Foxface acting strange please help

01xp · Jul 19, 2021

Hello everyone I need some help so I work the afternoon shift and when I left my small one spot foxface was swimming around fine and eating. I just got home 12 midnight and my lights are shutting down. I saw my little guy in the corner of the tank pale. My tomini tang swam past him he didn't move.
So i took my algea scraper and tried to scare him nothing I had to touch him with it to get him moving. I turned my lights on full bright to see him and this is what I saw pictures and video.
Now last week I changed my sump and skimmer but all these fish have been in the tank almost a year with no new additions. The only thing I did today was refill my ato resivor.
At first I thought the salinity was effecting him but it's at 1.025-.027. After I spooked him he moved around a little but my clowns started to pick his tail. So I managed to net him ( with no effort ) and placed him into a makeshift fish trap I made from a tuberware. If it's something serious I can't qt right now I have a wrasse in my qt tank. Thanks for any help or advice

Ossy3 · Jul 19, 2021

01xp said:
Hello everyone I need some help so I work the afternoon shift and when I left my small one spot foxface was swimming around fine and eating. I just got home 12 midnight and my lights are shutting down. I saw my little guy in the corner of the tank pale. My tomini tang swam past him he didn't move.
So i took my algea scraper and tried to scare him nothing I had to touch him with it to get him moving. I turned my lights on full bright to see him and this is what I saw pictures and video.
Now last week I changed my sump and skimmer but all these fish have been in the tank almost a year with no new additions. The only thing I did today was refill my ato resivor.
At first I thought the salinity was effecting him but it's at 1.025-.027. After I spooked him he moved around a little but my clowns started to pick his tail. So I managed to net him ( with no effort ) and placed him into a makeshift fish trap I made from a tuberware. If it's something serious I can't qt right now I have a wrasse in my qt tank. Thanks for any help or advice

He definitely doesn't look good. Looks very stressed, was he normal color before you left? Maybe check your water parameters and also how are the other fish doing?

01xp · Jul 19, 2021

Yeah he was fully colored and ate normal flake food before I left. Everyone else in tank is fine fully colored and swimming

Ossy3 · Jul 19, 2021

01xp said:
Yeah he was fully colored and ate normal flake food before I left. Everyone else in tank is fine fully colored and swimming

Its hard to say considering all the other fish are doing fine. I would definitely test your water parameters for ammonia and nitrite, although I doubt it would be this as the other fish are fine, but at least it would rule this out.

Most likely its fallen suspect to some sort of disease. The way it's breathing doesn't look good. I would definitely try to quarantine and use some medicine. However, from what it already looks like, it might be too late

01xp · Jul 19, 2021

Yeah that's what I thought too. The breathing is the problem that's why I'm looking for help in between a rock and a hard place I don't wanna lose the tank and I already started the qt process for the wrasse. ***

01xp · Jul 19, 2021

DKPminus · Jul 19, 2021

The eyes look clouded over as well as pail. I had a fish with ick that looked a lot like that however I’m not experienced enough or familiar with other diseases that might have a similar affect.

01xp · Jul 19, 2021

I can't see it as ich it's too fast and the whole tank has been running for some time with no new addition. All the fish that go in get a very long qt

01xp · Jul 19, 2021

But yes his eyes are a little cloudy

01xp · Jul 19, 2021

So he got his color back and I released him. Well he acted normal so I fed the tank he has no interest in food. Back to the trap again....... if I lose this tank it's gonna be a fire sale in done with this!!!a

Jay Hemdal · Jul 19, 2021

01xp said:
Hello everyone I need some help so I work the afternoon shift and when I left my small one spot foxface was swimming around fine and eating. I just got home 12 midnight and my lights are shutting down. I saw my little guy in the corner of the tank pale. My tomini tang swam past him he didn't move.
So i took my algea scraper and tried to scare him nothing I had to touch him with it to get him moving. I turned my lights on full bright to see him and this is what I saw pictures and video.
Now last week I changed my sump and skimmer but all these fish have been in the tank almost a year with no new additions. The only thing I did today was refill my ato resivor.
At first I thought the salinity was effecting him but it's at 1.025-.027. After I spooked him he moved around a little but my clowns started to pick his tail. So I managed to net him ( with no effort ) and placed him into a makeshift fish trap I made from a tuberware. If it's something serious I can't qt right now I have a wrasse in my qt tank. Thanks for any help or advice

In looking at the video and the pictures, the one thing that struck me is how large its head is in relation to its body, that it is breathing fast, and it seems to have a cataract in its eye. Although the fish may have looked normal to you when you left for work, I think there has been a slow chronic food malabsorption issue going on here. The fish's body is too small and too thin for the size of its head. How it got this way, I can't say; internal parasites, not enough food, poor diet, possibly even a developmental issue (I would see this with tank raised clownfish sometimes).
Unfortunately, if I'm right, then there isn't anything you can do for it at this point.....sorry I can't be of more help!

Jay