CBB gasping at surface

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Earl Karl

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So, for some reason, my CBB is gasping at the surface in my QT. I have a cleaner wrasse, flame angel, and sixline wrasse that are doing great, although all of them except the sixline have ich. Haven't started treatment yet because I want them to start eating properly before medication. Everyone eats everything. The CBB seems to love bloodworms A LOT, which I am not surprised. I had the CBB for a week or so, and he started to gasp at the surface. This started when the temp rose up to 82F, so I lowered it down to 78 slowly, he is still gasping at the surface. Well I don't know if he is gasping, but he puts his face out of the surface and stays there. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are good. He doesn't eat as much anymore as he is busy putting his face out of the water. What is going on? All of the other fish are thriving except for this fellow. Could ich play a role? He doesn't look to bad yet especially not as bad as the flame (which doesn't look bad either). I don't know if I should treating copper yet, I don't want to stress out the fish too much.
 
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Earl Karl said:
So, for some reason, my CBB is gasping at the surface in my QT. I have a cleaner wrasse, flame angel, and sixline wrasse that are doing great, although all of them except the sixline have ich. Haven't started treatment yet because I want them to start eating properly before medication. Everyone eats everything. The CBB seems to love bloodworms A LOT, which I am not surprised. I had the CBB for a week or so, and he started to gasp at the surface. This started when the temp rose up to 82F, so I lowered it down to 78 slowly, he is still gasping at the surface. Well I don't know if he is gasping, but he puts his face out of the surface and stays there. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are good. He doesn't eat as much anymore as he is busy putting his face out of the water. What is going on? All of the other fish are thriving except for this fellow.
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Possible that the Ich has infected the fish's gills making it hard for him to breath, and heavy breathing is a symptom of ich as well. I would start treatment immediately.
 
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Earl Karl said:
How long should I do the dip for?
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Freshwater dips should be done on average for 3 minutes but no more than 5.
This is Humblefish's guide to freshwater dip, and it works great :)

How To Treat - Fill a bucket with RODI water, and use a heater to match the temperature to the water the fish is coming from. Aerate the water heavily for at least 30 minutes prior to doing the dip, then discontinue aeration while performing the dip. Fish aren’t overly pH sensitive for short durations like this, but you can squirt a little tank water into the dip just before the fish goes in to help bring it up.

Place the fish in the freshwater (FW) dip and observe closely. It is not unusual for them to freak out a little at first. Also, tangs are notorious for “playing dead” during a FW dip. The important thing is to watch their gills; they should be breathing heavily at all times during the dip. If breathing slows, it’s time to exit the dip. Dip the fish for no longer than 5 minutes. Multiple dips may be done, but it’s important to give your fish a day to recuperate in-between dips.

For flukes, use a dark (preferably black) bucket so you can see if tiny white worms fall out of the fish (especially out of the gills) at around the 3-4 minute mark. The worms will settle to the bottom, so you can use a flashlight to look for them there as well.
 
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Crabs Mcjones said:
Freshwater dips should be done on average for 3 minutes but no more than 5.
This is Humblefish's guide to freshwater dip, and it works great :)

How To Treat - Fill a bucket with RODI water, and use a heater to match the temperature to the water the fish is coming from. Aerate the water heavily for at least 30 minutes prior to doing the dip, then discontinue aeration while performing the dip. Fish aren’t overly pH sensitive for short durations like this, but you can squirt a little tank water into the dip just before the fish goes in to help bring it up.

Place the fish in the freshwater (FW) dip and observe closely. It is not unusual for them to freak out a little at first. Also, tangs are notorious for “playing dead” during a FW dip. The important thing is to watch their gills; they should be breathing heavily at all times during the dip. If breathing slows, it’s time to exit the dip. Dip the fish for no longer than 5 minutes. Multiple dips may be done, but it’s important to give your fish a day to recuperate in-between dips.

For flukes, use a dark (preferably black) bucket so you can see if tiny white worms fall out of the fish (especially out of the gills) at around the 3-4 minute mark. The worms will settle to the bottom, so you can use a flashlight to look for them there as well.
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What he suggested ^^^^

Is he showing interest in eating ? Do you have some pics ?

As a thumb rule , I learnt from @Humblefish to always give a bath of nitrofuracin green NFG to all my fishes before going into qt .
Do you have NFG ? If not , either I would get that at the earliest or second best option is a combination of seachem kanaplex , metroplex and Furan 2 as a broad spectrum antibiotics

Regards,
Abhishek
 
I do have metroplex and kanaplex, should I use it in the bath? Or in the QT? I mainly use them for medicated foods, but my cbb hates them. He eats everything else like I explained, but now, maybe not so much.
 
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Earl Karl said:
I do have metroplex and kanaplex, should I use it in the bath? Or in the QT? I mainly use them for medicated foods, but my cbb hates them. He eats everything else like I explained, but now, maybe not so much.
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I wouldn't use anything in the bath, just a straight up freshwater dip.
 
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So I only was able to do a 3 minute dip because his breathing slowed down a lot for awhile at 2:40 so I waited for about 20 more seconds and finally I pulled him out because he was breathing very slowly. After I released him back to QT, he went back to breathing on the surface like this below.
20180526_112530.jpg
I don't know what is going on, but hopefully he is ok.
 
Why does the water look yellow? Are you treating with anything?

Also, what kind of surface agitation do you have in QT to provide oxygen?
 
Water looks yellow due to 6000k light. Growing some chaeto lol. No treatment yet. About to start dosing copper. Will remove chaeto when starting to dose.
I have an air filter and 2 wavemakers pointed at the surface.
Should I dose copper in this condition? Or will this stress out the fish?
Does anyone have an idea what is wrong with this fish?
 
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Regardless of what treatment you decide on, I would let the tank temperature decrease to the low 70s. The fish don't need it so warm, and lower temps allow for more oxygen in the water.
 
Whenever you use medication use a wooden stone to provide as much oxygen as possible . Just surface agitation won't cut it especially when you have other fishes .
 
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Earl Karl said:
OH MY GOD! I just tested my pH and it was at 7! I don't know if that would be the reason but it must be this low a long time. Well, time to buff the pH.
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What test kit are you using to test ph? Personally I wouldn't futz with it. If you start going through and adjusting all kinds of stuff itll stress your fish out more. Especially since only one fish seems to be afflicted.
 
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