Emergency! Fish with patches help

[starypotter]

Hey, Starypotter!

Based entirely on the photo you provided, I think you might be able to relax a bit. I've got a Midas as well, and when he's frightened by something, he takes on that very same overlay of brown "camouflage" pigment. These guys can change their color quite a bit - almost like a foxface.

Keep up with the testing, the water changes, the doing-it-the-best-you-know-how, and feel free to keep asking questions!

~Bruce

Thanks, I'm feeling a lot better about the Midas now, he looked absolutely dreadful. A 8 month cotton potato, when I found the ammonia was off the charts, we're talking dark green on the API scale I immediately dosed prime and did a partial water transfer with water from my DT. I gave it a while, had to tend to the other fish when I realized how quickly the ammonia spiked like that. And he started looking better. I just put all of the fish into one of the bigger containers pictured above instead of the little ones within the big ones. Used DT water so it was already a decent temperature and salinity. Most of the fish are looking good, Midas is still hiding and still looks a bit brown, but nowhere near as blotchy as before. The clown gobies who are also sick are in a breeder acclimation box so I can keep a closer eye on them. They're both painfully thin. They both keep laying on their sides as well which is concerning but I know some fish just do that, have yet to be able to do the research on that one.

 

[HotRocks]

You may also consider some sort of mesh or screen cover for the container instead of a solid/sealed lid, for the purpose of proper oxygen levels.

 

[starypotter]

You may also consider some sort of mesh or screen cover for the container instead of a solid/sealed lid, for the purpose of proper oxygen levels.

I have a plastic sheet over the top from an old poster and my oxygenation is coming from a airstone and pump that's not all covered up and whatnot.

 

[starypotter]

Okay so I have now moved all of the fish into the big container. I've got a ton of airstones in there, heater, and a powerhead. It's about 9 gallons give or take, my 5 gallon bucket doesn't have marks on it. I took the water from my DT so it was already an acceptable temperature and salinity.

Now tomorrow was going to be the first transfer for these fish using the TTM method. However I also have issues with my clown gobies. They are both extremely thin, and since I have a lot of well respected reefers here I'll pose this question here as well to get as many eyes and opinions as I can. These are my two clown gobies. I had a 4th that has died because of what I'm assuming to be starvation. It was beyond skinny. Then I have T and Straight. (Named now for the PVC I have in their chamber of the acclimation box so I can keep things straight.
T-

And Straight-

So they're not doing so well. I've been trying to feed a variety of frozen food, I hatched fresh brine shrimp, it doesn't seem to be enough to get them eating. It seems like doing another transfer with them might not be the best idea, and I worry about how to help them.
Now it's been recommended that I try to treat for some sort of internal parasite, I'm worried that a medication might be the last straw for them, but if it is something harming them I need to get it to stop. Should I try to give up on doing TTM for now, treat with something to hopefully take care of the parasite? Do I try to focus on getting them to eat? Do I try to continue with TTM? Tomorrow would be the next transfer. I planned on using Humblefish's method of using Prazi on specific days, I just worry that's a lot of stress on a creature that frail already. All they do is lay there. On their sides. Anything you can help me with is much appreciated. I just don't know where to start with the clown gobies in particular.

 

[starypotter]

A heads up for anybody. Emaciated clown gobies are thin enough to get stuck in the slots of a petco 3 way acclimation box. The poor thing was hanging down, suspended by the head. Removed the bottom grate and that's not going back in. Fish didn't seem harmed by it but they're still looking sickly.

@Humblefish do you have any recommendations on what I should do, if I should treat, transfer, feed, or whatever else? I can go to LFS or Petco tomorrow and get some medications.
I have MetroPlex, PraziPro, and BiFuran. I also have Vitachem which I've been trying to add for the clown gobies. Once I get a direction I'll check out all the info in the disease forum to know all of the details I need about the treatment itself, I just don't know where to start.

 

[starypotter]

One of the clown gobies was dead this morning. The other was eating some brine shrimp it seemed but it still doesn't look good, laying on his side, breathing a bit heavy. Can anybody recommend which issues I should be worrying about/treating first? Should I be trying to treat for internal parasites, should I just worry about feeding the skinny one? The clown goby does move around a little sometimes and I've been squirting some living brine shrimp in there throughout the day but I'm just not sure if any of this is helping. @Maritimer @Antics @HotRocks.

 

[HotRocks]

One of the clown gobies was dead this morning. The other was eating some brine shrimp it seemed but it still doesn't look good, laying on his side, breathing a bit heavy. Can anybody recommend which issues I should be worrying about/treating first? Should I be trying to treat for internal parasites, should I just worry about feeding the skinny one? The clown goby does move around a little sometimes and I've been squirting some living brine shrimp in there throughout the day but I'm just not sure if any of this is helping. @Maritimer @Antics @HotRocks.

The best advice I can give you is "typically" a fish that is or was eating and stops, generally has some sort of disease related issue causing this. Now certain medications can also cause supression of appetite.

Also ammonia. Ammonia that is present even at minute level will start causing internal damage. This will make a fish stop eating as well. Yesterday knowing how small of water volume these fish we're being kept in prior to transfer would point me towards ammonia burn. If they have been exposed to ammonia. 30 min baths in methalyne blue may reverse the damage is it wasn't severe.

I always start feeding food soaked ABX with all new fish arrivals.

 

[starypotter]

The best advice I can give you is "typically" a fish that is or was eating and stops, generally has some sort of disease related issue causing this. Now certain medications can also cause supression of appetite.

Also ammonia. Ammonia that is present even at minute level will start causing internal damage. This will make a fish stop eating as well. Yesterday knowing how small of water volume these fish we're being kept in prior to transfer would point me towards ammonia burn. If they have been exposed to ammonia. 30 min baths in methalyne blue may reverse the damage is it wasn't severe.

I always start feeding food soaked ABX with all new fish arrivals.

So I'm trying to find ABX and I'm getting not fish stuff, just vape things?Anything else I should be looking up for that?

I'll go to LFS tomorrow to get some of the methalyne blue. I'll do a dip tomorrow. I know LFS runs low dose of copper. I don't know how long these fish were in the LFS system. Do I have to worry that they came from this system recently and will not be getting a sort of treatment?

Most of the fish seem fine, they're mostly eating and doing their thing. It's just the really thin one that I'm super concerned about, it almost seems like it's thinner than it was yesterday. I think it's taken a few bites here and there but it's so hard to see a tiny little clown goby eating tiny little brine shrimp. I think it ate 1 or 2 Marine S pellets, but I don't know what a fish with a healthy appetite would eat. Would they eat just that, or would they eat a dozen? I think my clown fish will eat until they explode if I let them, they just never stop, but my cardinal only really takes a few bites here and there. The Midas seems to give up after a while too so it's hard for me to tell what normal eating would be for this little one that the focus is on.

I'm thinking Prazi will be a good place to start in the event that there's something internal? So maybe after I do a dip with the blue I'll do that? Next day probably to avoid stress or will the blue not cause that sort of reaction since I know you're not supposed to bump treatments back to back.

 

[Maritimer]

"ABX", in this case, is shorthand for "Antibiotics".

Low-dose copper can subdue symptoms, while leaving the fish still very much infected. A week - or even a month - after removal to a clean system, the disease can come back with a raging vengeance.

~Bruce

 

[starypotter]

"ABX", in this case, is shorthand for "Antibiotics".

Low-dose copper can subdue symptoms, while leaving the fish still very much infected. A week - or even a month - after removal to a clean system, the disease can come back with a raging vengeance.

~Bruce

Ah thank you for that clarification!
I have a couple fish that have been out of the copper system for a month and a half and two months, they seem mostly okay. The one seems to have some weird issue with it's gill that I've been trying to keep an eye on. It seems to be a bit too 'flappy' but I don't really see much other than that.

With so many things of concern with the different fish I'm going to run a Methylene Blue dip first because of the ammonia exposure, but after that I am unsure. Each point I have seems to have some pros and cons that I'm having a hard time deciding on because I'm afraid to treat a fish and have to worry about it's appetite, but I also worry that if I put them in my tank and everything that an observational QT will come back to bite me.