Sick Yellow Box Fish? what do i do? Please help

[RugglesReef]

Hey everyone,

I just did a about an 20% water change this morning but we are in need of some advice today, we came home late last night and our maxima clam was totally open and dead. We had it in the sand & have a valentini puffer in our tank and it was nipping at it so i think the combo may have caused its demise. It definitely got eaten a bit by the time we got home and saw. The big problem now is our little baby yellow boxfish. It was kind of just floating around & it didnt eat yesterday, now its finding spots in the tank that it doesnt have to move. In the pic its right under the flow into the tank (its been thre the past hour), earlier it was hiding behind some rocks. So i went in with the net because i thought it had died but as soon as i got it in the net it started moving around getting back to being a little more active. I gave it some live brine shrimp and it perked up and ate a couple which was good but then it just stopped eating. waited 5 mins and it was near the bottom of the tank kind of slowly moving/slightly drifting around, it had control of where it was going but really slow. its almost like its goes in and out of consciousness. there was also one little white spot on him this morning that i had never seen before. what do we do?!?! i dont want it to release toxins into the tank and kill something or everything else but i also would love to save the little thing if we can... Please Help!

32G BioCube

just did a water test but after i did the water change & siphoned up some sand, went to go into our local shop and did a water test but that was after i kicked everything up. gonna go back tomorrow once it settles but info from the last two water tests are below

10/27
ALK 141 Mg 1157
pH 7.4 Ammo 0.6
PHOS 0.1 Nitrite 0.1
Ca 394 Nitrate 11

10/17
ALK 133 Mg 1217
pH 8.0 Ammo 0.1
Phos 0.7 Nirtite 0
Ca 396 Nitrate 28


Thanks for any insight you all can provide!!

 

[Sir Kon Salty Sox]

The ammonia and nitrite readings are not good, should both read at 0. If there have been deaths in the tank in the last couple of days, that could cause an ammonia spike.

How long has the tank been up ? How are the other fish looking? I do not know much about boxfish but I know they are not very strong swimmers, if there is too much flow that could cause an issue. Also has it been eating, and are you making sure it is getting enough food? If there are fast eating fish in your tank, boxfish might be getting outcompeted for food.

That is a beautiful lil fishy. I would at this point recommend dumping a cap full of Seachem's prime, it should help with detoxifying the ammonia and nitrite. If the ammonia reading stays elevated, water changes in a 32g system will be your best friend

 

[Sharkbait19]

What test kits are you using? How old is the tank? A dying clam can be very bad for water quality (especially in so small a tank), so can multiple tetraodons. If you can get better pics it would help a lot. Boxfish can be very hard to keep healthy and eating - what has it been eating before it stopped?
I’d do another water change - tetraodons are very sensitive to water chemistry.

 

[RugglesReef]

yea that's from this morning after i changed the water and siphoned some sand, i definitely kicked stuff up, guy at the fish shop said today's reading wont tell me much and to come back tomorrow. the clam died yesterday and we removed as soon as we saw it but our internet was out all day & i work from home so had to leave the house. i didnt get back home until late last night unfortunately. no telling how long it was was dead.

The tank has been up since mid August & the other fish seem to be doing fine, though our diamond goby was in the back of the tank yesterday, still alive hes acting as he normally would. The Box Fish almost seemed to like the flow in the tank before this, i know they are not good swimmers but he cant even really swim right now just getting blown around & prefers to be stopped. thinking of turning off the power head for a bit. But he used to ride the wave so to speak of the flow and do it on repeat over and over. looked like is was having fun. We typically feed mysis shrimp & the box fish was going after that & had no problems getting food before yesterday. but as of yesterday doesnt seem to have an appetite. gave it some live brine shrimp today and it ate a couple and almost seemed worn out & stopped. now its just sitting under a rock that it got blown under kind of holding on

 

[Sean Clark]

A boxfish, while cute, is not the best choice for a 32 gallon bio cube. They get very large. If it makes it through this you may want to look into re-homing it.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I wouldn’t stop the flow - you risk causing more harm than good that way. Best thing you can do for the boxfish right now is getting it into a separate system.

 

[RugglesReef]

What test kits are you using? How old is the tank? A dying clam can be very bad for water quality (especially in so small a tank), so can multiple tetraodons. If you can get better pics it would help a lot. Boxfish can be very hard to keep healthy and eating - what has it been eating before it stopped?
I’d do another water change - tetraodons are very sensitive to water chemistry.

I actually took the water to the shop and ran the test that runs multiple tests at once & the salinity level is 1.026. besides today we've never had a ammonia or nitrite problem since we started the tank in mid august. Normally eats mysis shrimp, pellets, & i gave it a little live brine shrimp this morning that it got excited about but then ate two and looked worn out. now hes back sitting under the flow. he always finds his way back there.

 

[RugglesReef]

A boxfish, while cute, is not the best choice for a 32 gallon bio cube. They get very large. If it makes it through this you may want to look into re-homing it.

thanks, we have a 120 gallon we just got and had planned on moving it there once it got bigger.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hey everyone,

I just did a about an 20% water change this morning but we are in need of some advice today, we came home late last night and our maxima clam was totally open and dead. We had it in the sand & have a valentini puffer in our tank and it was nipping at it so i think the combo may have caused its demise. It definitely got eaten a bit by the time we got home and saw. The big problem now is our little baby yellow boxfish. It was kind of just floating around & it didnt eat yesterday, now its finding spots in the tank that it doesnt have to move. In the pic its right under the flow into the tank (its been thre the past hour), earlier it was hiding behind some rocks. So i went in with the net because i thought it had died but as soon as i got it in the net it started moving around getting back to being a little more active. I gave it some live brine shrimp and it perked up and ate a couple which was good but then it just stopped eating. waited 5 mins and it was near the bottom of the tank kind of slowly moving/slightly drifting around, it had control of where it was going but really slow. its almost like its goes in and out of consciousness. there was also one little white spot on him this morning that i had never seen before. what do we do?!?! i dont want it to release toxins into the tank and kill something or everything else but i also would love to save the little thing if we can... Please Help!

32G BioCube

just did a water test but after i did the water change & siphoned up some sand, went to go into our local shop and did a water test but that was after i kicked everything up. gonna go back tomorrow once it settles but info from the last two water tests are below

10/27
ALK 141 Mg 1157
pH 7.4 Ammo 0.6
PHOS 0.1 Nitrite 0.1
Ca 394 Nitrate 11

10/17
ALK 133 Mg 1217
pH 8.0 Ammo 0.1
Phos 0.7 Nirtite 0
Ca 396 Nitrate 28


Thanks for any insight you all can provide!!

You may have multiple issues going on, boxfish are pretty delicate overall, how long have you had it? It won’t release toxins if you’ve had it for some time.
Did the clam smell, was it decomposed? The ammonia level is too high and the pH is too low. However, the low pH is actually making the ammonia less toxic. You will need to do bigger water changes to get the pH up and the ammonia down below 0.20.
Jay

 

[RugglesReef]

I wouldn’t stop the flow - you risk causing more harm than good that way. Best thing you can do for the boxfish right now is getting it into a separate system.

dang, yea. we havnt set up our other tank yet sp no other system. would best option be to see if the store we got it from would take it back for now?

 

[Bucs20fan]

The issue is ammonia, boxfish are sensitive to many things and ammonia is for sure one of them, especially with an ammonia reading of .6 This is a toxic level for many fish. And even worse, when stressed this box fish can nuke the entire tank with its own toxins as well.

 

[RugglesReef]

You may have multiple issues going on, boxfish are pretty delicate overall, how long have you had it? It won’t release toxins if you’ve had it for some time.
Did the clam smell, was it decomposed? The ammonia level is too high and the pH is too low. However, the low pH is actually making the ammonia less toxic. You will need to do bigger water changes to get the pH up and the ammonia down below 0.20.
Jay

we've only had it like 3 weeks, my wife got it while i was out of town. no the clam didnt smell when i tossed it, i wouldnt say decompossed but looked like the puffer or someone ate a bit of it. yea think im going to do a bigger water change tonight. need to get those levels a little more normal.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Lfs is unlikely to take the fish in this condition (it may not make it depending on how bad it is). Best you can do is up the water changes to stabilize everything.

 

[RugglesReef]

The issue is ammonia, boxfish are sensitive to many things and ammonia is for sure one of them, especially with an ammonia reading of .6 This is a toxic level for many fish. And even worse, when stressed this box fish can nuke the entire tank with its own toxins as well.

dang ya'll are making me want to run and do another water change now. poor little fishies ive never gotten a read out of any level for the ammonia until today, could siphoning the sand be the cause of some of the higher ammonia level? when i tested last night with the Saltwater Master test kit it looked like 0 but today after the change is when it spiked doing the test kit at the store. but the boxfish was struggling a bit last night as well.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey everyone,

I just did a about an 20% water change this morning but we are in need of some advice today, we came home late last night and our maxima clam was totally open and dead. We had it in the sand & have a valentini puffer in our tank and it was nipping at it so i think the combo may have caused its demise. It definitely got eaten a bit by the time we got home and saw. The big problem now is our little baby yellow boxfish. It was kind of just floating around & it didnt eat yesterday, now its finding spots in the tank that it doesnt have to move. In the pic its right under the flow into the tank (its been thre the past hour), earlier it was hiding behind some rocks. So i went in with the net because i thought it had died but as soon as i got it in the net it started moving around getting back to being a little more active. I gave it some live brine shrimp and it perked up and ate a couple which was good but then it just stopped eating. waited 5 mins and it was near the bottom of the tank kind of slowly moving/slightly drifting around, it had control of where it was going but really slow. its almost like its goes in and out of consciousness. there was also one little white spot on him this morning that i had never seen before. what do we do?!?! i dont want it to release toxins into the tank and kill something or everything else but i also would love to save the little thing if we can... Please Help!

32G BioCube

just did a water test but after i did the water change & siphoned up some sand, went to go into our local shop and did a water test but that was after i kicked everything up. gonna go back tomorrow once it settles but info from the last two water tests are below

10/27
ALK 141 Mg 1157
pH 7.4 Ammo 0.6
PHOS 0.1 Nitrite 0.1
Ca 394 Nitrate 11

10/17
ALK 133 Mg 1217
pH 8.0 Ammo 0.1
Phos 0.7 Nirtite 0
Ca 396 Nitrate 28


Thanks for any insight you all can provide!!

Your ammoniais a little elevated and over last 30 years ive seen few of these as well as cowfish survive. You go to the LFS and see them eat and take them home and soon they stop eating, weaken and end upon stiff on bottom of tank and recommended for a very mature- not newer tank which is subject to nitrate and ammonia increases

 

[MnFish1]

There (to me ) seems to be a discrepancy in your testing. IMHO - it's really helpful if you post the units for the alk, for example - is it 14.1 DKH - is it something else? Without knowing - it's hard to say anything defininitive IMHO. That said - Its really impossible- I could guess - every one can guess. Take the clam out - do a big water change. Make sure the boxfish is eating (if not - thats part if not all) of the issue.

 

[MnFish1]

There (to me ) seems to be a discrepancy in your testing. IMHO - it's really helpful if you post the units for the alk, for example - is it 14.1 DKH - is it something else? Without knowing - it's hard to say anything defininitive IMHO. That said - Its really impossible- I could guess - every one can guess. Take the clam out - do a big water change. Make sure the boxfish is eating (if not - thats part if not all) of the issue.

BTW - Water change, water change, water change - will likely help - something is wildly off

 

[Sir Kon Salty Sox]

How is fishy

 

[RugglesReef]

How is fishy

I cannot find it anywhere!!! Just spent two hours moving around what rock I could to try and find it and I have no idea where it is.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Finding the boxfish is important - you do not want it to decay in the tank. Check the floor also, I've actually had a boxfish jump out of a tank - never expected that to happen.

Jay