and out of nowhere he was darkened in color. Barely moving (different from camouflaging) And also laying on his side. I immediately made a batch of saltwater and put him into this glass container to hold him in and I’m going to do a huge water change is his main tank. I’m stressing out but I think I know what happened. Yesterday I introduced 4 new macroalgae, some new rock to hold the macroalgae, and a brittle star, and I also scrubbed off a ton of algae from the walls. When I woke up a chromis had died and sushi looked awful. I’m guessing when I scrubbed off the algae from the walls, a lot of nitrates were released as my nitrates are way higher than yesterday. If you have any extra ideas, please help me.

I suspect the scrubbed algae died and lowered the dissolved oxygen level.

You say the “sushi” looked awful? What was that?

Siphoning out all loose algae and adding aeration would be a first step.

Why didn’t the frogfish eat the chromis though?

 

[MauiAnglerReef]

If anyone has experience or knowledge of these guys please help me. I’ve had him for around 5 months and out of nowhere he was darkened in color. Barely moving (different from camouflaging) And also laying on his side. I immediately made a batch of saltwater and put him into this glass container to hold him in and I’m going to do a huge water change is his main tank. I’m stressing out but I think I know what happened. Yesterday I introduced 4 new macroalgae, some new rock to hold the macroalgae, and a brittle star, and I also scrubbed off a ton of algae from the walls. When I woke up a chromis had died and sushi looked awful. I’m guessing when I scrubbed off the algae from the walls, a lot of nitrates were released as my nitrates are way higher than yesterday. If you have any extra ideas, please help me.

I suspect the scrubbed algae died and lowered the dissolved oxygen level.

You say the “sushi” looked awful? What was that?

Siphoning out all loose algae and adding aeration would be a first step.

Why didn’t the frogfish eat the chromis though?

Frogfish tries to eat chromis, but it stays away from the rocks

Sushi is the name of the frogfish

 

[MauiAnglerReef]

He threw up a piece of fish, but overall had gotten better.

I’m leaving him in the container overnight with a rock and oxygen pump and hoping for the best.

 

[MauiAnglerReef]

I have an update: After 3 days of fearing the worst, Sushi has seemingly fully recovered.
He’s not laying on his side anymore, his colors have returned to normal, he is no longer bloated, and his breathing is no longer labored. He is back in the tank and looks as healthy as a frogfish can be.