Fish flashing and not active

[brianhama]

My tank was finally fully stocked and everything was great / everyone was active and happy for the past few weeks. Then a few days ago things started to change. I saw one fish flashing, then two, then three. The next day all the fish just seemed less active. Now they hardly move at all unless being fed. They are pretty much all flashing. I’ve checked the water params and they are perfect. I’ve been doing 20% water changes each day. Things seem to be getting worse. I don’t see anything physically wrong with the fish. No white specks. No fin rot. What’s the next step in diagnosing / treating the tank? Or is this a wait and observe situation still?

Tank: 120 gallon, with 40 gallon sump (filter sock, protein skimmer, lots of bio balls), and two canister filters, no coral, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, low nitrate

Inhabitants: 2 chromis, 1 dogface puffer, 1 copper banded butterfly, 4 clown fish, 1 squirrel fish, 1 lion fish, 1 snowflake eel, 1 blue tang, 1 gobby, 2 fire shrimp, 1 counch, 1 urchin

 

[vetteguy53081]

My tank was finally fully stocked and everything was great / everyone was active and happy for the past few weeks. Then a few days ago things started to change. I saw one fish flashing, then two, then three. The next day all the fish just seemed less active. Now they hardly move at all unless being fed. They are pretty much all flashing. I’ve checked the water params and they are perfect. I’ve been doing 20% water changes each day. Things seem to be getting worse. I don’t see anything physically wrong with the fish. No white specks. No fin rot. What’s the next step in diagnosing / treating the tank? Or is this a wait and observe situation still?

Tank: 120 gallon, with 40 gallon sump (filter sock, protein skimmer, lots of bio balls), and two canister filters, no coral, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, low nitrate

Inhabitants: 2 chromis, 1 dogface puffer, 1 copper banded butterfly, 4 clown fish, 1 squirrel fish, 1 lion fish, 1 snowflake eel, 1 blue tang, 1 gobby, 2 fire shrimp, 1 counch, 1 urchin

Flashing often a sign of flukes. Are you able to post a video of about 30 seconds under white light intensity?
Other fluke signs will be heavy breathing , loss of appetite, yawning like effect, listlessness or darting suddenly across tank

 

[brianhama]

It looks like he has white specks, but I’m pretty sure it’s just sand from his flashing.

 

[brianhama]

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

It does look like the white spots are sand, but I can't see for sure, it could be sand and ich mixed together.

I do see some fainter spots on its eye - those could be Neobenedenia flukes. If so, those can be tough to treat. If you can set up a small tank to house your few invertebrates, you can run hyposalinity in your main tank. Here is an article on how to do that:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[brianhama]

Today the fish are actually much more active and are flashing less. Unfortunately, at the same time, I see a lot more spots.

 

[brianhama]

It does look like the white spots are sand, but I can't see for sure, it could be sand and ich mixed together.

I do see some fainter spots on its eye - those could be Neobenedenia flukes. If so, those can be tough to treat. If you can set up a small tank to house your few invertebrates, you can run hyposalinity in your main tank. Here is an article on how to do that:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Would the snowflake eel need to be removed with the inverts?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Would the snowflake eel need to be removed with the inverts?

Yes - that’s ich on the puffer. If you treat with hypo that will clear ich as well as flukes.
Eels do NOT tolerate hypo, but can still carry ich and get flukes. I would leave it in the hypo tank, but it will likely stop eating.

 

[Freenow54]

My tank was finally fully stocked and everything was great / everyone was active and happy for the past few weeks. Then a few days ago things started to change. I saw one fish flashing, then two, then three. The next day all the fish just seemed less active. Now they hardly move at all unless being fed. They are pretty much all flashing. I’ve checked the water params and they are perfect. I’ve been doing 20% water changes each day. Things seem to be getting worse. I don’t see anything physically wrong with the fish. No white specks. No fin rot. What’s the next step in diagnosing / treating the tank? Or is this a wait and observe situation still?

Tank: 120 gallon, with 40 gallon sump (filter sock, protein skimmer, lots of bio balls), and two canister filters, no coral, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, low nitrate

Inhabitants: 2 chromis, 1 dogface puffer, 1 copper banded butterfly, 4 clown fish, 1 squirrel fish, 1 lion fish, 1 snowflake eel, 1 blue tang, 1 gobby, 2 fire shrimp, 1 counch, 1 urchin

I hear and read the term " flashing " but don't know what it means please explain

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I hear and read the term " flashing " but don't know what it means please explain

Flashing is the same as "scratching". The fish will dash their head/body against things in the tank to try and rub parasites off. Sometimes, flashing is more subtle - the fish may flick their fins up and down, or they might rock back and forth in the water without actually scratch on anything.

Jay