Royal Gramma rubbing on Rock/Sand

[Mbrklynb]

Hello everyone! Im new to this site but am so excited to be surrounded by such knowledgeable people! I have a bit of a problem that I’m hoping I can get some insight on.

I have a 30 gallon saltwater w 2 Onyx clowns, a Royal Gramma and a Scooter Blenny. My tank is fairly new, got it started mid January and let it cycle for about a month before I added the first clowns. Waited a few weeks and got the blend (unfortunately was not told they shouldn’t be in new tanks because of pods-I’ve got him eating though but that’s a whole other headache lol) and a few weeks after added the gramma. Everything was fine for a while but I noticed a few weeks after I got the gramma, she started darting towards a rock almost scratching her side with it. Thought nothing of it but it’s gotten more frequent and has even started to wear on her purple half (it looks a bit discolored, almost grey/white)

I’ve read it could be ich and have taken steps like adding Focus garlic xtreme and Kanoplex to the food (mysis shrimp, bloodworms, cyclopods, garlic pellets) which everyone is eating for the most part, aside from them being picky with certain kinds sometimes. It’s only been a few days but it seems she’s getting more spastic/anxious almost. Constant body rubbing.

I’ve changed at least 60% of the water in the last 2 weeks have a large HOB filter power head and skimmer going levels are all reading great so I’m not sure what else to do tbh. Everyone else in the tank seems and looks fine it’s the gramma who’s stressing me out at this point lol, I just don’t want it to get worse or worse, spread to the other fish. If anyone has any insight I’d love to hear from you! Thank you!

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Does the Gramma have any raised spots? (can’t tell from pic) ich resembles granules of salt stuck to the fish.
If there are no obvious spots, or dusted appearance (velvet) I would do a 5 min FW dip and check for flukes. If flukes are present they will come off looking like opaque sesame seeds in the bottom of the container.
To treat for flukes all fish will need to go into a QT and be treated with Prazipro twice 5-7 days apart. Your display tank will also need to be fallow (fishless) for 4 weeks. Here are a couple links on disease and treatment.
Welcome to R2R!!!

If you can get a better pic it will be easier to look for ich, velvet, brook, etc

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fish-disease-index.247600/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/treatment-options-index.247573/

 

[Mbrklynb]

Hello! No there are no raised spots, it just looks like she’s got some color loss, possibly to always scratching? I was observing her last night though and it seems she was calmed down once the feeding was over and nothing was happening. It seems like when I feed she scratches a lot more, I have a theory maybe she’s trying to pick up food from either the rocks or sand? She does shoot straight for pellets on the rock sometimes. It just seems too frequent and obviously her color has me thinking it’s doing more harm than good.

The hospital/QT sounds amazing but I’ve spent so much on this tank I really have no extra money to start another, even if it’s a 10 gal :/

 

[Mbrklynb]

Hello! No there are no raised spots, it just looks like he’s got some color loss, possibly to always scratching? I was observing her last night though and it seems she was calmed down once the feeding was over and nothing was happening. It seems like when I feed she scratches a lot more, I have a theory maybe she’s trying to pick up food from either the rocks or sand? She does shoot straight for pellets on the rock sometimes. It just seems too frequent and obviously her color has me thinking it’s doing more harm than good.

The hospital/QT sounds amazing but I’ve spent so much on this tank I really have no extra money to start another, even if it’s a 10 gal :/

Unless it can be bare minimum, but then what do I do with the 3 other you know?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Unless it can be bare minimum, but then what do I do with the 3 others you know?

Ok, scratching or flashing is a symptom of a parasite the fish is trying to manually remove. I would catch the gramma and do a 5 min FW dip (directions listed in link). You’ll want to look for opaque sesame seed looking things drop off into the container. Flukes can cause color loss and eventually death. If you find flukes you could possibly treat in the display tank. But you’ll need the FW dip to confirm flukes.
Since there are no raised spots I would say it’s not ich.

 

[4FordFamily]

Ok, scratching or flashing is a symptom of a parasite the fish is trying to manually remove. I would catch the gramma and do a 5 min FW dip (directions listed in link). You’ll want to look for opaque sesame seed looking things drop off into the container. Flukes can cause color loss and eventually death. If you find flukes you could possibly treat in the display tank. But you’ll need the FW dip to confirm flukes.
Since there are no raised spots I would say it’s not ich.

Agree. Flukes are easier to treat than the other possibilities, let's start by ruling this out.

Freshwater dips in a dark bucket are best, look for "sesame-seed" looking things that have fallen off as a result of the dip. Temp-match the bucket so as not to harm the fish.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Sorry, here’s the link with directions.


https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/freshwater-dip.248898/

 

[ngoodermuth]

I agree with the advice already given, just want to add a "welcome to R2R"

Sorry for your trouble with your fish, you are in good hands with these guys^

 

[Mbrklynb]

Thank you guys so much for the help. These guys turn into your first priorities I swear haha.

About how large should the container be for the fresh water dip?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Thank you guys so much for the help. These guys turn into your first priorities I swear haha.

About how large should the container be for the fresh water dip?

That’s up to you I usually use one big enough to allow the fish some room to move in.