I don’t even think this is a disease thing, but IDK where else to put this so here goes.
Fish were normal all day, eating, behaving as usual. Earlier this evening I cleaned the tank glass w/the magnetic algae scraper — nothing unusual. I go back and forth on all sides, then down into the sand around the edges of the tank. Only thing I did different this time was move the powerhead to scrape a lot of built up gunk on the glass in the corner, and I was pretty aggressive with that. I didn’t turn the powerhead off — just move it a bit to reach the corner.
I don’t know what I did, but something made the fish — 2 clowns and a tailspot blenny — and cleaner shrimp freak out. Clowns and shrimp are back to normal now, but the blenny is hiding in his barnacle looking like death, with very rapid gill movements. No telltale signs of disease. His skin is clear. But he’s gone white and had his stress stripes — although that is normal for this time of night when he “goes to bed.”
Did I stress him too much? Release some sort of toxin from the sand or whatever was built up in the glass? The feather dusters are right near that corner and they've been happily out this whole time.
I put a poly filter in the sump, and aside from the blenny I’m not seeing any signs of stress from any of the other tank inhabitants now.
I just don’t know what I did or how I can help him other than leave him be to not stress him further.
This fish has a history of being easily stressed. But I’ve never seen him behave quite like he is now — it’s really scary.
Edit: just attached a video. Now he’s moved to the sand like this. This is 100% not normal for him to be on the sand like this. The clowns are doing their normal thing, and so is the shrimp.
Fish were normal all day, eating, behaving as usual. Earlier this evening I cleaned the tank glass w/the magnetic algae scraper — nothing unusual. I go back and forth on all sides, then down into the sand around the edges of the tank. Only thing I did different this time was move the powerhead to scrape a lot of built up gunk on the glass in the corner, and I was pretty aggressive with that. I didn’t turn the powerhead off — just move it a bit to reach the corner.
I don’t know what I did, but something made the fish — 2 clowns and a tailspot blenny — and cleaner shrimp freak out. Clowns and shrimp are back to normal now, but the blenny is hiding in his barnacle looking like death, with very rapid gill movements. No telltale signs of disease. His skin is clear. But he’s gone white and had his stress stripes — although that is normal for this time of night when he “goes to bed.”
Did I stress him too much? Release some sort of toxin from the sand or whatever was built up in the glass? The feather dusters are right near that corner and they've been happily out this whole time.
I put a poly filter in the sump, and aside from the blenny I’m not seeing any signs of stress from any of the other tank inhabitants now.
I just don’t know what I did or how I can help him other than leave him be to not stress him further.
This fish has a history of being easily stressed. But I’ve never seen him behave quite like he is now — it’s really scary.
Edit: just attached a video. Now he’s moved to the sand like this. This is 100% not normal for him to be on the sand like this. The clowns are doing their normal thing, and so is the shrimp.
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