Yellow Foxface Breathing Heavily

[MossyFroggyLove]

Hey guys, so I think my foxface is breathing heavily. His gills seem to be moving fast but I dont know for sure. Also I saw a long white stringy thing hanging from his anus. About 30 mins later the white stringy thing is gone.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hey guys, so I think my foxface is breathing heavily. His gills seem to be moving fast but I dont know for sure. Also I saw a long white stringy thing hanging from his anus. About 30 mins later the white stringy thing is gone.

Are there other fish in the tank? Are they fine?
Is the foxface still eating?
How long have you had the fish?

If you post a clear video under white light, I can get a respiration rate for you.

The stringy feces can be from its diet, from internal disease or from not eating.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Are there other fish in the tank? Are they fine?
Is the foxface still eating?
How long have you had the fish?

If you post a clear video under white light, I can get a respiration rate for you.

The stringy feces can be from its diet, from internal disease or from not eating.

There are other fish in the tank. Those other fish are perfectly fine. The foxface eats quite a lot. So far I have had the foxface for about 2 weeks.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

You see, the foxface had a history of having ich in my tank and my cleaner wrasse cleaned it up. My LFS said that while the ich may be gone, it might still be in recovery process. They asked me to observe more.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

I dont know how to upload a video in reef2reef. Do you just upload it like a picture or is there more to it

 

[Magic031707]

You see, the foxface had a history of having ich in my tank and my cleaner wrasse cleaned it up. My LFS said that while the ich may be gone, it might still be in recovery process. They asked me to observe more.

Unfortunately, the ich is not gone. It is still in your tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I dont know how to upload a video in reef2reef. Do you just upload it like a picture or is there more to it

Hosting a video on You Tube is what most people do for videos.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Unfortunately, the ich is not gone. It is still in your tank.

I know. The eggs are still in my sand

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Hosting a video on You Tube is what most people do for videos.

I will attempt to do it as soon as possible.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Just to follow up. The foxface eats like crazy. It eats so much. It is also likes to hide when you are looking at it. It also changes colour very often and very fast. His poop has already returned back to normal.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

The foxface is breathing at around 180 gill beats per minute, the normal rate for this fish would be around 80. The video isn't clear enough for me to see the fish's skin or body condition.

That it is still eating well is a good sign, but it also makes diagnosis less clear. It could be gill flukes. You could test that assumption by giving the fish a 5 minute freshwater dip. If its breathing rate improves after 2 days or so, then it is flukes, and you would need to treat for that. Some people skip the dip (because it is stressful, and this fish has venomous spines) and they just treat the tank with praziquantel. Can you get some form of that drug?

 

[get-salty]

These foxfaces are EXTREMELY skittish. They even go camo and run/hide at feeding time or when someone is too close to the glass.
The fact that he is eating a lot is a very good sign. It will recover.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

The foxface is breathing at around 180 gill beats per minute, the normal rate for this fish would be around 80. The video isn't clear enough for me to see the fish's skin or body condition.

That it is still eating well is a good sign, but it also makes diagnosis less clear. It could be gill flukes. You could test that assumption by giving the fish a 5 minute freshwater dip. If its breathing rate improves after 2 days or so, then it is flukes, and you would need to treat for that. Some people skip the dip (because it is stressful, and this fish has venomous spines) and they just treat the tank with praziquantel. Can you get some form of that drug?

Is gill fluke dangerous? Because I am reluctant to do freshwater dip cause I did that on my tomini tang it seemed fine afterwards but the next morning I found it dead. The praziquantel I am also reluctant to use becauseI have a cleaner wrasse and I heard that wrasses are sensitive to praziquantell

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

So a few questions.
Is gill fluke dangerous?
Can my cleaner wrasse clean gill flukesfrom the foxface?
Can the gill fluke spread to other fish?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Is gill fluke dangerous? Because I am reluctant to do freshwater dip cause I did that on my tomini tang it seemed fine afterwards but the next morning I found it dead. The praziquantel I am also reluctant to use becauseI have a cleaner wrasse and I heard that wrasses are sensitive to praziquantell

Yes, gill flukes can be fatal. Freshwater dips can be stressful, and are really just a diagnostic tool. Wrasses handle prazi if the treatment is done properly. Besides, if it is gill flukes, all of the fish will need to be treated.

The foxface could have some other issue that is causing the rapid breathing; anemia from a viral disease for example. Those issues are difficult to diagnose and impossible to treat, so I focus on the treatable, more common possibility, which is gill flukes.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Yes, gill flukes can be fatal. Freshwater dips can be stressful, and are really just a diagnostic tool. Wrasses handle prazi if the treatment is done properly. Besides, if it is gill flukes, all of the fish will need to be treated.

The foxface could have some other issue that is causing the rapid breathing; anemia from a viral disease for example. Those issues are difficult to diagnose and impossible to treat, so I focus on the treatable, more common possibility, which is gill flukes.

If I am not mistaken, my foxfade does not show any symptoms of gill flukes or anemia except for rapid gill movement

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

The foxface has a great appetite and does not scratch or anything

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Can someone tell me the gill beats per minute for blue green chromis and common cleaner wrasse

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Can someone tell me the gill beats per minute for blue green chromis and common cleaner wrasse

I don’t have those two species in my respiration rate database, but damselfish typically breath between 80 and 100 beats per minute. Cleaner wrasse are too small and fast for me to get a reading on them.

Generally, if you see open mouth breathing, or rates above 120 on any fish, there is an issue. Anything above around 180 to 200 is likely to show the fish is dying.