Help Identifying What's Wrong with My Firefish

[reef wrangler]

I've had my exquisite firefish for 6 or 7 months. He's been healthy until now. I did a water change 2 days ago and moved some of the rock around. The next day, I couldn't find him in the tank. I feared I that he may have dug under a rock and it fell on him. I fed the fish, no sign of the firefish. That afternoon I lifted up the big rock and there he was. He swam around a little and then started flashing on the sand. He was also breathing heavily. No white spots so I was afraid that he had flukes. I did a fresh water bath for at least 4 minutes. There was nothing in the water. I put him back in the tank. He went and hid in a rock but I could still see him. I was afraid he would be dead this morning but I found him behind a rock on the bottom of the tank. He wasn't breathing hard but seemed kind of listless. I again put some food in the tank. It floated by him. He didn't eat it. That is not like him at all. I ended up putting him in a QT and dosed with a medication that treats ich, flukes and a few other things. When I came home from work, he was swimming around more but kept rubbing his chin on the gravel (I put a thin layer down to cover the glass bottom). It almost looked like he was mouthing the gravel. I thought he might be hungry so I fed him some mega marine food. He didn't go at the food like he usually does but did eat a small piece of food. He took another piece in his mouth but spit it out. At this point I'm not sure what is wrong with him. Anyone have something similar happen to their fish? Can I treat for a bacterial/fungal infection at the same time I treat for ich/flukes?

 

[MSB123]

#reefsquad
Can we get some parameters?
Nitrates
Nitrites
Phosphates
Ammonia
(On the QT and the main tank)
What other fish do you have?
Full tank shot? (Picture)

 

[Gareth elliott]

Firefish can be very skittish the one i had might hide a day or 2 if i moved something in the tank, same behavior for the 3 years i had him.

Try some frozen or hatching some brine shrimp see if the fresh food over comes fright.

I would not dig him out of its safe spot unless you see illness. Can cause further stress.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Any new additions to the dt? Is that the only firefish in the dt?

 

[reef wrangler]

#reefsquad
Can we get some parameters?
Nitrates
Nitrites
Phosphates
Ammonia
(On the QT and the main tank)
What other fish do you have?
Full tank shot? (Picture)

#reefsquad
Can we get some parameters?
Nitrates
Nitrites
Phosphates
Ammonia
(On the QT and the main tank)
What other fish do you have?
Full tank shot? (Picture)

Main Tank:
Nitrates - 10.0
Nitrites - 0
Phosphates - .25
Ammonia - 0

QT:
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
Phosphates - .25
Ammonia - 0

Fish - 1 ocellaris clown, 1 banggai cardinal and 3 shrimp gobies. I'll have to take a photo of the tank tomorrow. The lights are down on it right now.

 

[reef wrangler]

Forgot the tank size - 29 gal biocube

 

[reef wrangler]

Firefish can be very skittish the one i had might hide a day or 2 if i moved something in the tank, same behavior for the 3 years i had him.

Try some frozen or hatching some brine shrimp see if the fresh food over comes fright.

I would not dig him out of its safe spot unless you see illness. Can cause further stress.

I don't think it was from fright. He has always come out for food no matter how much the tank have been changed. He is swimming in the water column now in the QT and seems to be doing better.

 

[reef wrangler]

Any new additions to the dt? Is that the only firefish in the dt?

No new additions and only firefish in the tank.

 

[MSB123]

The phosphates in both tanks are pretty high. What corals do you have in the main tank?
You want to aim for under 0.03 ppm.

No new additions and only firefish in the tank.

 

[Tamberav]

My firefish has a mental breakdown whenever I move something.

 

[DSC reef]

Honestly it sounds like the fish was really stressed when moving the rocks and could've got trapped for a while. I would stop doing all these treatments as it might be stressing the fish out more and causing problems. Your parameters look fine so I dont think it's an issue to the fish. Try to post pics as that will help our disease experts help you out.

 

[4FordFamily]

Honestly it sounds like the fish was really stressed when moving the rocks and could've got trapped for a while. I would stop doing all these treatments as it might be stressing the fish out more and causing problems. Your parameters look fine so I dont think it's an issue to the fish. Try to post pics as that will help our disease experts help you out.

Agree unless you saw symptoms of those things I suspect his hypothesis here is correct.

 

[reef wrangler]

The phosphates in both tanks are pretty high. What corals do you have in the main tank?
You want to aim for under 0.03 ppm.

I have a large candy cane, a hammer frag, some organ pipe and a couple of mushrooms. All are doing well.

 

[reef wrangler]

Honestly it sounds like the fish was really stressed when moving the rocks and could've got trapped for a while. I would stop doing all these treatments as it might be stressing the fish out more and causing problems. Your parameters look fine so I dont think it's an issue to the fish. Try to post pics as that will help our disease experts help you out.

Thanks. I'll try to send photos tonight when I'm home from work.