Firefish dying ? Disease ?

[Mikemilly245]

Hey guys, not sure if this has been discussed or not but I just wanted to ask anyways…
Bought this firefish 10 days ago… stupidly didn’t QT, which I regret. Acclimation went well no stress there. Was eating fine and burrowing under live rock. All was well.

Went to do my evening feeding and he was in the corner right in front of the entrance to his tunnel on his side, breathing heavily.. tried to get him to move around and he jumped right up and went into his cave upright.

From what I understand a fish on its side almost always means it’s going to die… can I save it ?

I have two clowns in QT at the moment… due to a lot of circumstances I really can’t add him in and reset the clock on the clowns if it’s ich/disease.. been battling ammonia and resetting the clock might be fatal for everyone..is this almost certainly disease? Will I need to let my tank go fallow for 6 weeks? Any insight or tips are greatly appreciated.. I really wanna save this guy

 

[fishguy242]

Hi welcome to the reef, pics,short video will help experts...

Some Helpful Hints When Posting or Responding to Threads in the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis Section

Aquarium Fish Disease Problem Solving Determining the best course of action for a problem with your aquarium can be a difficult task. Even advanced aquarists will often need to seek the help of others for complicated or unique issues. Our intent here on Reef 2 Reef is to offer expert advice...

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#fishmedic

 

[Mikemilly245]

Thank you. will try to get pics tomorrow morning… hes just in his cave and can’t see anything. Will provide current water parameters then.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I agree pics and a video would help.
Any aggression from the clowns?

 

[Mikemilly245]

I agree pics and a video would help.
Any aggression from the clowns?

No aggression from clowns… firefish was in the display tank by himself. The clowns have never met him they’ve been in QT this whole time

 

[Mikemilly245]

Checked on him this morning…
He looks completely fine… swimming around looking for food, not gasping as hard. Not laying on his side that I can tell… what’s going on?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Checked on him this morning…
He looks completely fine… swimming around looking for food, not gasping as hard. Not laying on his side that I can tell… what’s going on?

Video under blue light doesn't work very well for disease assessment. If you can get one under white lights, that would help.

Is the fish actually eating, not just looking for food?

Jay

 

[Mikemilly245]

Video under blue light doesn't work very well for disease assessment. If you can get one under white lights, that would help.

Is the fish actually eating, not just looking for food?

Jay

Will do at lunch time, lights were on ramp up it was very early.
He was eating lots actually. Since he’s pretty new to the tank he’s been pretty reclusive, but this morning he was roaming all around the tank and eating tons.

 

[Mikemilly245]

Still acting completely fine… experts, see anything out of the ordinary??

 

[Mikemilly245]

Still acting completely fine… experts, see anything out of the ordinary??

Not sure if that video is working , here’s a Imgur
That’s as white as my camera will allow, it gets wonky under my lights

 

[KrisReef]

I don’t see anything but based upon the thread the fish was just playing sick to mess with the OP’s mind and the gag work way beyond its wildest dreams!

He was on Reef2Reef late last night and saw that he might get thrown in to the copper tank so he got up early, ate like a pig and made sure that you saw him swimming normally?

Hope I’m close enough to the truth, sick fish are stressed and stressful.

 

[Mikemilly245]

Lol I hope you’re right… we all have our days right ???
Will update if anything happens

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Not sure if that video is working , here’s a Imgur
That’s as white as my camera will allow, it gets wonky under my lights

I don't see any apparent issues.

Jay

 

[Mikemilly245]

I don't see any apparent issues.

Jay

Went to do my evening feeding.. he came out like usual, started eating then started to violently shake, quickly darted to a hole I didn’t even know he had, and is now on his side in the entrance, almost like he knocked himself out.

Will watch and keep updating, hasn’t moved at all for about 10 minutes

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I have no idea what that’s all about!
Jay

 

[Mikemilly245]

I have no idea what that’s all about!
Jay

So… when a fish dies… how often of the time is it parasites/disease? I just want to know if I should go fallow or not

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So… when a fish dies… how often of the time is it parasites/disease? I just want to know if I should go fallow or not

Having a tank go fallow is a protection against external parasites and this fish isn’t showing symptoms of that. Is this the only fish in the tank?

Jay

 

[Mikemilly245]

Having a tank go fallow is a protection against external parasites and this fish isn’t showing symptoms of that. Is this the only fish in the tank?

Jay

Yep only fish at the moment besides a hermit… sucks but he hasn’t moved in that spot since about 7:00pm… don’t think he’s gonna make it.
I’ll check in the morning and update.

 

[Mikemilly245]

Welp, he didn’t make it, checked the next morning and he was in the same spot…
Guessing he just hit his head super hard on the live rock? Don’t want to rule out parasites but like you said it didn’t look like he had any
RIP :/

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It's unlikely that it hit its head hard enough to kill it - these fish are adapted to living around rock and coral. Sorry, I just don't know what did happen though

Jay