Sick Royal Gramma Basslet Captive Bred

[fandaga]

I purchased a royal gramma basslet from Biota and received on Nov 27th along with several other fish. A couple weeks after he started showing signs of fin decay. All other fish haven’t shown any diseases. I thought possibly a bacterial or fungal infection. So I isolated separately in QT and treated with several antibiotics. At first just API General Cure for 1 week, but after seeing no improvement I switched to Fritz Maracyn and Seachem Paraguard for 5 days. At the end of treatment he started floating at the top of the tank with likely swim bladder disease. I pulled him out of QT and put him in an acclimation box in my main tank since I was worried about lack of eating and water parameters (albeit I didnt see any ammonia spikes in QT). Now he’s floating around for several days. He did eat a piece of LRS reef frenzy this morning which just happened to drift next to his mouth. Any ideas on what else, if anything, I should try at this point?

Below are some videos.

After 1st realizing the fins were decaying:


After treatment and now in acclimation box:

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I purchased a royal gramma basslet from Biota and received on Nov 27th along with several other fish. A couple weeks after he started showing signs of fin decay. All other fish haven’t shown any diseases. I thought possibly a bacterial or fungal infection. So I isolated separately in QT and treated with several antibiotics. At first just API General Cure for 1 week, but after seeing no improvement I switched to Fritz Maracyn and Seachem Paraguard for 5 days. At the end of treatment he started floating at the top of the tank with likely swim bladder disease. I pulled him out of QT and put him in an acclimation box in my main tank since I was worried about lack of eating and water parameters (albeit I didnt see any ammonia spikes in QT). Now he’s floating around for several days. He did eat a piece of LRS reef frenzy this morning which just happened to drift next to his mouth. Any ideas on what else, if anything, I should try at this point?

Below are some videos.

After 1st realizing the fins were decaying:


After treatment and now in acclimation box:

Weird - in the first video the gramma seems negatively buoyant and in the second video it seems positive...not sure what to make of that. The fin damage seems to be from tankmate aggression - what fish were in with it?

Jay

 

[fandaga]

Weird - in the first video the gramma seems negatively buoyant and in the second video it seems positive...not sure what to make of that. The fin damage seems to be from tankmate aggression - what fish were in with it?

Jay

Yeah, the tank mate aggression is what Biota said. But I didn’t see anyone nip the basslet, and I noticed a green-grey discoloration of the dorsal fin that made me worried it was more thank aggression. The other tank mates are a pair of snowflake clowns, pair of mandarins, yellow tang, watchman goby and Randall’s goby. The tang is the largest but doesn’t bother anyone.

 

[vetteguy53081]

There is a lot of staining on the glass to clearly see the fish in whole but I do see blemish on the skin suggesting either aggression or scratching from flukes which they susceptible to.
Do you see heavy breathing, loss of appetite, itching, sudden darting and loss of color?

 

[fandaga]

There is a lot of staining on the glass to clearly see the fish in whole but I do see blemish on the skin suggesting either aggression or scratching from flukes which they susceptible to.
Do you see heavy breathing, loss of appetite, itching, sudden darting and loss of color?

Heavy breathing yes, but not really for the others. The API general cure has prazi for flukes. I do have a UV sterilizer on the tank and haven’t had other fish with flukes in the past.

-Ryan

 

[fandaga]

The basslet managed to escape the acclimation box since the lid wasn’t fully closed after this mornings feeding. He’s now surprisingly hanging out on top a rock and looks okay, albeit with a bit heavy breathing. I really don’t understand why he was floating for 4 days in two different tanks.

Video from this morning:

 

[rtrdeuce]

Am I crazy or do I see flukes on the head?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Am I crazy or do I see flukes on the head?

Unless neobendendia type, you wont see flukes but signs mentioned will be noticed

 

[Tamberav]

I know he’s floating but almost look like he was trying to. Did he have anywhere to hide in the acclimation box? I have had some fish act weird when they can’t hide.

 

[fandaga]

I know he’s floating but almost look like he was trying to. Did he have anywhere to hide in the acclimation box? I have had some fish act weird when they can’t hide.

Yeah, I have a piece of pvc pipe in the box.

I put him back in the acclimation box last night. It looked like my bluestreak cleaner wrasse that I got in the same biota order was “harassing” him. At least he didn’t seem to want cleaning and was moving along the bottom all over the tank. The wrasse does clean my yellow tang regularly, and none of the other fish have nipped fins. So I don’t know if the wrasse was the ultimate culprit.

Anyways, I’m going to keep in the acclimation box for a while longer to see if the basslet continues to improve. If not, I may try again with prazi.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

 

[fandaga]

An update: I moved the basslet back to the QT several days ago since he didn’t seem much better in the acclimation box. For some reason he’s now only staying near the water surface (positively buoyant) next to an Ammonia Alert. In the acclimation box, he only stayed on the bottom (negatively buoyant) next to a piece of PVC. I put the same PVC tube in the QT, but he hasn’t gone to it. He’s been eating Rod’s Food, LRS Reef Frenzy, and x-small TDO pellets but only if I put right next to his mouth. He wont swim to the food. Fortunately, his fins do seem to be growing back. I’m not sure what to do, if anything. I have been considering getting an Aquabiomics test for parasites in my DT; although, I don’t have any other reason to suspect a problem.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

An update: I moved the basslet back to the QT several days ago since he didn’t seem much better in the acclimation box. For some reason he’s now only staying near the water surface (positively buoyant) next to an Ammonia Alert. In the acclimation box, he only stayed on the bottom (negatively buoyant) next to a piece of PVC. I put the same PVC tube in the QT, but he hasn’t gone to it. He’s been eating Rod’s Food, LRS Reef Frenzy, and x-small TDO pellets but only if I put right next to his mouth. He wont swim to the food. Fortunately, his fins do seem to be growing back. I’m not sure what to do, if anything. I have been considering getting an Aquabiomics test for parasites in my DT; although, I don’t have any other reason to suspect a problem.

Tough to see, but the gramma looks REALLY thin in the picture. Try feeding small amounts multiple times a day (4+) while avoiding uneaten food from fouling the tank.

The lead time for Aquabiomics can be quite long, so not a good tool for immediate diagnosis.

 

[fandaga]

Tough to see, but the gramma looks REALLY thin in the picture. Try feeding small amounts multiple times a day (4+) while avoiding uneaten food from fouling the tank.

The lead time for Aquabiomics can be quite long, so not a good tool for immediate diagnosis.

Thanks, that’s a good idea! I will up the feeding.

-Ryan