Fire Fish looks bad.. Help!

A_Poythress · Jun 6, 2018

Hey guys, one of my firefish in my tank is not looking too hot. He’s always kind of had a frayed tail, but looking at him today he just looks a lot worse. Anything I can do to help him? There does not seem to be an aggression from the fish but I am going to increase feeding a little more to see if that helps anything. Does anyone have suggestions?

A_Poythress · Jun 6, 2018

Humblefish · Jun 6, 2018

Looks like somebody is beating him up. Have you noticed your clownfish going after him??

A_Poythress · Jun 6, 2018

I haven't noticed it. Even during feeding. I do notice that this particular fish tends to stay hidden in the rockwork a lot or he hides behind the powerhead like he is doing in the picture.

I have heard people talk about soaking food in some vitamins/supplements to help rebuild their tissue and what not. Is that a real thing? This is my first time dealing with something like this so I am not sure how to handle it. I don't want the fish to die.

A_Poythress · Jun 6, 2018

I can say he is the only fish in the tank (out of 4) that looks unhealthy. Everyone else is fat and colorful!

blkhwkz · Jun 6, 2018

A_Poythress said:
I haven't noticed it. Even during feeding. I do notice that this particular fish tends to stay hidden in the rockwork a lot or he hides behind the powerhead like he is doing in the picture.

I have heard people talk about soaking food in some vitamins/supplements to help rebuild their tissue and what not. Is that a real thing? This is my first time dealing with something like this so I am not sure how to handle it. I don't want the fish to die.

I soak food in Selcon. Have a purple firefish that took a beating from a midas blenny in QT and his fins and tail are growing back.

Humblefish · Jun 6, 2018

Read this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/vitamins-herbal-remedies.304287/

A_Poythress · Jun 6, 2018

blkhwkz said:
I soak food in Selcon. Have a purple firefish that took a beating from a midas blenny in QT and his fins and tail are growing back.

Ok, so I should set up a QT and let him heal there? I have the ability to do so.

blkhwkz · Jun 6, 2018

A_Poythress said:
Ok, so I should set up a QT and let him heal there? I have the ability to do so.

I moved mine to the DT and let him heal there. Have another tank with a firefish that got beat up and it healed in the DT too. Really up to you, might be quicker to treat in QT where it won't keep getting beat up. Firefish are very passive and easily picked on by other fish.

Big G · Jun 6, 2018

I've seen that behavior from firefish when being bullied/beaten up by other fish. They can be very timid. QT it to save it and you may have to re-home it to save it and give it a comfortable life.

GoldeneyeRet · Jun 6, 2018

One of your firefish....

Firefish will not usuallycoexist with other firefish unless they are a bonded pair.

I would remove one of them.

A_Poythress · Jun 8, 2018

GoldeneyeRet said:
One of your firefish....

Firefish will not usuallycoexist with other firefish unless they are a bonded pair.

I would remove one of them.

They’ve been in a tank together for over two years now. Never been an issue

Gareth elliott · Jun 8, 2018

A_Poythress said:
They’ve been in a tank together for over two years now. Never been an issue

Firefish breeding habits are not well known, there could have been a change that caused territorial aggression. I have had fish randomly after years of cohabitation begin to become aggressive to one another. Could be reaching breeding age, sudden fear response produces pheromones, there are a lot of behaviors we dont always have an explanation for with fish.

A_Poythress · Jun 8, 2018

Gareth elliott said:
Firefish breeding habits are not well known, there could have been a change that caused territorial aggression. I have had fish randomly after years of cohabitation begin to become aggressive to one another. Could be reaching breeding age, sudden fear response produces pheromones, there are a lot of behaviors we dont always have an explanation for with fish.

That makes sense.

I have been monitoring the tank very closely. I have not seen any aggression other than my two clown fish chasing each other around, but if I am not mistaken they tend to do that. Neither one of them have any scarring or marks so I believe they are just messing around.

I began feeding with multivitamin last night. There is definitely a difference in the fire fish today. He is swimming a lot more around the other fish which is not like him. He tends to hide a majority of the day.

GoldeneyeRet · Jun 8, 2018

A_Poythress said:
I can say he is the only fish in the tank (out of 4) that looks unhealthy. Everyone else is fat and colorful!

A_Poythress said:
He’s always kind of had a frayed tail

A_Poythress said:
They’ve been in a tank together for over two years now. Never been an issue

A_Poythress said:
He tends to hide a majority of the day.

Firefish that hide are usually being intimidated by other fish. Could be the clowns but my money is still on firefish vs firefish aggression.

Best of luck !