Blenny possibly dying...need advice quuickly

[Justin....#JAMAS]

so ive just noticed my midas blenny on the sand and he always is in a rock perched....i noticed he was losing his color like he couldnt get oxygen or something? theres plenty of surface agitation and more air bubbles now....i isolated him and got him off the sand but no other fish are showing any symptoms, there are no white spots or anything either on the blenny.....ive had him for about a year now....maybe a little longer...do they tend to die quickly or whats the deal? help...heres a pic of just snapped of him...had to turn the whites on for a sec..

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

almost like hes getting white spots all over on the inside from no oxygen, not ich....but he loses his brown color and gets turns white or has these white spots like his internal organs aernt getting oxygen so hes shutting down?

 

[Big G]

Anything new added to the tank that is "wet" like fish, corals, rocks, inverts?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

nothing at all

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

ive noticed the past few weeks that he wouldnt come out of his rock as much and ive dosed vitamin c once and he perked back up and came outy but ive never seen him on the sand and have never really had a fish loss.....so i kinda dont know what to do....ive got him isolated with air bubbles right on him and his color comes back here and there

 

[Big G]

Depending on the source, the lifespan is 2 to 5 years or so.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

it was just eating yesterday.....there are no white spots or anything on the outside of its body.....does anyone ever had this happen to their blenny where they cant breathe?

 

[Big G]

Both flukes and velvet can cause the loss of color as they both interfere with the gill's ability to do their work absorbing O2 from the water. A freshwater dip would confirm or eliminate flukes as the culprit.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

how long?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Well i dipped him in freshwater for about 6 min with an aerator and didnt see any kind of fluke white stuff coming off of him at all, but putting him back in the isolation basket, he looked as if he was getting very little color back....he was looking a little purple before the dip....i hope he makes it! Ive had this little one since the beginning

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

Alright, i got up this norning and the blenny looked to have alot of his color back but as i moved the isolation chamber he immediately started to turn white and was having trouble "breathing" if you will....he cant swim around like he used to and the FW dip didnt do much really at all.....can fish just get old i guess, and organs just start to nit function right? lol dumb question but at this point im asking anything in hopes to help this guy

 

[ihavecrabs]

He is stressed. Midas Blennies become discolored when under stress. This happened to my guy when he picked a fight with a YT.

If you can, isolate him to reduce stress. Then return to gen pop.

 

[Big G]

+1 on this ^^^ my pink spot goby would lose all its color when being harassed by tankmates and would hide and not eat. Have you noticed any aggression in the tank?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

well my yellow tang and the blenny havent had any aggression much but a few weeks ago i noticed my blenny staying in his rock alot more and never would come out, also noticed on the tang every other week that a top piece of his fin was missing so i started to think they were both having words towards eachother haha, but would dose some vitamin c and everything would heal up in the next 12 hours.........but now its to the point where the blenny would just have his head stuck out of the rock and would eat like a pig until last night i saw him on the sand and now he cant swim, he wont eat, he gets his color back when hes isolated, but if i even touch the chamber he is in, his skin starts to turn white really quick. i just feel really bad for him and really never have actually seen any agression in the two, theyve always got along and even swam together! weird.....if not fluke or stress, what else could this be internally? can stress really make it where he cant even swim? its like hes paralyzed

 

[Big G]

Tangs can get awfully aggressive. Often without warning. Do you have a separate QT that the blenny could spend some time?

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

I do..i have a very small setup....just set it up right before this happened, but not sure the bacteria has established or cycled yet, does that matter that much?

 

[Big G]

You can use water from your DT to get things going. With just one fish, it should be manageable. Do you have an ammonia alert badge for the QT? Just be prepared for more frequent water changes.

 

[Justin....#JAMAS]

No badge but def plenty of ammonia tests....hes not even eating now...two days now and no food at all! Im just curious how stress makes this used to be pig not eat? If its internal theres prob nor too much i could do is there?

 

[Big G]

Ok, so the freshwater dip helped it a bit, but no flukes (sesame seed looking things) came off into the container. That leaves marine velvet as a possibility. When you look at the fish at an angle does there appear to be a "dusting" on its skin? It's sometimes difficult to see on some fish. Take a long look at a couple of different angles down the length of the fish.

 

[mpadgett88]

Having a similar issue staying dark on rocks other day staying on sand not swimming much at all eating very little. Fatigued. Was stupid easy to net her. She’s in QT now with mela and a tad of copper. Hoping for the best. She’s my favorite fish. She’s been with me 3 months