Reef Discussion

[Trash]

hi all, it has been a long time since I've been on these forums; I have had some health issues.

I have a harlequin tuskfish (about 8cm) in a 100 litre quarantine tank by himself. He has been there for about 4 weeks, he has been feeding well and I have been giving him weekly water changes.

I was due to do a water change today but before that I noticed him still in his pvc pipe. Normally he is cruising around waiting for feeding time. He was breathing rapidly and deeply. My first instinct was to do the water change, 50% done. I then tested the water parameters: temp 25, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, pH 8.0, SG 1.019. I also added some carbon in the tank and made sure the airstone and internal filters were agitating the water surface for good gas exchange. I also added Seachem Alpha to detoxify any ammonia. He has been recovering all day with the lights out.

I did notice some stringy white poo still attached to him. I'm not sure if this is related; I did treat him with praziquantel when he arrived.

My first thought was ammonia, maybe my test kit is not accurate? I also thought maybe low oxygen. He is still in the pvc pipe breathing heavily (not as much as this morning though).

Any ideas? I don't know what else to do.

Cheers Dave

 

[Wazza22]

Hi Mate,
How is he doing?
Does he still have an appetite?
I cant think of anything obvious.
What type of water are you using for water changes? As in NSW or RODI with Salt mix
Reason i ask is i use NSW and have a 1000L IBC to store it and it got really manky at the bottom after about 12 months.
I attribute this to a recent fish loss i suffered in QT (cleaned it out on the weekend)

Cheers
Wazz

 

[Trash]

Hey Wazz,

Today he is still hiding in his pvc pipe breathing heavily. I moved the pipe to see if I could notice anything else and he seemed to be bloated around the belly region. His scales weren't raised and he had more stringy poo. I'm thinking maybe gut worms or a blockage. He isn't interested in food at all.

So I have lowered the SG to around 1.016 and have treated with praziquantel. Maybe I should give him an Epsom salt bath to clear any blockage that may be present.

The water I have been using for water changes has been freshly mixed with RO a few days before. I don't think that is a problem as it looks very clean.

I will see how he looks in the morning.

Cheers Dave

 

[Wazza22]

Hey Wazz,

Today he is still hiding in his pvc pipe breathing heavily. I moved the pipe to see if I could notice anything else and he seemed to be bloated around the belly region. His scales weren't raised and he had more stringy poo. I'm thinking maybe gut worms or a blockage. He isn't interested in food at all.

So I have lowered the SG to around 1.016 and have treated with praziquantel. Maybe I should give him an Epsom salt bath to clear any blockage that may be present.

The water I have been using for water changes has been freshly mixed with RO a few days before. I don't think that is a problem as it looks very clean.

I will see how he looks in the morning.

Cheers Dave

Ok Good luck mate, hope he pulls through.
Freshly mixed salt/RO isnt going to cause any issues like i had with NSW

 

[Trash]

Well I found the poor little guy dead this morning. He looked slightly bloated and had stringy poo attached to him.

It is a mystery to me, I had him in quarantine for 4 weeks and he was doing really well. The water was good, he was eating well and had awesome colours. He was such a cruisy beautiful fish.

Thanks for your input Wazz.

 

[Wazza22]

Well I found the poor little guy dead this morning. He looked slightly bloated and had stringy poo attached to him.

It is a mystery to me, I had him in quarantine for 4 weeks and he was doing really well. The water was good, he was eating well and had awesome colours. He was such a cruisy beautiful fish.

Thanks for your input Wazz.

Sorry to hear that Dave.
Sometimes it's a complete mystery how these guy's don't make it.
I had a batch of 5 Lyretails in QT about 4 months ago and 1 of them didn't make it.
He had a bulging Red Anus for about 2 weeks from the time he stopped eating which was about 3 weeks into QT and 2 weeks into Hypo treatment.
Maybe the Hypo triggered something IDK, always a bugger to lose a fish.
Doubt there would be many out there to never have lost one early though.

 

[Trash]

Sorry to hear that Dave.
Sometimes it's a complete mystery how these guy's don't make it.
I had a batch of 5 Lyretails in QT about 4 months ago and 1 of them didn't make it.
He had a bulging Red Anus for about 2 weeks from the time he stopped eating which was about 3 weeks into QT and 2 weeks into Hypo treatment.
Maybe the Hypo triggered something IDK, always a bugger to lose a fish.
Doubt there would be many out there to never have lost one early though.

Thanks Wazz, I suppose that's why we quarantine. Who knows if was something that could have been passed onto the display tank. There are so many things in this hobby which are still mysteries. It can be a very frustrating hobby but is still the most rewarding hobby I can think of.