Help!

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

I came home from work today and I thought my purple firefish was dead. He was curved in an upside down U and wasn't swimming just moving around in the current. After a couple minutes I noticed him try to swim to his favorite rock. He couldn't straighten himself out but eventually made it in the rock after bouncing off it a couple times. I cant currently find him as I wanted to post a picture. This is not the first time this has happened to a fish, all of which eventually died. I've had a black clown and a diamond back goby go this way too. Each time this happens I check the levels. They are all stable, this time as well. My nitrites are 0, ammonia 0, salinity and temp are good I also use RODI water with a tds reading of 0. Can anyone help me? I am tired of losing fish this way and there has got to be a solution I can try. Thank you!

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

DreamReef04 said:
I came home from work today and I thought my purple firefish was dead. He was curved in an upside down U and wasn't swimming just moving around in the current. After a couple minutes I noticed him try to swim to his favorite rock. He couldn't straighten himself out but eventually made it in the rock after bouncing off it a couple times. I cant currently find him as I wanted to post a picture. This is not the first time this has happened to a fish, all of which eventually died. I've had a black clown and a diamond back goby go this way too. Each time this happens I check the levels. They are all stable, this time as well. My nitrites are 0, ammonia 0, salinity and temp are good I also use RODI water with a tds reading of 0. Can anyone help me? I am tired of losing fish this way and there has got to be a solution I can try. Thank you!

Sorry this is happening to you. Time frame in which the last fish passed? How long have you had the fire fish?

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

The last time this happened was close to two months ago with my diamond back goby. The a month before that I lost the clown. I have had my firefish for around 2 months.

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

DreamReef04 said:
The last time this happened was close to two months ago with my diamond back goby. The a month before that I lost the clown. I have had my firefish for around 2 months.

Okay, I wouldn't add anything else for sometime till we get to the root cause.

Did the other fish show any signs of disease or parasite?

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

The two other fish are looking and acting normal. No signs of anything wrong with them.

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

Here are a couple picture I got of him.

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

DreamReef04 said:
The two other fish are looking and acting normal. No signs of anything wrong with them.

How long did you have them before they died? How old is your tank?

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

My tank is 5 months old. The diamond goby I had for only about a month but my clown fish I had for 3 months.

Big G · Feb 4, 2020

DreamReef04 said:
Here are a couple picture I got of him.

In both pictures the fish's head is pointing downward. Is this the way you are seeing it behave?

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

DreamReef04 said:
My tank is 5 months old. The diamond goby I had for only about a month but my clown fish I had for 3 months.

Okay. There could be a pathogen in your tank. It's an assumption without seeing the other fishes bodies, though I could assume that the diamond goby may have perished due to lack of food in the sand bed as it looks very clean and new.

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

@Big G, it's stomach looks pinched.

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

Big G said:
In both pictures the fish's head is pointing downward. Is this the way you are seeing it behave?

Yes that is how I see them acting. All of them looked the same way

4FordFamily · Feb 4, 2020

My bet is on a parasite as well. Is it safe to assume that you do not quarantine your fish?

Sorry for your loss

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

Where all of your fish eating normally before their down turn?

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

4FordFamily said:
My bet is on a parasite as well. Is it safe to assume that you do not quarantine your fish?

Sorry for your loss

You are correct, I did not quartine the 3 fish I have in my tank now. I'm still really new to this honestly and learning. However, I have 2 fish I recently bought and are in a QT as I've been researching the importance of a QT.

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
Where all of your fish eating normally before their down turn?

Yes, I fed them some pemysis last night. All fish ate well. This morning the firefish was acting normal as well.

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

I would definitely hold off adding additional fish at this point. It's pure speculation as to what is in the tank. Velvet kills pretty quick. Ich can take some time to kill.

Look this over and see if something rings a bell for you.

Fish Diseases 101

Fish Diseases 101 The purpose of this article is to provide a quick reference for identifying both “Common Diseases” and “Not So Common Diseases” afflicting saltwater fish. It is by no means a comprehensive list, but should cover the vast majority of fish diseases encountered by the average...

www.reef2reef.com

IKD · Feb 4, 2020

Is it worth checking for stray voltage?

Flippers4pups · Feb 4, 2020

IKD said:
Is it worth checking for stray voltage?

Yes.

DreamReef04 · Feb 4, 2020

I will keep my new in their QT until I have this figured out. Thank you for the article. The symptoms that I have noticed is most closely described as the swim bladder disease. I have notice the firefish almost spazzing out. Almost like a seizure.