Hello everyone, recently I bought a $140 2.5 inch painted frogfish, ive had him for 4 days, and I belive he has a buoyant issue, as he's at the top of the tank and seems to have a hard time getting back down to the bottom, the tank is a 20 gallon long with an aquaclear 30 and about 15lbs of live rock ive turned off the powerhead cause it looks like hes not a good swimmer, he's eaten 2 molly's today. Hes able to go to the bottom and has been at the bottom a few times, does anyone know what might be happening? thanks.
Help with Frogfish
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eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
Can you post a pic? If he can go to the bottom that doesn't seem to be too concerning. Frogfish don't have swim bladders, so it can't have a swim bladder infection.
Ok I haven’t been able to get a picture of him “floating” when he does”float” his back is a tad out of the water today I also saw what looked like his tail started trying to get to the surface making him faveplant into the sand
Texas Reefer
Valuable Member
What are your water parameters? Your salinity?
When you acclimated did you remove him from the water, they should not be transferred out the water. They can gulp air and it can have a devastating consequence. You can actually burp him. if you gently hold him and massage his belly he could burp the air out. It could also be gases from overfeeding, also concerning. Check your mg and make sure it is within parameters, around 1300 is fine, some believe this helps with digestion. Do not feed him again for more than a week, even 10 days will be fine. Only feed no more than once a week, and a nice bulge in his belly is fine. In the wild they gorge then fast.
The results of the mollys you fed him would not result instantaneously, if it's gases from undigested food it would have happened before you got him. Other than trying to burp him, all you can do is not feed him, adjust your mg if necessary, and ride it out.
The results of the mollys you fed him would not result instantaneously, if it's gases from undigested food it would have happened before you got him. Other than trying to burp him, all you can do is not feed him, adjust your mg if necessary, and ride it out.
He had a 1 hour acclimation and made sure that he wasn’t out of water I acclimated him in a bucket then transferred him to a ziplock bag then the tank I can’t see any signs of stress he had a bit of hard breathing for a couple of minutes but other than that there’s no signs of stress also my salinity is 1.024 pH: 8.2 Ammonia: 0 Nitrate and nitrite:0-5
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GK3
Valuable Member
You should not be able to detect nitrites. If you can, doesn’t seem like your tank is filtering properly. Could be part of the problem.
jasonrusso
2500 Club Member
You are going to feed him sponges and algae?
Of all the FW fish (you shouldn't be feeding any FW fish), mollies are probably the best if you converted them to saltwater.
Look for saltwater grass shrimp. Gut load the shrimp. I also stick feed mine.
If it was air or gases, it can take a week or two to get them expelled, that is if it doesn't kill him. Just be careful not to overfeed, as fun as is is; I've found a week to ten days to be a good schedule.
I'm sure the red macro and sponges are for color, Yes it will help him maintain his color to have these color tones to imprint. good deal.
A tip on feeding sw fish, if you do not qt these fish you will be taking a tremendous risk . These feeder fish should be treated for internal parasites and whatever method you use to deem them safe from ich, velvet, and the likes. This usually ends badly. I don't call it great success, but I've had my anglers live between 2.5 and 3 years feeding mollies and ghosties. It beats every other person I know by about 2 years.
The saltwater feeder shrimp from Brine Shrimp Direct is the same variety of shrimp sold at one of my lfs, we call them ghosties, ghost shrimp kept in fw. This variety of shrimp lives in fresh, brackish, and saltwater; they just travel better and are more economical to keep in fw. It's easy to have a small tank or even container at home to gut load these puppies for added nutrition. You won't risk spreading disease by feeding mollies, my dwarf lions have also thrived on this diet for several years; my fu manchu is over 6.5 years old.
