Is Mochi breathing too hard? I'm worried...

[dedragon]

He seemed to be perfectly fine when we got him in the tank. He was making laps and even ate a shrimp..it wasn't until he ate the shrimp that he started acting like this...
Now, he hasn't moved since I got home around 6pm yesterday.

Actually, that is probably the most normal thing a wartskin angler will do, they are ambush predators.

UPDATE (kind of...)
- Just got to work, my boss has a 250 gallon fish tank so I am borrowing supplies..
Mochi is in the same spot, hasn't moved, and I'm borrowing my boss's Red Sea Ammonia Test Kit and Seachem's AmGuard..
Headed home now to test and possibly add the AmGuard.
--My husband insists that all the parameters are perfectly fine. He did not test ammonia yesterday but seems to think that because the nitrates/nitrites are where they are that the problem isn't the ammonia. I, on the other hand, would rather be safe than sorry.
--Also, we have 2 very small but powerful pumps...1 is turned off and pretty much the entire tank has flow. But should I add an air stone? How do I know if there is too much oxygen??

Thoughts??

(More updates to come....)

There is no way to add to much oxygen unless you see bubbles floating throughout the whole tank. I wouldnt be too discouraged, sometimes fish dont make it after the LFS, you never know how it was collected and shipped so it could have been unhealthy but its symptoms may not have manifested yet. Still sorry to see this happening

 

[Michelesreef]

My husband thinks we should feed him everyday. He ate a small-ish shrimp Sunday night and I didn't want to feed him yesterday. He still has a bulge in his belly. What should I base my feeding protocols on?

 

[fishguy242]

can't see it hurting to try to feed today ,let us know if he eats.

 

[Michelesreef]

I told my husband to put a shrimp in the tank to see if he will eat. But I am nervous he will be over eating...we will see.

 

[lion king]

How big is he, itty bitty guys can benefit from eating maybe every other day, as they grow when reaching a couple of inches, maybe cut back to every 3 days, when they reach about 3", a weekly feeding schedule is more like it. You feed them until you see a nice bulge in the belly, then give time in between for digestion. Because of their sedentary lifestyle and metabolism less frequent feeding is best. The food will literally rot in his belly and cause gases, which is the buoyancy you were referencing earlier. Another tip for digestion, maintain reef levels or up to 1400ppm mg, mg helps with digestion. I feed my new additions a couple days in a row at the beginning. knowing they have likely been starved. Depending on the size of the angler, and the size of the shrimp, one shrimp is not overfeeding, At 2",they can easily put down several a week.

 

[Michelesreef]

How big is he, itty bitty guys can benefit from eating maybe every other day, as they grow when reaching a couple of inches, maybe cut back to every 3 days, when they reach about 3", a weekly feeding schedule is more like it. You feed them until you see a nice bulge in the belly, then give time in between for digestion. Because of their sedentary lifestyle and metabolism less frequent feeding is best. The food will literally rot in his belly and cause gases, which is the buoyancy you were referencing earlier. Another tip for digestion, maintain reef levels or up to 1400ppm mg, mg helps with digestion. I feed my new additions a couple days in a row at the beginning. knowing they have likely been starved. Depending on the size of the angler, and the size of the shrimp, one shrimp is not overfeeding, At 2",they can easily put down several a week.

This is really goodto hear... I just got home and noticed some "antennas" (I don't know what they are lol) sticking out of his mouth and his belly has a bulge again. He is breathing hard still though...
Will keep updating..

 

[lion king]

This is really goodto hear... I just got home and noticed some "antennas" (I don't know what they are lol) sticking out of his mouth and his belly has a bulge again. He is breathing hard still though...
Will keep updating..

Antennas sticking out of his mouth? Maybe the shrimp you fed him was too big. The thing is anglers can eat things their own size, but usually ends with death, at least in captivity that is. The hard breathing could be the shrimp being stuck, this is also serious, it's one of those "pray it will be ok". Feeding a few smaller food items is better than feeding something large. This is also better for digestion.

 

[lion king]

I wouldn't even think about offering him food for at least 3-4 days. I would actually wait until he started cruising around and fishing his lure. That's a good rule of thumb for ambush predators, to wait until they start cruising around to feed them again. Although anglers are tricky, once they learn, they'll be fishing you all the time for food. And they will recognize the one who's feeding them. So it's important not to let them suck you in, and end up over feeding them.

 

[Michelesreef]

Thank you everyone!!
Here's what's happened:

• Twice now when we've fed him the freshwater shrimp, antennas were sticking out of his mouth. About a day and a half afterwards, the bulge was gone and he was fishing. So we fed him freshwater shrimp 2x.
• NOW, we have finally got our saltwater shrimp in the mail and they are much smaller so we didn't have that problem.
• I'm hoping that was the issue.
• All parameters are near perfect. It's been a week since we last did a water change so we are also doing that today.
• Mochi has been moving around a lot more is breathing heavy very seldomly and not nearly as hard. Other times we can't see him breathing, which, from what I've read here, is a good sign.
• All in all, I think Mochi is doing great!!

 

[lion king]

Thank you everyone!!
Here's what's happened:

• Twice now when we've fed him the freshwater shrimp, antennas were sticking out of his mouth. About a day and a half afterwards, the bulge was gone and he was fishing. So we fed him freshwater shrimp 2x.
• NOW, we have finally got our saltwater shrimp in the mail and they are much smaller so we didn't have that problem.
• I'm hoping that was the issue.
• All parameters are near perfect. It's been a week since we last did a water change so we are also doing that today.
• Mochi has been moving around a lot more is breathing heavy very seldomly and not nearly as hard. Other times we can't see him breathing, which, from what I've read here, is a good sign.
• All in all, I think Mochi is doing great!!

It does sound like the food you were feeding was too big.

 

[Michelesreef]

It does sound like the food you were feeding was too big.

I think so too.