Royal Gramma Pale/White and Flashing

[Cornelia_Reefer]

I have a 30 Gallon Red Sea Nano Max G2 XL which was setup 81 days ago. My last numbers are:

Temperature: 77.3
Salinity: 33.5 ppt
pH: 7.7
Nitrate: 6.6 ppm
Phosphate: 0.18 ppm
Alkalinity: 6.6 dKH

I do a 12L water change with seawater I make from RODI I make and Red Sea Salt.

I got a Royal Gramma from an LFS 51 days ago and did my best to do an observation QT with at least 15 minutes a day of solid direct observation. On some days I observed for hours. During that time I saw flashing exactly once. She ate happily from day one.

I placed her in my DT 38 days ago. Until two days ago she seemed healthy and eating.

I added two Biota clownfish to the tank 20 day ago. I only did one week observation since they came from Biota and the cycle had gone in my QT tank.

I'm doing a slow light acclimation so my lights aren't very bright. I decided to turn them on in full white mode for observation two days ago and noticed that her purple are appeared as if there was a white sheen. Life interfered and I haven't been able to follow up until today. As of two hours or so she has been constantly flashing.

She still ate at the feeding 1:30 minutes ago. But she is flashing almost constantly now.

I don't have the QT tank setup right now, but I can make some saltwater and get it setup relatively quickly if needed. I have ich-x.

I'm still getting the ropes which is why my numbers are so out of wack. I had my hannia salinity checker drift and I didn't realize, which is why my salinity is so low. But that would have happened gradually with water changes, not all at once.

My water has a bunch of small floating objects. I assumed they were just detritus and I haven't gotten my flow setup correctly, but who knows.

I am an absolute beginner in the saltwater world, so please be patient with me.

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

I'm not great at getting photos, these are the best I could get.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The gramma’s tail is shredded, there is some aggression going on. #f#fishmedicsor more help.

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

I haven’t seen any aggression except at feeding time and even then no nipping or anything.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Did you buy the fish with a shredded tail? In that case it might have happened at the LFS. But if the tail was intact when you bought it, then it happened in your tank. There is rarely aggression when we are in the room, it happens when they are alone. The fishmedics will be able to help more, good luck.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm not great at getting photos, these are the best I could get.

I suspect flukes which they are prone two and the damage likely from scratching. Have you noticed the fish itching, sudden darting or hiding?

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

I'm not great at getting photos, these are the best I could get.

I suspect flukes which they are prone two and the damage likely from scratching. Have you noticed the fish itching, sudden darting or hiding?

It’s often hid from the day it was added to the DT. She has a little cave that’s her home base. But she only darts there if I come towards the tank suddenly or lights suddenly flip on. And she always comes out when I cut the pumps to feed them.

I thought that most likely and planned on buying prazi tomorrow when the stores are open.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It’s often hid from the day it was added to the DT. She has a little cave that’s her home base. But she only darts there if I come towards the tank suddenly or lights suddenly flip on. And she always comes out when I cut the pumps to feed them.

I thought that most likely and planned on buying prazi tomorrow when the stores are open.

I agree, this is probably flukes. I also think that the shredded tail, although pretty minor, bears watching as it could get worse.

Your pH is a bit low for a newly set up tank. If you trust your measurement device, then I would add an air stone to see if there is any carbon dioxide that can be driven off to try and raise the pH.

For dosing praziquantel, here is a post I made with general instructions for the various products out there:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dosing-praziquantel-pzq.1105700/

 

[Cornelia_Reefer]

My tank is in the basement and there’s a lot of co2 in the air. I’m planning on getting a CO2 scrubber when I can.

Thanks, I’ll start on that immediately.