Bangaii Cardnalfish is Acting Weird

[danenelsen]

Hello everyone. The weirdest thing just happened. When I woke up, my fairly new Bangaii Cardnalfish was doing fine, a few hours later (around 9:30), I came to check on him and he was laying on the bottom not really moving. However, I just came back in to check again, and he was swimming around. Is he pulling an April Fool’s joke on me? What should I do? Leave him be? Move him to quarantine? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jekyl]

Read this and provide white light photos and video please.

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[danenelsen]

 

[danenelsen]

Testing parameters now.

 

[Sharkbait19]

There’s been a bad supply of them recently, they are particularly susceptible to iridovirus infections (I lost a few recently this way). That could be the issue here.
@Jay Hemdal

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everyone. The weirdest thing just happened. When I woke up, my fairly new Bangaii Cardnalfish was doing fine, a few hours later (around 9:30), I came to check on him and he was laying on the bottom not really moving. However, I just came back in to check again, and he was swimming around. Is he pulling an April Fool’s joke on me? What should I do? Leave him be? Move him to quarantine? Thanks in advance.

Assure ammonia not elevated and is fish breathing normal or labored?
There is an influx of imported banggai with various issues and may be the case

 

[danenelsen]

Assure ammonia not elevated and is fish breathing normal or labored?
There is an influx of imported banggai with various issues and may be the case

Ammonia was 0. His breathing is back to normal, it was very labored while he was laying on the sand bed. He seems to be doing fine for now. I’ll keep an eye on him.

 

[Uncle99]

Hello everyone. The weirdest thing just happened. When I woke up, my fairly new Bangaii Cardnalfish was doing fine, a few hours later (around 9:30), I came to check on him and he was laying on the bottom not really moving. However, I just came back in to check again, and he was swimming around. Is he pulling an April Fool’s joke on me? What should I do? Leave him be? Move him to quarantine? Thanks in advance.

Maybe someone bullied him/her?
Stunned him/her a bit.
Fish can be nasty!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ammonia was 0. His breathing is back to normal, it was very labored while he was laying on the sand bed. He seems to be doing fine for now. I’ll keep an eye on him.

I see no sign of aggression and as mentioned, an issue with imports. An airstone in their tank is always welcomed

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ammonia was 0. His breathing is back to normal, it was very labored while he was laying on the sand bed. He seems to be doing fine for now. I’ll keep an eye on him.

Given the small size of the fish, I'd guess it is captive raised. That makes the Iridovirus less of a possibility.

I'm not sure what happened here, but if the fish is still eating normally, I don't see any treatable symptoms.