Help with Canary Blenny

[Max1]

Hi, I have a mixed reef tank 500 litre display with a large amount of fish. I have had a canary blenny for 3 months. When I bought him he was pretty skinny, but he has gained weight over the past 3 months and seemed healthy. Just in the past couple days I noticed him laying down/ lying on rock work, which I have never seen him do before, as he is always swimming in the water column apart from when he sleeps he sticks in the corner of the glass. I thought the lying down was just him perching, but then he was hiding in a cave for hours which is something else I haven’t seen him do. Now checking on him today and he is lying on the sandbed, which I took photos of. He is kind of getting up and swimming around the tank but then goes any lies down on the sand again. His swimming also looks irregular. I haven’t seen him eat like he normally does. All my other fish and I vets look good and fine, so my parameters shouldn’t be the issue right? I added a bigger tang the other day but I haven’t seen any aggression towards the canary blenny? I have just taken him out of main tank and put him into another tank by himself with the same water as my display. Also I’m not sure if I have ever noticed this but it looks like his mouth isn’t closed all the way, is this normal for this fish? Any help is appreciated

 

[Max1]

Images of him laying down

 

[Gumbies R Us]

#fishmedic

 

[Fish Fan]

I'm sorry that fish seems to be in quite a bit of distress. Let's see if @Jay Hemdal or @vetteguy53081 is around this morning to take a look.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Images of him laying down

Blenny looks a little thin and hard to tell with still pics but looks to have a dark spot on it’s belly which may suggest an internal issue such as edema

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, I have a mixed reef tank 500 litre display with a large amount of fish. I have had a canary blenny for 3 months. When I bought him he was pretty skinny, but he has gained weight over the past 3 months and seemed healthy. Just in the past couple days I noticed him laying down/ lying on rock work, which I have never seen him do before, as he is always swimming in the water column apart from when he sleeps he sticks in the corner of the glass. I thought the lying down was just him perching, but then he was hiding in a cave for hours which is something else I haven’t seen him do. Now checking on him today and he is lying on the sandbed, which I took photos of. He is kind of getting up and swimming around the tank but then goes any lies down on the sand again. His swimming also looks irregular. I haven’t seen him eat like he normally does. All my other fish and I vets look good and fine, so my parameters shouldn’t be the issue right? I added a bigger tang the other day but I haven’t seen any aggression towards the canary blenny? I have just taken him out of main tank and put him into another tank by himself with the same water as my display. Also I’m not sure if I have ever noticed this but it looks like his mouth isn’t closed all the way, is this normal for this fish? Any help is appreciated

How is the blenny doing now?

The open mouth might be due to rapid breathing. Can you post a video under white lights so I can evaluate that for you?

 

[Max1]

Hi, unfortunately blenny died shortly after making that post and moving into frag tank, he was still moving lots but when not observing for an hour he was then motionless and no breathing. One thing I forgot to mention in original post was that he showed rapid breathing, and sometimes swimming to surface with mouth. While these are symptoms of low dissolved oxygen, I don’t think it’s that, because no other fish show something wrong and because I have tested dissolved oxygen before and I haven’t changed skimmer or lowered surface agitation since then.

I’m thinking that most likely cause is the food I fed leading up to this. I normally defrost and rinse frozen foods, and mix with pellet and flake food and let it sit in water to break down a bit. In doing this I have noticed that most pellet food that I have grows in size by a lot when in water, somewhat similar to the toy Orbeez. Recently due to laziness/time constraints I have sometimes changed the diet, and put some pellets straight into the tank and let them float/sink, which I have seen most fish including this blenny eat. I’m guessing that he has eaten the pellets and then they have expanded inside of guy to create a blockage. This is the only explanation I have. Someone commented about skinniness of the fish, I don’t think this relates to the issue as he was much skinnier when I got him, and has been putting on weight, so in my mind him being skinny is just a result of prior to me having him, however I have had him for 3 months, so not sure if he shouldn’t be skinny at all after that time?

While there isn’t much more to help for this fish, any opinions on this are appreciated to help prevent things like this in the future, thanks

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, unfortunately blenny died shortly after making that post and moving into frag tank, he was still moving lots but when not observing for an hour he was then motionless and no breathing. One thing I forgot to mention in original post was that he showed rapid breathing, and sometimes swimming to surface with mouth. While these are symptoms of low dissolved oxygen, I don’t think it’s that, because no other fish show something wrong and because I have tested dissolved oxygen before and I haven’t changed skimmer or lowered surface agitation since then.

I’m thinking that most likely cause is the food I fed leading up to this. I normally defrost and rinse frozen foods, and mix with pellet and flake food and let it sit in water to break down a bit. In doing this I have noticed that most pellet food that I have grows in size by a lot when in water, somewhat similar to the toy Orbeez. Recently due to laziness/time constraints I have sometimes changed the diet, and put some pellets straight into the tank and let them float/sink, which I have seen most fish including this blenny eat. I’m guessing that he has eaten the pellets and then they have expanded inside of guy to create a blockage. This is the only explanation I have. Someone commented about skinniness of the fish, I don’t think this relates to the issue as he was much skinnier when I got him, and has been putting on weight, so in my mind him being skinny is just a result of prior to me having him, however I have had him for 3 months, so not sure if he shouldn’t be skinny at all after that time?

While there isn’t much more to help for this fish, any opinions on this are appreciated to help prevent things like this in the future, thanks

Sorry to hear.

I’ve not seen swelling pellets to be a problem in marine fish, but it is really common in some freshwater fish, especially tiger barbs - but their distress after eating too much dry food is transient and doesn’t harm them long term.

The surface piping and rapid breathing are more a sign of low oxygen uptake. Since you can rule out low oxygen in the water itself, that means the fish wasn’t able to uptake enough oxygen - and that means anemia, but the cause of that just isn’t apparent in this case.

 

[Max1]

Sorry to hear.

I’ve not seen swelling pellets to be a problem in marine fish, but it is really common in some freshwater fish, especially tiger barbs - but their distress after eating too much dry food is transient and doesn’t harm them long term.

The surface piping and rapid breathing are more a sign of low oxygen uptake. Since you can rule out low oxygen in the water itself, that means the fish wasn’t able to uptake enough oxygen - and that means anemia, but the cause of that just isn’t apparent in this case.

Thanks, would you have any input for future as to what to do in a similar situation? Like if this same problem happened to a fish today what should the process be to have the highest chance of survival? If it was anemia would an airstone be a good option to have elevated levels of disolved oxygen? Also if it was anemia would that cause the issues with swimming? I guess that long enough low oxygen blood to muscles can cause muscle damage which would cause the issue swimming.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks, would you have any input for future as to what to do in a similar situation? Like if this same problem happened to a fish today what should the process be to have the highest chance of survival? If it was anemia would an airstone be a good option to have elevated levels of disolved oxygen? Also if it was anemia would that cause the issues with swimming? I guess that long enough low oxygen blood to muscles can cause muscle damage which would cause the issue swimming.

Some anemia is caused by internal protozoans or viruses, those cannot be treated. Increasing aeration only helps to a point, the saturation level of the water is reached, and any aeration beyond that won't help (unless you bubble in pure oxygen).