Erratic Royal Gramma behavior?

Mbrklynb · Apr 6, 2019

hey all, pretty new to the hobby and was wondering if anyone had any insight as to what’s going on with my RG.
New tank, added clowns a month after, and RG about a month after that. Everything was fine up until a few weeks ago when my RG would occasionally scratch itself against the green “moss” type stuff on the live rock. At first it seemed like he just liked the feel, it’s gotten a little more consistent though.

(Scratching)
(Scratching sand, heading back to cave”

Filmed what he usually does which is leave the white cave where he’s just creeping, scoping out, and then he’ll go over to the other side and start rubbing against things, only to go back to the cave and hang out again.
Clowns are normal, could he just be attempting to get food from the rock/sand? Water parameters are all great, have done water changes and have them on a good schedule. Gramma usually eats mysis but will grab some blood worms/garlic pellets.
Started dosing food with Xtreme Garlic, Focus and Kanoplex.
Tried catching him for a freshwater dip and was EXTREMELY unsuccessful, this guy is slick. Any advice would help, thanks all!

Mjrenz · Apr 6, 2019

Did you qt any of the fish before adding them to the tank? Any white spots on him?

Millimylilly · Apr 6, 2019

Looks like he might have some sort of disease/infection. I get those on fish sometimes too. I just keep feeding plenty of good quality frozen food and they will hopefully stay healthy.

Mbrklynb · Apr 6, 2019

Mjrenz said:
Did you qt any of the fish before adding them to the tank? Any white spots on him?

Unfortunately I didn’t. Since I’m a noob I just researched on how to acclimate them properly.
It’s just weird because this behavior is pretty recent but he’s been in for about a month and a half so I guess that’s not long.. no white spots but he’s got that grey portion of discoloration on his body now, you can kind of see in the video it’s around his upper mid body.

Mjrenz · Apr 6, 2019

Mbrklynb said:
Unfortunately I didn’t. Since I’m a noob I just researched on how to acclimate them properly.
It’s just weird because this behavior is pretty recent but he’s been in for about a month and a half so I guess that’s not long.. no white spots but he’s got that grey portion of discoloration on his body now, you can kind of see in the video it’s around his upper mid body.

There's a lot of good info here and these are some of the experts who can help you better identify what's going on with him @Frtdrmrose7 @4FordFamily @ngoodermuth @HotRocks

OutsideBrian · Apr 6, 2019

You could try catching him with a trap so you could put him into a hospital tank for meds.
General cure and metroplex might be s good place to start.
Try posting or having this moved into the fish disease section.

HotRocks · Apr 6, 2019

It's hard to tell much in the video, as far as diagnosis on exactly what may be afflicting the fish.

Scratching when targeting the gills is usually flukes, velvet, or ich. Without spots on the fish it's anyone's guess.

The best thing to do is catch the fish and do a FW dip to confirm if flukes are present or not. Then go from there.

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 6, 2019

When was the last addition to your tank? He is flashing because he is attempting to manually remove something from his skin or gills. The greying area is probably from abrasions from flashing. Flukes can also cause discoloring of skin.
I would recommend you catch him some how and do a FW dip for flukes.
You can treat either in QT or in DT with Prazipro if it’s flukes. I would still get a QT ready in case this turns out to be something else that would require copper.
The hard part is your clowns and Blenny? Have thicker slime coats and can carry ich, velvet, etc without always showing symptoms.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

Mbrklynb · Apr 7, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
When was the last addition to your tank? He is flashing because he is attempting to manually remove something from his skin or gills. The greying area is probably from abrasions from flashing. Flukes can also cause discoloring of skin.
I would recommend you catch him some how and do a FW dip for flukes.
You can treat either in QT or in DT with Prazipro if it’s flukes. I would still get a QT ready in case this turns out to be something else that would require copper.
The hard part is your clowns and Blenny? Have thicker slime coats and can carry ich, velvet, etc without always showing symptoms.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/flukes-–-general-guidelines.224423/

He was actually the last one, about a month and a half ago. Looked completely fine, although now I know some illnesses can’t be seen with the naked eye I’m thinking I’m going to go for a 10 gallon QT if I see anything drop after I dip him.

Can I get away with just a filter and heater in the QT, with a few places to hide?
Can my clowns and blenny actually fight it off and if so, how long until I add the RG back in? So many questions/scenarios haha

Also, thanks for the article!

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 7, 2019

Mbrklynb said:
He was actually the last one, about a month and a half ago. Looked completely fine, although now I know some illnesses can’t be seen with the naked eye I’m thinking I’m going to go for a 10 gallon QT if I see anything drop after I dip him.

Can I get away with just a filter and heater in the QT, with a few places to hide?
Can my clowns and blenny actually fight it off and if so, how long until I add the RG back in? So many questions/scenarios haha

Also, thanks for the article!

With 4 fish I’d pick up a used 20G setup on Craigslist (cheap) you’ll need a HOB filter, heater, air stone, biospira, filter sponge, ammonia alert badge.
Whatever parasite it turns out to be (hopefully flukes) you’ll need to treat all of the fish in that tank.

Mbrklynb · Apr 7, 2019

Okay, and is my blenny going to be ok in Qt?

Frtdrmrose7 · Apr 7, 2019

Mbrklynb said:
Okay, and is my blenny going to be ok in Qt?

If it turns out to be flukes you can treat in the DT with Prazipro. If it’s ich, velvet, etc you’ll need a QT and copper

Mbrklynb · Apr 8, 2019

Frtdrmrose7 said:
If it turns out to be flukes you can treat in the DT with Prazipro. If it’s ich, velvet, etc you’ll need a QT and copper

Any tips for the Prazi? I’ve seen you should turn your skimmer off for a few days. And take carbon out.. I have a Tunze DOC 9001, do you recommend doing something with it during treatment?
https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/c...MIvo2DlMfB4QIVlP_jBx1RhQC6EAQYASABEgLB_fD_BwE